P-Project take their humor to comic books

P-Project take their humor to comic books

By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): People who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s
undoubtedly have fond memories of the local comic books that
colored these years.

Titles like Gundala Putra Petir (Gundala, Son of Thunder)
Godam and Panji Tengkorak were eagerly purchased and read, passed
around among children and teenagers enthralled by the adventures
that jumped out from the pages.

Comic books written by artists like Jan Mintaraga and Teguh
Santosa, which were based on classic wayang (traditional puppet)
stories such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, were also big sellers.

But today, in much the same fashion as Indonesian films, local
comic books have been overshadowed by Japanese and U.S. titles.

"That's why we wanted to make our own comic book. There are
hardly any, if any at all, local comic books right now," said
Iszur Muchtar, a member of comedy group P-Project.

Iszur was speaking on Monday during the launch of the group's
comic book Si Lender, a 121-page black-and-white book about a
hero by the same name.

"I grew up reading local comic books like Gundala. It's too
bad that children now grow up with imported comic books. Not that
all of those books are bad, but it would good if there were local
ones as well," he said.

According to Iszur, since the Bandung-based group was
established five years ago they had been discussing the idea of
producing a comic book. But the idea was kept on the shelf
because the group was busy with other projects.

That all changed when they met artist Pidi Baiq, a graduate of
the Bandung Institute of Technology's School of Art and Design.

Iszur's fellow P-Project member Daan Aria said they chose Pidi
to draw the book because he had the same vision and sense of
humor as the group.

"It took us a long time to collect ideas, the kind of story,
the hero and everything," he said.

The result was Si Lender, whose storyline was written by P-
Project.

"We then contacted the publisher Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.
They accepted our ideas and here it is now," Daan said, adding
that the comic book was targeted at teenagers and adults.

The book is set in the 13th century, during West Java's
Padjadjaran Kingdom. The basic story is that the villain
Kartasinga steals King Wastakencana's magical belt.

The king sends Sutawangsa to retrieve the belt from
Kartasinga, who apparently has traveled through a time tunnel to
the year 2010.

As one expects from P-Project, the book is funny. The dialog
is humorous, peppered with Sundanese, and the illustrations are
imaginative. At one point, the angry king spits and Pidi draws
the saliva traveling in a curve and inserts a physics formula for
parabolic force.

The font, however, is a little too stiff and not an ideal fit
for the illustrations, and sometimes there is a lot of blank
space in the panels.

According to Pidi, it took him six month to draw the book.
"The group gave me the story and then I matched it to my style.
Before that I also did a survey of the comic book community to
see what they wanted to see. I'm not just drawing, you know,"
said the artist, who once published the comic book Kapten
Bandung.

As for the Sundanese words, Pidi said that since he and P-
Project are from Bandung they are familiar with the language.

According to Denny from P-Project, beside promoting culture,
they also want to revive the Sundanese language with the book.

"Even in Bandung, young people no longer speak it," he said.

Ten thousand copies of the first edition were printed, with a
price of Rp 12,000 (US$1.40).

Daan said the group originally wanted the book to be in color.
"But if it was in color the price would have been Rp 48,000.
That's too expensive, so we left it black and white," he said,
adding that the book could be found at Gramedia bookstores around
the country.

The group plans to release a total of 13 books in the Si
Lender series.

"The next book will be released in October," Daan said, adding
that P-Project had invested some Rp 15 million ($1,765) in the
project.

The group said they were optimistic the comic book would prove
a success.

As for Pidi, he hopes Si Lender will inspire other comic
artists to publish books.

"Even P-Project, who are not supposed to or obliged to make
comic books, were able to do it," he said.