< comics/x >
INDONESIAN COMICS (various)
John Quickdraw kindly sent over a batch of self-published comics from Indonesia (where he currently resides) for my enjoyment and possible review in Poopsheet. Of course, most of them aren't in English so I can't properly review 'em, but I did want to share what I can. I encourage folks to send comics from all over the globe – let's make this a worldwide effort.
Okay, then, let's start with the one that
is in English.
IN THE GARDEN
($5.00 US, $5.00 AUS, RP 20.000 from Athonk,
www.pureblacktattoo.com)
This collection of one-pagers features Athonk's Old Skull character, lots of punk rock and rock & roll references, lots of weed and some American locales. Athonk visited the US and most of these strips were drawn in New Orleans and Monterey, California. I get the feeling that Old Skull – with his discussions of music, troubles with women, and recreational drug use – is an autobiographical character. I hope Athonk doesn't really look like that, though.
SELAMAT PAGÍ URBAZ!
(
Beng Rahadían)
I really wish I could read this one. The story – apparently being told through diary pages – features a young woman who has various sorts of experiences with people and the emotional range appears to be wide (accompanied by some nicely exaggerated visuals). It seems like it might be a fairly straightforward story except that there's a fantasy element I can't quite work out. The artwork has something of a European feel but with an Asian touch.
MATIRASA (?)
(
e-mail)
This is an anthology that contains a few conventional comics but even more of the art-y/conceptual variety (think
Stripburger). My favorite seems to almost be an anti-comic that depicts the growth of a great beanstalk. The strip easiest to describe (and the most conventional) is about a guy who becomes a sort of superhero called Super Septictank with, you guessed it, septic tank-related powers.
DAGING TUMBUH Vol. 7
(Prawirodirjan GM 2/638 / Rt 52 - Rw 16 Jogjakarta 55121 / INDONESIA.
E-mail)
This is another anthology and a huge one at that. There's a real mix of style, quality and approach but here's what really stands out for me: Agung Komikaze (whose drawings remind me a bit of Jerry Smith's), especially the "Gentho" pages; S.Joko, A (crazy, scribbly cartooning); Tera's nutty robots; Mimmo & Eddie Hara (primitive, abstract). Daging Tumbuh's got comics that are artsy, action-oriented, manga-inspired, hip-hop-flavored, collages, etc. Like I said, quite a mix.
KOMIK CINTA
(
e-mail)
This one's by the duo of Suryo Nugroho and Joko Purwanto but I have no idea who did which stories or if they're all collaborations. There are two distinct drawing styles throughout, though. The odd thing about this (mostly humorous, it seems) collection is that a lot of the stories contain cameos by these two characters (the cartoonists themselves?) who respond to the action in-panel while apparently invisible to the actual stars of the stories.
BILL & BULL #1 & 2
(
Reza)
These are subtitled "Total Destroy Fucking Teenager", which doesn't really make sense but still accurately describes the comics. Lots of scat humor and mindless violence played for laughs ? sort of an Indonesian version of JR Williams' Bad Boys and I imagine most fans of really lowbrow comedy would get a kick out of it. I can't read any of the dialogue but the drawings are funny on their own.
[ It should be noted that some of these comics are reproductions of the originals, so cover scans may not match the actual product. Big thanks to John! ]
[ Link to this review ]
