Indon Comics

(Aish, Rony, Azisa, Rama, Tita)

Had lunch with Tita Larasati during STGCC and she updated me about the scene in Bandung. Basically, she and her business partner, Rony Amdani, were in town to promote the books published by their company, Curhat Anak Bangsa (CAB).

All the books are written by Rony. The art is by different artists:

Seeta – Rama Indra (based loosely on the Ramayan)
Insight – Risza A. Perdhana
The Messengers – Aish (based loosely on the independence of Indonesia)
Mantra – Azisa Noor

It’s still tough for indie artists to make their living from drawing comics fulltime. Even for Tita, she lectures at the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Interestingly, the bestsellers from CAB are the graphic diaries by Tita and Sheila Rooswitha Putri. Tita has written an article about the trend of Graphic Diary for an upcoming volume of International Journal of Comic Art, based on a paper she presented at the Women’s Manga Beyond Japan conference held at the National University of Singapore earlier this year.

Sheila’s story about a family trip to East Java has been reprinted in Liquid City 2. She has kept busy with a new project for www.naked-traveler.com . She is drawing a strip written by Trinity and Erastiany. (Rony is involved too)

http://duohippodinamis.wordpress.com/

Several Indon artists have made it overseas. Other than Ardian Syaf, people like Chris Lie, Sunny Gho and Admira Wijaya (aka Anto Garang) have done international work. Chris Lie has drawn for GI Joe and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 video game (Chris is also running Caravan Studio, which he set up in West Jakarta in January 2008) while Sunny Gho is the Art Director of IFS Jakarta. He has coloured Power Girl, Secret Warriors, Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates and The Darkness. Both Chris Lie and Sunny Gho were at STGCC. Some samples of Caravan Studio works here:

http://www.stripspeciaalzaak.be/beelden/07-12-2011_Besprekingen/Storm-Buitenring1_PR.jpg

http://www.denoormanstrips.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Storm-1-Banneling-van-Thoem.jpg

But the bulk of comics produced in Indonesia are slapstick books, eg. the “101” series. (101 Surviving Super Singles, 101 Prehistoric Culture, etc) and ‘local manga’ series.

http://www.indomanga.com/index.php?topic=5977.0
http://wahyuhidayatz.blogspot.com/2011/06/komik-101-peradaban-purba_30.html

Tita called this current situation as “lata” – the Malay word for imitate. Most comic companies are merely copying each other’s themes to sell their books.

When the weird turns sappy…

It’s almost a Singapore comic con tradition to have the new Resident Tourist volume out when the event takes place every year at Suntec City. Even for this year, when the con was brought forward to August, we have the launch of TRT 5 there.

The first 3 cons were organized by Play Imaginative and since last year, Reed took over.
2007 – Troy Chin and Ken Foo shared a booth near Sonny Liew to sell their minis.
2008 – Adrian Teo published TRT 1 and 2 for Troy. A TRT related short story appeared in Liquid City 1.
2009 – Troy self-published TRT 3 and Loti 1. (all of them serialized on his website before)
2010 – TRT 4 launched at STGCC. Loti 2 was launched at Books Actually earlier. Another short story in Liquid City 2. (non TRT related)
2011 – TRT 5 launched.

When TRT first came out, it was a breadth of fresh air. Troy was featured in an article about local comics in IS, but most of us only got to read his stuff when Adrian Teo published TRT 1 and 2. It was weird, with bats hiding in shoes and shit. A returning Singaporean from NYC, who sees a hot psychiatrist – he seems aimless and profound at the same time. What’s going on?

2008 was a good year for Troy as he got extensive coverage in the national papers. An interview with The Sunday Times, a nice pic of him outside of his old school, the now abandoned Braddell-Westlake, and a review of TRT 1 and 2 a week later in the book reviews section.

Troy was slowly building his fan base with appearances at Books Actually, the National Library, Singapore Writers’ Festival and recently, post-museum. They are a varied bunch – kids studying overseas, doctors (a psychiatrist!) and even a lady who traveled all the way from Japan to meet him at the comic con in 2009.

Things got a bit more normal with TRT 3. It was about friendship, growing up with your gang in Victoria School. Read this together with Loti and you find Troy to be quite a nostalgic fellow. In TRT 4, we learn what’s wrong with Troy. He tried to kill himself in NYC. That volume affirmed Troy’s rep as one of the strongest narrative storytellers for comics in Singapore. His panel to panel transition is smooth and ‘invisible’.

By all counts, the newly released TRT 5 reads like the end of the tourist for now as it brings the story to the present. (2010) Since last year, Troy kept saying that people will be pissed off by what he has to say in TRT 4. Maybe the lack of recognition and poor sales was getting to him. But it was something else…

TRT 5 confirms what some of us suspect for some time. It is a love story, after all. The punch line – Troy finally hooked up with Mint in 2005 when they were in NYC. Troy returned to Singapore soon after and they maintained the long distance relationship. So the whole TRT series, which start with the return of Troy to Singapore, is his paean to Mint. If one is to read into it, putting his life in comics form on the web is Troy’s way of telling Mint of how he is feeling.

Those feelings go deep in TRT 5 – Troy confessing his love for Mint, telling her he wants kids, etc. It is heartfelt; Troy handles the emotions well. But it is also sappy when you reach the last page. The truth is: he is this generation’s Colin Cheong, in comics form.

TRT 5 is selling well. It is on the Planerds bestselling list for August (The just reprinted TRT 1 and 2 are on it too) and during STGCC, the Harris booth needed another 30 copies for the second day of the con. There are enough going for it for people to buzz – the timely reference to the foreigners issue; more throwbacks to the early 1990s: Sembawang Music Store, Nirvana’s Nevermind; Veronica Yip; chapter 20 of the Sec 4 Biology textbook for Express classes.

Troy is already a hero to some in Singapore for living his dream and for not compromising. Fans will enjoy his encounters with crazy people (albeit caricatured) and not backing down. The angry man he met while queuing up at SingPost reminds me Harvey Pekar’s observation of quirky Jewish ladies at the supermarket. But Troy’s encounter is nastier. That’s Singapore 2010/2011 for you.

If there is an inconsistency to be noted, it’s that for the earlier volumes, the perspective has always been Troy’s. In TRT 5, we see the story from his friends’ point of view. That came across jarring.

Troy is 33 this year, an age of reckoning according to the good book. From now on, he is moving on to his next project – a piss take on the music industry.

The tourist has returned home.

steampunk

Sampled Gail Carriger's Alexia Tarabotti novels. Which brings to mind steampunk has been around for ages, both in novels and comics. There's Fritz Leiber's "Catch That Zepellin!" short story and Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series.

In comics, Alan Moore is having a delightful run with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen since the last century. Even earlier, Tardi had The Arctic Marauder. Warren Ellis did Captain Swing recently and Bryan Talbot of Tale of One Bad Rat fame told the story of Grandville. The closest to what Carriger is doing - Lady Mechanika published by Aspen.

Tatsumi

It's always good to see Sensei again.

Agents

One thing I realized from doing interviews with the Southeast Asian artists I met at STGCC is that they have agents working for them, getting them the contracts and the jobs. Especially so for the Filipino and Indonesian artists who might need that link to DC and Marvel Comics. In the case of Ardian Syaf, he needed someone with the linguistic ability to negotiate with the comics companies. Interestingly, both Carlo Pagulayan and Ardian had European agents instead of US ones. (unlike say, Sonny Liew) In any case, as pointed out by CB Cebulski, given the long distance between Asia and America, even having an agent in Europe meant it's easier for them to fly in to San Diego to represent the artists for work.

This doesn't mean all Southeast Asian artists working for DC or Marvel has an agent. One of the Malaysian pioneers, Tan Eng Huat, doesn't have an agent as he was talent spotted by Andy Helfer of DC in 1999. One job leads to another and Eng Huat's schedule is packed these days.

Perhaps having an agent is part of the professionalization of the medium in this region. One day we will have local talent companies starting to represent comic artists.

Bestsellers at Planerds and prologue

Below are the August bestsellers for Planerds and { prologue }

 

Planerds

1.       Resident Tourist v5 SC

2.       In Memory of Kwa Geok Choo: 1920-2010 SC

3.       Resident Tourist v1 SC

4.       League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III: Century #2: 1969

5.       Sense and Sensibility GN TP

6.       Resident Tourist v2 SC

7.       Malinky Robot Collected Stories & Others TP

8.       Blackest Night TP

9.       Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne HC

10.   Batman: Complete Hush TP

 

{ prologue }

1.       In Memory of Kwa Geok Choo: 1920-2010 SC

2.       Smurfs v1: The Purple Smurfs SC

3.       Smurfs v3: The Smurf King SC

4.       Smurfs v5: The Smurfs and the Egg SC

5.       Smurfs v4: Smurfette SC

6.       Smurfs v2: The Smurfs and the Magic Flute SC

7.       Smurfs v7: Astrosmurf SC

8.       Smurfs v6: The Smurfs and the Howlibird SC

9.       Pokemon Adventures v37 TP

10.   Transformers: Dark of the Moon Prequel: Foundation TP

 

Clearly, { prologue } had a very Smurfy month, but local artists rule the roost, especially at Planerds.

Registration now open for Singapore 24 Hour Comics Day

The Singapore leg of 24 Hour Comics Day is back this year on 1-2 October 2011 (Sat morning to Sunday morning).  Participants will challenge themselves to create 24 pages of comics within 24 hours.

Admission is free but registration is required.  We will have free food, courtesy of sponsorship from National Arts Council!

If you think you're crazy enough to take on this challenge, register here:
http://singaporecomics.com/24hourcomicsday/register.php

Venue is Goodman Arts Centre, a 6-minute walk from Mountbatten MRT station:
http://singaporecomics.com/24hourcomicsday/venue.php

Internet connection will be a problem, so I suggest you prepare all your reference material beforehand.

This year's event will be part of a larger event called Comics Xchange, which will have a bazaar, seminars, workshops and cosplay. http://www.comics-xchange.com/

JF