Tales illustrated: The history of comics

Written by Nikita Purnama and Lara Dianrama | Read in Indonesian

Can you recount the time you read vintage Marvel comic books growing up, rooting for Wolverine or snickering at mischievous Spiderman’s commentaries? Did you experience choosing between Anthony and Terry from Candy Candy from decades ago?

Or maybe you still the remember when you raced to get the Sunday edition of Kompas newspaper to read the cergam before the parents could immerse themselves in solving the crossword puzzle in the very same page? Maybe, you have experienced all of these in one lifetime and still carry on reading one or most of these types of visual art.

There are debates about who first started this form of visual art. Is the US the first to make comic books? Or is it Japan? How did this seemingly foreign art become so loved in Indonesia? While determining who did what first might be easy using the timeline that we have, it is also important to note that each region has their own history in the making of their comic book industry.

The US and Europe have separate history when it comes to comic books. The British comic shares the same format that applies to size, type of paper and folds just like the American counterparts, but they grew out of this format early into a magazine size. Comic books in the British market was originally aiming for the less literate working class since the visualisation of a full-text stories would be less challenging for them to read. This perspective also led comic books to be considered childish and soon, the industry made children their primary target instead of the general audience.

Image: The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck

In the US, the history of comic art started in 1842 with the local publication of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, a Swiss newspaper strip series. With the rise of its popularity, publications began competing to hire popular comic artists to be featured in their newspaper. The following characters from strips soon became celebrities and adapted by different media.

The very first superhero comic title, Superman, only surfaced about nine decades later and the genre expanded during World War II. However, in the 1950s, comic books were accused of giving bad influence on children and the sales declined exponentially. To protect the reputation of the industry, Comics Code Authority was formed, but at the same time the horror and crime genres were eliminated in publication. There was a resurgence of the superhero genre in 1956. At the same time, the underground comic movement that pursued different themes and introduced a new distribution model appeared in the US for the first time.

It might also be safe to say that the Western history of comic art started from Europe, specifically Franco-Belgian countries. Rodolphe Töpffer, the creator of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, published both the comic strips and the theory of the comic format in 1827. Right after Franco-Belgian comic began to dominate the European comic market, Alain Saint-Ogan, the creator of Zig et Puce, popularised the use of speech balloons. Following this success, the Franco-Belgian comic industry continued producing works that some of us now consider as timeless pieces, such as The Adventures of Tintin and The Adventures of Asterix.

Image: The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé

Manga is the terminology for Japanese comic which is said to originate from the 12th century. The word is derived from “man,” which means “rambling” or “aimless,” and “ga,” which means “picture.” Manga is also believed to be the basis of the left-to-right reading style in the country. Even so, the terminology itself only started to become commonly used in 1798 with the publication of Shiji no Yukikai picture book by Santo Kyoden, Manga Hyakujo by Aikawa Minwa and Hokusai manga books. Japan’s political history affected their manga industry directly in terms of theme. Some historians recorded the stress on preserving Japanese cultural and aesthetic traditions, while others emphasised the time of allied occupation of Japan, which then focused more on American cultural influence.

The post-war period was the time when there was a huge surge of manga production created by big names, such as Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy, and Hachiko Hasegawa, the creator of Sazae-san. Tezuka pioneered the “cinematographic” panel technique to show a slow-motion kind of dynamism widely used by many mangaka (manga artist) today. Meanwhile, Hasegawa focuses on women’s daily lives in her manga and her style became the prototype of the genre called shoujo manga (girls’ comic), one of the basic manga genres back in the time aside from shounen manga (boys’ comic).

In China, manhua, the Chinese terminology for Chinese literati painting, was introduced in the modern sense in 1925 even though it is the root of Japan’s manga. Chinese drawings and stone reliefs of the 11th century are the roots of modern manhua, which was born in the early 20th century. Palm-sized picture books lianhuanhua that were popular in Shanghai in the 1920s were said to be the predecessor of modern manhua.

Manhua was also used as a political propaganda tool during Sun Yat-sen’s reign to spread anti-Qing propaganda and even during the second Sino-Japanese War. When Japan occupied Hong Kong in 1941, manhua production was halted. Manhua artists also took part in the anti-Japanese war by fleeing big cities to spread anti-Japanese propaganda in rural areas using their art. Japan’s surrender in 1945 marked the beginning of the political mayhem between the Nationalists and the Communists.

Just like Japan’s manga, the term manhwa is a cognate of China’s manhua. In South Korea, the term came into popular use to refer to cartoons during the 1920s. However, during Japan’s occupation, all politically and socially critical manhwa productions were abandoned to create more humorous and child-friendly content. However, more political-social comics began to reemerge in 1948 even though censorship was still prevalent.

Image: Solo Leveling manhwa — Image: Solo Leveling *manhwa*

The popularity of manhwa grew in the 1950s and 1960s, and these periods introduced more diverse styles in the production. Some genres soon took off, such as sunjeong, the South Korean equivalent of Japan’s shoujo manga. Manhwabang or comic cafes soon became popular and provided easier public access to manhwa. In mid-1960s, the government responded to the increasing activity in the manhwa industry by enforcing the censorship law.

Even if most of the comic books we grew up with are probably foreign products, comic is very much embedded in Indonesians’ daily life, even since prehistoric times. In his dissertation, Marcel Bonneff (1998) found that the comic culture in Indonesia is rooted as far as the reliefs on Prambanan and Borobudur, which tell stories in pictures that are carved onto the walls.

There is also wayang beber, a type of wayang that is performed using a beberan or a sheet of leather or paper painted with scenes of the story. According to Kitab Sastro Mirudo, wayang beber was created in 1928 with Condro Sengkolo, Gunaning Bujonggo Nembah Ing Dewo.

In 1930, the first modern Indonesian comic, or cergam (cerita bergambar/visualised story) was produced by Malay-Chinese creators, such as Put On by Kho Wang Gie that was published in the Sin Po newspaper. More Malay-Chinese creators followed with works such as Si Tolol in Star Magazine and Oh Koen. There was also a cergam based on a Sumatran folktale called Mentjari Poetri Hidjaoe (Seeking The Green Princess) by Nasroen A. S. published in Ratoe Timore weekly.

During Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the local press was functioning as Japanese propaganda media, but there were some cergams being circulated, such as Pak Laloer and Roro Mendoet. The influence of American comic books only began to spread in Indonesia as the Tarzan strips became locally publicised in 1947. During the golden age in 1953, characters such as Sri Asih - which is heavily influenced by Wonder Woman - created by R. A. Kosasih and Nina Putri Rimba by Djoni Lukman brought a new colour to the Indonesian comic industry.

However, in 1954, comic books of Western origin were protested followed with a call to destroy them. During this time, Indonesian comic industry players tried many things to keep the industry alive. Some adapted Indonesian folklore, history and culture to produce more “locally sourced” comic books, such as Lahirlah Gatotkatja (Gatotkatja is Born) by Keng Po, Raden Palasara by Djoni Lukman and the Mahabarata series by R. A. Kosasih.

The 1960s became the golden era for comic books in Medan when Casao, a comic publication, published stories with Minangkabau, Tapanuli and old Deli themes. There was a surge of nationalistic and patriotic themes in 1963, where most comic books would focus on national heroes and the wars they fought. It only became even worse after the ’65 Killing. Most of the comics circulated during the time were heavily politicised and the artists could not label their works. Some were also suspected and taken in for interrogation.

Comic books accused of moral degradation were soon confiscated and destroyed. During this time, comic artists united to form an organisation called IKASTI (Ikatan Seniman Tjergamis Indonesia/Indonesian Comic Artists League). Shortly after the formation of IKASTI, the country started to allow international comic books to circulate and to be published locally.

Our history heavily affected the build in our own comic industry and just like any other publication, no form of art is free from the will of the authorities, including comic/manga/manhua/manhwa/cergam, whatever you may call it. With that substantial background, some might wonder, where are Indonesian comics? Where can we find them and what they must go through today to compete with this endless surge of high-quality comics from all over the world? That is a story for another day.