Local comic industry needs synergy: Observer

Local comic industry needs synergy: Observer

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's ailing animated cartoon and comic
strip industry has resulted in children knowing more about the
Japanese comic character Dora Emon rather than Indonesia's own
legendary Gatotkaca, a leading cartoonist said yesterday.

Dwi Koendoro said a synergy of experts in the fields of
literature, entertainment, communications and business was needed
to revive the ailing industry.

Dwi -- creator of the famed Panji Koming comic strip,
published by the leading Kompas daily, and owner of an animation
production house -- said such synergy was needed so local
cartoonists, filmmakers and publishers could work and progress
together to revive the stagnant industry.

"Comics and animated films have many things in common, such as
in the creative process," Dwi said at a press conference
announcing an upcoming seminar and exhibition on comic books and
animation films here next December.

The seminar and exhibition organized by the Ministry of
Education and Culture and associations of cartoonists and
animated filmmakers will be held from Dec. 17 to Dec. 22 at the
ministry's arts building in Central Jakarta.

According to Dwi, an ill of the ailing film industry is the
fact that most filmmakers and producers still focus more on
"short-term ways of thinking" or mere profit making.

"This way of thinking may well bring down the booming
television industry in the next two or three years," he warned.

Dwi said filmmakers were often surprised by the fact that it
took about six years to finish the making of Walt Disney's
animated film Sleeping Beauty.

Dwi maintained that such an unhealthy climate resulted in the
"loss of the country's local geniuses" in comics and animation.

Asked about information on the comparison of sales between
local and imported comic books, Dwi said none was available.

Rahayu Hidayat of the University of Indonesia's Faculty of
Letters, said the Indonesian comic industry boom was in the 1950s
and 1960s.

"Indonesian comic books sold like hotcakes back then because
many newspapers published comic strips in abundance," said
Rahayu, who has done extensive research on the subject.

"Now only a few newspapers, like Pos Kota and Republika,
publish local comic strips," she lamented.

Both Dwi and Rahayu agreed that total marketing was needed --
in which the sale of comics was integrated with the sale of
animated films, T-shirts, school apparel and so on -- to help
boost readership of Indonesian comics.

Another cartoonist, Iman Suyudi, was pessimistic that a
revival of the Indonesian film and comic industry would happen
soon.

He claimed that publishers often discriminate against local
cartoonists when paying them.

"Local cartoonists are only paid between Rp 15,000 (US$6) and
Rp 40,000 per comic strip, while foreign cartoonists get paid Rp
60,000," Iman claimed.

But he still expressed hope that a synergy between local
experts in the animated film and comic strip industries would
bear some fruit. (aan)