SCC's Comics Talk

One only has to glance through the pages of the Eisner-Award winning “The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye”, by Sonny Liew, to see the development of comic book art in Asia over the last several decades. True, the titular character created by Sonny is fictional – but Chan Hock Chye’s journey illustrates the myriad influences that have flowed into the region over the years, and some ways in which they were adapted and transformed by local culture.

Ratings out of 5 stars.   The Mighty Skullboy Army Vol 1 Story/Art: Jacob Chabot Dark Horse Books The great thing about visiting cons or festivals is that it gives you a chance to browse through new (or old) works that you have not encountered before. Jacob Chabot, an invited guest of this year’s STGCC, is someone I have not known about. Picked up the first volume of The Mighty Skullboy Army and was surprised to find out it’s been around since 2000. This volume one collects the self-published mini-comics from 2000 to 2006 and was originally published in 2007. This reformatted second edition came out in 2015, which boasts a new cover and over 30 revised story pages. The premise is hilarious. What if your villainous CEO of an evil MNC (Skullboy) needs to go to a primary school because he is, well, too young to be that evil...

Ratings out of 5 stars. Shipment only came on Thursday. Swamp Thing and A-Force courtesy of Absolute Comics (Plaza Singapura).   Swamp Thing #3 Story: Len Wein Art: Kelly Jones DC Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson created the Swamp Thing 45 years ago and Wein returns to the character he is best known for (other than the Bronze Age X-Men). DC has paired him up with an artist who is firmly in the Wrightson school, Kelly Jones. This should be a dream team, except Wein is writing this title as if it is still in the 1970s. Not his fault entirely as Alan Moore’s retcon of the Swamp Thing’s origins (‘The Anatomy Lesson” of 1984) has itself been retconned in 2011 as part of The New 52. Alec Holland is back as the Swamp Thing and he is trying to be human again – what’s the point? In this issue,...

We have stories to tell. Singaporeans, I mean. Which isn't the same as saying that we have stories about Singapore to tell. Yes, there's a place for stories about growing up in Toa Payoh or kampong life – but we're capable of more than that. On the other end of the spectrum, that doesn’t mean we have to carve out our own Marvel or DC universes either. And while that’s not to say that we can't create our own superheroes, we're still capable of more than that too. So, what exactly are we capable of? Well, you don’t really need me to tell you. People talk a lot about the Singapore comic scene as if it’s some elusive phenomenon, or still in its gestation – but we already have comics out there that we can proudly point to as Singaporean, either because of the creators behind them or their subject...

As Singapore gears up for STGCC and the General Elections in September, the region is going abuzz with comic and toy conventions, which gives you an idea of the kind of creatives we have in Southeast Asia and the big money that is generated through pop culture. For some of us, pop matters more than politics. In the month of August itself, two major conventions took place in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Metro Manila, the Philippines. The latter was held Komikon Indieket 2015 at Pasig City while the city of Jakarta played host to Popcon Asia 2015. I had the privilege to attend Popcon Asia 2015, which was a great event for local comics and original IP. Held over three days at the Jakarta Convention Centre, this was my second time to Popcon and it was bigger than ever. Estimates given were that 37,000 attended this 4th edition of Popcon...