Tracing the city in Indonesian comics

HOW DO the Indonesian comics represent the social pulses of the city? How far are the representations related to the reality, able to document the mental history of the people, and how do the comic artists handle the problems of their media in order to render such representations? And why do most comics invariably use Jakarta as their point of reference?

Those were the questions that haunted us as we were working on the theme. The initial discussions, which actually began a year ago, were re-started in the middle of 2008; but it turned out that we still had to hold back from publishing it, shifting its publication date from the planned December 2008 to February 2009.

You can therefore take this edition as a belated new year’s greeting from us. We present you with several essays with the theme of “Comics and the City”—a theme that has never been specifically discussed before in Indonesia. Here, however, it became our focus of attention, as we considered the relationship between visual works and the traces of urban development that they can record.

Naturally, not all comic works are discussed in this initial edition. Not yet, because we intend to make this edition a comprehensive-but-temporary summary. This edition constitutes an ‘initial edition’ because, considering the online nature of the journal, it can still be augmented later with new essays. We invite you to contribute to this Focus so that the edition can become a thorough reference about the relationship between comics and the Indonesian city (or cities).

This edition consists of five essays. We re-publish an essay by Seno Gumira Ajidarma, which had previously been published in the Bentara rubric of the Kompas daily in 2003. It is interesting to revisit Doyok, the comic character that Seno discusses, compare the Doyok in our memories with Doyok of the period in which the essay was written, and then with Doyok that is appearing today in the Pos Kota daily. There have been real changes that we can observe with the help of this essay.

Changes upon changes, occurring in a longer time span, have been recorded shrewdly by JJ Rizal in his essay on Benny and Mice, two contemporary cartoonists at the forefront of the Indonesian comics today, who have published numerous cartoon and comic books within a decade. Just as we have enthusiastically endorsed the essay in the synopsis, this passionate essay is the most well-rounded observation about Lagak Jakarta and Benny & Mice cartoons to date. Such a thorough observation is also apparent in an essay by Arief Ash Shiddiq, who has wholeheartedly written down his critical examinations on the comics created by the young generation of comic artists, which have been documented in the three comic compilations of Senggol Jakarta, published by Akademi Samali.

The rest are our own essays. Ardi Yunanto writes about Muhammad Reza’s cartoons, which were once displayed at the Transjakarta bus stops in 2004. The event took place five years ago, but the topic remains interesting because the episode occurred when Transjakarta was still a new operation, and Reza had the chance to record parts of the silliness of the passengers as they experienced the “new way of transport.”

Hikmat Darmawan, meanwhile, writes about the Indonesian romance comics, which were popular at the end of the sixties to early seventies. The romance comics, the only genre at the time that faithfully presented urban settings—albeit in naïve portrayals—revealed the people’s imaginations of the city at the time. Hikmat subsequently discovers a fundamental visual difference between the romance comics of the past and those of the present.

Finally, we wish to extend our gratitude to those who have given their assistance for this publication. We are grateful to Pax Benedanto from the publishing house of Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia (KPG), who was willing to gather the comic materials even when this edition still existed merely in the realm of ideas. We are also indebted to JB Kristanto and Leo Tigor Sidabutar from Nalar publisher and distributor, who have allowed us to republish a number of drawings from the comics that they have published. We also thank Beng Rahadian and Ari Wowo from Akademi Samali for their willingness to lend us their comic collection—which we will soon return. We also acknowledge the assistance given by Iwan Gunawan, who has always provided us with information about the historical background of the Indonesian comics. We also express our thanks to Andy Wijaya and friends at komikindonesia.com.

Once again, happy belated new year 2009, and happy reading.



Jakarta, February 2009



Ardi Yunanto & Hikmat Darmawan
Editor in chief and guest editor



ARDI YUNANTO was born in Jakarta, November 21, 1980. After graduating from the Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology, Malang, in 2003, he returned to Jakarta, the city where he grew up. In 2004, he joined ruangrupa and since 2007 has been serving as the editor-in-chief for www.karbonjournal.org. Besides writing highly unproductively about the city and art, he also works as a researcher for several art and culture projects, as a book editor, and graphic designer, all the while trying to set aside some time to write short stories.

HIKMAT DARMAWAN is an observer of popular culture, with the focus on comics and movies. He has been writing since 1994 in various publications such as Tempo, Kompas, Gatra, and Republika. His book, a collection of essays on comics entitled Dari Gatot Kaca hingga Batman: Potensi-potensi Naratif Komik (From Gatot Kaca to Batman: The Comics’ Narrative Potentials. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Orakel, 2005), is being repackaged along with his other collection of essays. He helped established a number of communities, for example Musyawarah Burung and Akademi Samali, and is now active in Urban Laboratory of Paramadina University. He now works as an editor in the Madina magazine and www.rumahfilm.org.