KOTTAYAM: Toms, the creator of the legendary cartoon characters Boban and Molly, passed away at a private hospital here on Wednesday night. He was undergoing treatment after suffering from a stroke last year.
V T Thomas, popularly known as Toms, was born in 1929 to V T Kunjithomman and Sicily Thomas in Kuttanad in Alappuzha district. After serving with the British Army, he turned into the world of cartoons.
The famous characters he created, Boban and Molly were the children of his neighbour. He visualised the characters based on these two persons. Initially these two characters appeared in a cartoon column Sathyadeepam weekly in 1950. Later on these characters became part and parcel of every Malayali households through Malayala Manorama weekly in 1957. Toms also named his son and daughter as Boban and Molly. He did the cartoon column Boban and Molly in that publication for nearly 40 years.
He resigned from Malayala Manorama in 1987 and began his own publication. There were also some legal issues regarding the rights of the cartoon characters between Toms and Malayala Manorama.
The whole story of Boban and Molly were held in an imaginary village called Kizhakkamthookku. The cartoonist described the issues faced by the middle class and the day to day political developments through his cartoon column.
He is survived by his wife Thresyakutty. Boban, Molly, Rani, Dr Peter, Bose, Dr Princy are his children.