Garudayana: best Indonesian comic?

"If someday a PVC figure of Kinara appears on the store shelves, I'd buy that with no second thought :D"

It has been … a while since I read comic books, or manga for that matter. Well, truthfully, I mostly read manga back then, mainly Japanese, with moé and cutesy stuff, because I’m not comfortable with looking at bulky muscular men portrayed in US comic books or hardcore local ‘indie’ comics in Indonesia which mostly have this ‘Candy Candy’ or Panji Koming look and feel to them (though Panji Koming and Sawung Kampret is awesome, hands down, but I tend to put it in low priority initially, as would any other general comic/manga readers).

Just recently I attended the launching of ‘Koloni’, a local brand initiative for new generation of Indonesian comic, held by m&c!, one of the biggest, if not the most popular, comic and manga publishing company in this country. God, how I surprised by the major improvement of the Indonesian comic makers nowadays! They are so young and very talented, but the most important thing is that, out of 8 books (and authors, respectively) launched that day, I found out that more than half of that is much suitable for my tastes. The most interesting and of course, most anticipated title is ‘Garudayana’ written and illustrated by Is Yuniarto. The question is: HOW good is that comic? Made in less than 3 months? Really?

Among all the Indonesian comic book diversity, I have a soft spot for everything Wind Rider. It’s one of the local comic which dare to strip all the indie flavouring (or self-proclaimed ‘Indonesian comic’ identities) and step into a pure, fictional direction. When it seems that everyone is going the ‘romance’ stuff, they invent a brave, new world of science-fiction, and even post-apocalyptic imagery and storytelling, most prominently found in Knights of the Apocalypse which spanned into 3 volumes/trilogy. Behind these titles are Is Yuniarto, John C. Reinhart and Aswin.

When I heard that Garudayana is launched, this piqued my interest to full throttle. A bit of it died, though, knowing that Is Yuniarto did all the illustration and storywriting without John and Aswin. But then the good news is that this comic has a huge chance of being recognized outside of Indonesia, because the primary mission of ‘Koloni’ comic initiative by m&c! is to sell the select titles overseas. Great job, I must say. Now on to the contents.

The art and style is not that much different to the usual ‘teamwork’ of Wind Rider Studio. There, I said it. I was thinking to ask about this in the press conference but I never got the chance. It seems that solo work can be as good as a teamwork in some occassions. Great, consistent artwork, and nice setting of the plot and characters swayed me into reading more. The main girl character, Kinara is a moé treasure hunter and a bit of a klutz. If that doesn’t sound typically Japan to you, I don’t know what else to refer. (replace term 'moé' with 'ca'em', if you like) She accidentally found a Garuda in a form of an unhatched egg in an old, abandoned temple. Problem is, that Garuda is on the feast menu of the legendary beast Ashura, which only Gatotkaca can deal with. Well, things got a bit more hectic when eventually the egg hatched into a tiny ‘Garu’, which can transform into many forms, including a small boy (but he still pecks the ground when eating, which is hilarious). Along the journey of Kinara to many places, we will meet the three brothers of Punakawan: Gareng, Petruk and Bagong. They are the source of many comic relief in this comic. Especially when they created a ‘Kereta Kencana’ vehicle that looks and works like a three-wheeled Harley-Davidson. Also expect to see many characters from ‘pewayangan’ such as Nakula, Sadewa, Semar, Yudhistira, Arjuna, and many more. I’m not –THAT- surprised when I saw Arjuna portrayed as a pretty boy elven archer, I swear.

If you prefer some romance and drama, you won’t find it here. There are seriously intense fighting scenes with bruises and fancy effects in this comic. Also, the amount of humor is abundant, which makes the whole book comfortable to read and not even a teeny weeny bit boring. The storyline is clearly written, and there is a nice ending to book one that makes you want to read the story even more (is that a Pancasila reference?). Don’t worry though, Is confirmed that the next volume will be even a bigger blast. Overall, this is undoubtedly one of the best Indonesian-made comic I’ve read. Not as deep as Knight of Apocalypse, in my opinion, but still has that touch of ‘Wind Rider’ style we all know and love.

Some notes: When I was working in Advance Magazine, I used to dwelve a lot into comic scene. It crossed my mind that the topic of ‘Indonesian comic style’ is always debatable. I feel that I have to reiterate what Is said about this: “A comic that was made by Indonesian is naturally an Indonesian Comic”. We might have not found our comic style yet, but as long as it’s good to read, it’s always a GOOD thing. Stop the retarded arguments about being ‘indie style’ and support these comic authors. Buy the comics!

Back then I also hoped that somebody can make a killer formula to mix Indonesian lores and legends (which I’m honestly not that interested in) into an interesting and kickass comic that I, and everyone else can enjoy. I think Garudayana is -that- dream come true. Oh, and Gunblades can go away in hell fire, Crossbow Keris FTW!!