Silchar, Nov. 3: She is 13. She is from the Northeast. She is a superhero. Meet Tinkle comics' latest star - Mapui Kawlim aka WingStar.

The monthly comic magazine, in its 35th anniversary issue, launched its newest "reluctant superhero". The comics hit the bookshelves on Sunday.

Mapui is a teenage girl from a middle class family living in Mizoram's capital Aizawl.

She lives a normal life until her genius father Tashi Kawlim decides to give her some state-of-the art gadgets to test out. Tashi is an inventor working for the "space development arm" of the government.

In order to ensure the equipment are field-ready, Mapui volunteers to take them for a test run.

In the process, she acquires a super-secret superhero identity - Wingstar - fighting criminals by night.

Mapui learns to use "rocket thrusters", which travel at a speed of 110km per hour, is bestowed with "iron fists", which can break bricks with a punch, and "reinforced robotic arms", which can lift 1,000kg each.

Though she is a superhero by night, she does not want to miss her sleep. She attends school but fears her mathematics homework.

Her father gifts her a wristwatch, which allows one to get notification about any crime at the same time as the police.

She becomes the saviour of her neighbours and also brings down a minister and his henchmen for allegedly being involved in corrupt activities.

Asked why the magazine decided to cast a girl from the Northeast as a cartoon superhero, editor of Tinkle Comics Rajani Thindiath told The Telegraph today over phone from Mumbai that it did not happen suddenly. "From the very beginning of the launch of Tinkle, we have had readers in different parts of the Northeast. Moreover, we always have had characters from different parts of the country," she added.

Thindiath said the original name of the character was chosen as Mapui, a Mizo name.

She said Tinkle has had female superheroes in the past - Aisha as SuperWeirdos and Maya as PsyMage, which was the first superhero series, which portrays Maya's quest to save her father with the help of a super-device called Psy.

Tinkle is considered to be the country's first-ever English comic magazine, which was first published in 1980 by Anant Pai.

Stories like Shikari Shambhu and Suppandi (who has lately taken on the avatar of Super Suppandi) and Kalia the Crow are very popular among children. One of the main objectives of Tinkle is to spark creativity in young people through diverse content and innovative technology that enables free-form experimentation.