Manga and graphic novels may dominate people’s concept of the comic book these days but the enduring mystique rests on more than just the flashy images of this ever-evolving medium.
This was the crux of “Cartooning and Comic Art: Catching Up in a Digital World,” held last July 12 at the Miguel de Benavides Library Auditorium of UST. The event was sponsored by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre and the Philippine Association of Communication Educators together with the Varsitarian and the UST Department of Communication and Media Studies.
Professor John Lent of Temple University Pennsylvania kicked off the day-long lecture with his paper, “Southeast Asian Cartooning: A Bedside Vigilance.”
For Lent, the phenomenon is not just that comics have lived on in Southeast Asia for so long, but that the fascination is growing in new places.
“Perhaps most encouraging is the mushrooming of interest in cartooning where previously it did not exist,” Lent said.
Lent, the founding publisher and editor in chief of the International Journal of Comic Art, says the cartooning environment and industry is seeing a “rebirth.” But the new growth is accompanied by problems: piracy and the seemingly unfair dominance of Japanese manga and its artistic style.
“The Japanese influence permeates bookstores stocking many Japan-originated titles, locally published manga appearing,” Lent explained.
He added that Southeast Asian cartoonists imitate the Japanese style.
Aside from Lent, political cartoonist Zulfiklee “Zunar” Anwar from Malaysia and comic book artist Antonius Masdiono from Indonesia gave their views on the cartoon art situation in Southeast Asia.
Masdiono began his piece with a historical survey of his own country’s adventure with comics. According to him, Indonesia has its own breed of comics called Cergam (short for Cerita Bergambar in Bahasa Indonesia) which literally translates to “visual story.” He also recalled how as a young man, the Filipino heroine Darna was so popular in his country that many thought it was an Indonesian creation.
Cergam, which was coined by cartoonist Zam Nuldyn in the 1930’s, was a category that covered Indonesian-made comics inspired by native myths and stories.
Then, after what Masdiono termed as “invasions,” (referring to the entry of foreign comics mostly from the United States), Cergam appears to have survived and is making a comeback. Nowadays, his country’s new generation is being introduced to the art form he himself admires.
“They once called my style ‘old school,’ but now they are questioning that,” Masdiono said, referring to how his young students view his work.
Still, it would be misleading to think that the art of cartooning is confined to the realm of the fantastic.
According to Zunar, cartooning, or any art for that matter, should “highlight important issues in the country.”
A staunch political and social critic in Malaysia, Anwar uses cartoons to “destroy the culture of fear” by pointing to pressing issues via humor. Always aiming to be an agent of reform through his work, he describes his creative process as “sketching with the brain and drawing with the heart.”
Asked what keeps the seemingly unmoving cartoon image alive, Anwar replied that it is because of the jokes.
For him the power of cartoons, aside from their quick appeal to the eyes, is that they can easily mix humor and opinions on serious issues.
“It’s the fact that you can hold them,” Lent said, defending printed comics amid the spate of other emergent media. “Some people are just enamored with paper.” Roman Carlo R. Loveria
