Indonesian comics battle to reach a wider market

Indonesian comics battle to reach a wider market

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The lights have dimmed and the tables are cleared. The festivity
of the 4th National Comic and Animation Week (PKAN 4) at the
Yogyakarta Cultural Center's Societeit Building has diminished,
but the desire to popularize Indonesian comics is stronger than
ever.

For comic illustrators and others in the animation world, this
means keeping up the hard work.

Wahyu Suginato, chairman of PKAN 4's organizing committee,
said that the comic industry's prospects were good, judging from
public enthusiasm toward the exhibition, which was held from
Sept. 6 to Sept. 12.

"The week was a success for us, especially in terms of the
number of visitors and participating comic studios.

"We had some 500 visitors every day and more than 20 studios
participating in the exhibition, not to mention those from art
schools and universities," he told The Jakarta Post.

Wahyu, who is also co-founder and former chairman of the
Indonesian Comic Community (MKI), said that he believed people in
Indonesia had actually shown a great interest in comics.

However, their interests were satisfied by translated imported
comics from Japan, Europe, America, Hong Kong, and Korea, which
have dominated the Indonesian comic market since the 1980s.

Comic strips like Doraemon (Japan); Tintin (Belgium); Lucky
Luke and Asterix (France), Batman and Superman (the U.S.); and
Tiger Wong (Hong Kong) are but a few examples.

"We had some Indonesian comic strips published here by local
publishers, but they were not good, both visually and as a story.
That accounts for why people read imported comic strips rather
than local ones," Wahyu said.

He said, the Indonesian preference for imported comics had
sparked the emergence of an independent movement among young
Indonesian comic illustrators, especially art school students.

The establishment of comic studios like QN, which stands for
Qomik Nasional (National Comic), in Bandung, West Java and Apotik
Komik in Yogyakarta in 1995, marked the start of the movement.

Other comic studios followed, growing steadily in number.

Comic illustrators call themselves independent because they
attempt to maintain independence from the publishing industry.

They photocopy their comic strips instead.

"That way we can produce more affordable comics which will
reach a wider market," Wahyu said.

The first Indonesian comics were published in the 1930s when
Khowangie came up with the Put On comic strip, run in Sinpo
newspaper.

Then other names emerged, such as Taguan Hardjo who developed
the comic industry in Medan, North Sumatra, in the 1950s. One of
Taguan's famous comics was Kapten Yani (Captain Yani) published
in 1960.

However, the comic strip boom in Indonesia during the 1970s
was flooded with numerous teenage romance comic strips,
influenced by the residue of the "flower-power generation."

Also, during this period, numerous martial arts comic strips
were published, like Ganesh TH or Si Buta dari Goa Hantu (The
Blind Hero from the Devil Lair); Djair Warni or Jaka Sembung.

The decade was also marked with the emergence of local comic
superheroes such as Gundala Putra Petir (Gundala the Son of the
Thunder) and Godam, in an effort to battle against the popular
U.S. superhero-comics such as The Flash, Fantastic Four, Batman,
Superman and Spiderman.

In the 1980s, the development of the comic industry in
Indonesia slowed to a halt due to the enormous increase in the
number of imported comic strips from the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Wahyu said the lack of synergy between comic illustrators and
publishers here was the main reason why the industry couldn't
compete with the imported comics.

In many cases, according to Wahyu, publishers often felt
frustrated by the illustrators' rate of productivity. On the
other hand, the comic illustrators were uncertain about relying
on comics as their bread and butter.

"This is the toughest thing that we have to deal with if we
want to develop a good comics industry here.

"We must assure comic illustrators that they have promising
careers. We must convince publishers that the profession deserves
adequate financial rewards," Wahyu said.

He also gave his assurance that the comic industry in the
country was indeed promising, especially considering that a
number of companies, non-government organizations, and even
political parties had begun to use comic strips.

Wahyu said,"They have realized the power that a comic has to
effectively communicate a message."

But, added that it would take years to build the local comic
industry.

He said that MKI had been trying to boost the industry ever
since it was established, with the support of the government on
March 17, 1997.

Since 1998, for example, MKI and the government -- in this
case the Ministry of Education and later the Ministry of Tourism
and Culture -- had been holding biennial comic and animation
exhibitions.

They also hold comic festivals and competitions, one of their
objectives being to introduce comics to the wider community.
MKI is preparing the 3rd National Comic Week to be held next
month at Malang State University in East Java.

Wahyu said that MKI praised the presence of the Indonesian
independent comic movement. In MKI's view, the movement had
helped increase the production of comic strips in the country.
Never mind that they were privately produced or photocopied.

The increase in these "independent" comic strips, he said, had
attracted local publishers, including noted Bandung-based Mizan
and Jakarta-based M&C publishing companies.

Alfi's Dua Warna is an example of M&C's production line, while
Mizan has been publishing numerous comic strips which convey
Islamic teachings since 1995.

According to a Mizan staff member, who ran the publisher's
booth at the PKAN 4, Mizan aimed to publish no less than 30 new
comic strips monthly.

"Initially, the print-run is 500 copies, but they can be re-
printed should the market demand it," he said.