Good news for Indonesian Comic Fans! The second volume of Wanara, a comic series produced by Sweta Kartika under KOSMIK IP Agency, finally released. Moreover, not only the second volume is released, but Wanara Vol. 1 also got reprinted. For Sweta, this achievement means he manages to convey the ideas of his comic to the readers.
This comic, which tells story about The struggle of Seta and Five Mandalas against Bos Panda’s evil crime, created as a reflection of Indonesian comic industry. In this comic, Sweta set the story in a city where the crime goes rampant because the senior superheroes start to become old and not as strong as it used to be. Panca, a senior superhero, actively gathers potential youngster and trains them to become a superhero.
This condition is similar to Sweta’s experience as a comic creators in Indonesian comic industry. We used to have many senior comic creators with extraordinary works. Unfortunately, the younger generation eventually have to take their position. Many senior comic creators already changed their professions, but some of them still actively create their comic while at the same time train their apprentices.
The Concept of Balance in Wanara 2
With the story that heavily inspired by local culture, this comic is actually produced about 6 years ago. The first Wanara’s manuscript was made in December 2010. Later, 2 chapters of this comic was published online as webcomic in Makko.co website in May 2011. At that time, Sweta had to finished about 30 pages a month while studying for his master degree and working on other illustrations. However, the hardest part for him was to present good story that can be enjoyed by the readers.
Both Wanara Vol. 1 and Wanara Vol. 2 had been through the same creative process: about 20-32 pages of comic drawn each month. The difference is, Sweta was doing much more researches in the second book. For 2 months in 2012, he traveled to 3 different cities to interview some resourceful informants. At that time, Sweta also prepared for his thesis exam.
While Sweta focused on the development of Wanara heroes in the first book, the second book will lead to something bigger. In every dialog, Sweta wants to emphasize on the concept of balance, which means if a variable of the universe is destroyed, it will influence the other aspect of life, creating chain reaction. If this happens, nature will adapt mysteriously to restore the balance.
“I hope readers can understand the core idea of this story because it has strong spiritual value in it. If readers can take that value, it probably would lead to awareness in doing deeds.“
When developing the story, Sweta took many movies as references. From those movies, Sweta learned about pacing, plot structure, and how to develop a solid character. Some of movies that strongly influenced him are Watchmen and Zack Snyder’s movies. Occasionally, He also used National Geographic Broadcast as reference.
Wanara Vol.2 is available in the bookstore. This comic is officially released in Pasar Komik Bandung (Bandung Comic Market) on 14 May, 2017.
The Indonesian Anime Times | The information provided are the views of the provider of the press release and does not represent the views of KAORI Nusantara and The Indonesian Anime Times
