Ngobrolin Komik

by Seno Gumira Ajidarma

Ngobrolin Komik merupakan buku terbaru dari Seno Gumira Ajidarma. Buku ini membicarakan banyak hal tentang komik, mulai dari stigma komik hingga masalah kebudayaan. Mulai dari awal kemunculannya hingga periode keemasannya.

Komik-komik yang diperbincangkan dalam buku ini pun tak melulu hanya komik dalam negeri, namun juga komik-komik luar negeri. Mulai dari komik-komik gubahan R.A. Kosasih hingga komik luar, seperti Donal Bebek hingga Tintin.

Walau komik sempat dilarang peredarannya pada dekade 1950—1960-an, namun ternyata hal tersebut tidak lantas memengaruhi pertumbuhan industri komik pada saat itu, dan malah memasuki era keemasannya di tahun 1970-an.

470 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2021

About the author

Seno Gumira Ajidarma is a writer, photographer, and also a film critic. He writes short stories, novel, even comic book.

He has won numerous national and regional awards as a short-story writer. Also a journalist, he serves as editor of the popular weekly illustrated magazine Jakarta-Jakarta. His piece in this issue is an excerpt from his novel "Jazz, Parfum dan Insiden", published by Yayasan Bentang Budaya in 1996.

Mailing-list Seno Gumira fans:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/senogum...

Reviews

[Desca Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is taken from my bookstagram IG @descanto

The books are given by the publishers in exchange for an honest review. My longer article/review related to this book is going to be published soon in different platform.

Ngobrolin Komik (Let's Talk about Comic Books) is a compilation of essay writings by the Indonesian journalist and writer Seno Gumira Ajidarma. Seno - as we Indonesians call him, tries to unveil the hidden agenda carried in several comic books. He doesn't limit his discourses to the Indonesian (local) comic books like those written by Kosasih, Jan Mintaraga, Teguh Santoso, Zaldy or Hans Jaladara but also to those non-Indo like Tin-Tin, Superman, Batman, and the most familiar one: Donald Duck.

Seno goes throughout the history of those books esp the local ones while rising his concern about the problem in documenting the Indonesian comic books. What I admire the most from his writings is his ways of unveiling the ideology behind those comic books. The so-considered crucial but heavy issues about urbanisation, capitalism, masculinity, feminist thought along with other issues are narrated in simple and casual style, making it easy to follow for the readers which may be unfamiliar with such concepts.

Ngobrolin Komik also comes with another comic book entitled Macan (Tiger) in a package (mine did). Seno writes its story while Thomdean is responsible for the illustration. The story is so profound and my heart constricts seeing the human's cruelty towards animals which is depicted vividly in this comic.

In this book, the people in a certain village hunt a tiger down, thinking that this tiger may harm them and their domesticated animals while in fact this tiger does not even kill anyone yet. Little that these villagers know, the tiger also leaves a family: wife and children in its den. Their hatred toward wild animal lead them to ignore another issue related with the cattle theft in their village; done by other human beings made of flesh and blood. What can we say? A human can be more brutal than an animal itself. So heartbreaking and sad.

This book is available to purchase for an affordable price. Simply contact @shiramedia @pabriktulisan_ or the closest (independent) bookstore nearby.

[Agung Wicaksono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sebelumnya, saya mengenal Seno Gumira Ajidarma dari beberapa karya fiksi dan kumpulan esai yang membahas tentang sastra dan gaya hidup metropolitan. Namun, ternyata saya menemukan kumpulan esainya yang lain yang membahas tentang komik. Di sini, ia menjelaskan tentang perkembangan komik, khususnya di Indonesia, dari tahun 1950-an sampai masa kontemporer. Saya pun mendapatkan pengetahuan baru dari buku ini. Sebab, sebelum saya bisa menyukai novel atau cerpen yang hanya berisi kata-kata, buku komik-lah yang sering saya baca karena saya lebih suka buku yang ada gambarnya. Selain itu, saya juga jadi memahami tentang penyebutan apakah buku cerita bergambar ini disebut "komik" atau "novel grafis". Sebab, kata "komik" lebih cenderung bersifat humor sedangkan "novel grafis" bersifat lebih serius atau layak disebut karya sastra.

[Lila Kurnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

teorisasi komik belum ada di sini, jadi pakai pinjaman berbagai teori dari luar, tetapi usaha menelaah komik indonesia harus diapresiasi karena sesungguhnya komik indonesia kaya akan topik khas dan topik khas sini.

[Buaya Dayat · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Komik adalah anak haram dari hubungan gelap sastra dan seni rupa"(Jan Mintaraga).
Selain kutipan satir komikus terkemuka tersebut, SGA juga mengupas mulai dari Si Buta, Gober, Si Juki, Tintin hingga Mahabharata.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

151 - 2021