On Saturday (5/8), Indonesian entertainment company BumiLangit presented a talkshow at PopCon Asia 2017 about their latest project called BumiLangit [R]evolusi. The speakers of the talkshow are representatives from BumiLangit, Is Yuniarto, Oyasujiwo, and Iwan Nazif. With the slogan “Respect the past, embrace the future“, the company aims to bring its legacy of Indonesian comics to another level.
BumiLangit itself is an intellectual property-based company that manages the rights to classic Indonesian comic book characters. The company itself was actually started in 2003, but traces its origins to 1954, the year one of the pioneering Indonesian comic by the late maestro RA Kosasih, Sri Asih, was published for the first time. The General Manager is young comic artist Is Yuniarto, who also work directly in the projects.
The name BumiLangit itself has its own philosophy. Bumi, which means earth, represents the warriors who are “normal humans” who have the ability to fight. While langit, which means sky, represents the superheroes who have fantastic powers which can be “inherited from the heavens or sky”.
BumiLangit [R]evolusi is a project to ‘revive’ the legacy of old Indonesian comics. The project was teased in the early 2017 and was launched in the third week of May 2017 with Si Buta dari Gua Hantu (The Blind Warrior of the Haunted Cave) and Maza: Prince of Dream being published in the same week on BumiLangit official Facebook page. Each comic is handled by different teams of young and creative comic artists.
BumiLangit [R]evolusi features eight heroes who represents eight elements. Si Buta dari Gua Hantu (originally created by Ganes TH) represents earth, Maza (originally created by Hasmi) represents wood, Aquanus (originally created by Wid NS) represents water, Mandala (originally created by Mansyur Daman) represents wind, Sri Asih (originally created by RA Kosasih) represents sky, Gundala (originally created by Hasmi) represents lightning, Virgo (originally created by Jan Mintaraga) represents fire, and lastly, Godam (originally created by Wid NS) represents metal. Each of the series are drawn in different art styles, such as realistic art for Si Buta dari Gua Hantu, while comic-like styles are used for Aquanus and Maza.
BumiLangit Senior Editor, Oyasujiwo, also explained that all these heroes exist in a shared universe so that the stories will link to each other at some point. Not only that, Oyas also said that though only eight heroes are being presented this year, there is a possibility for the project to be expanded so that many other heroes in BumiLangit’s library can be presented in the coming years.
Until the date of PopCon 2017, four out of the eight planned comics have been published online on the Facebook page of BumiLangit, which are Si Buta dari Gua Hantu, Maza: Prince of Dream, Aquanus, and Sri Asih. The next comic in the project, Virgo and the Sparklings, will be released online in August 2017, but on the LINE Webtoon platform. The work on Mandala and Gundala are still ongoing, while the work on Godam has yet to be started. BumiLangit announced that there is an open recruitment to be a part of Godam creative team, and invites interested young artists to submit the portfolio of their works at BumiLangit’s booth at PopCon Asia 2017.
In addition, the print edition of Si Buta dari Gua Hantu is also sold as exclusive release at BumiLangit’s booth at PopCon The buyers can also ask for autographs and drawings from the comic artists. The choice of Si Buta dari Gua Hantu to lead the start of the [R]evolusi project and the launch of its print edition is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first publication of the character.
At the end of the talk show, BumiLangit also announced winners of script and cosplay competitions that they held.
The Popular Culture Convention Asia, or Popcon Asia for short, is an annual event for contents related to creative industry, mainly comics, movies, toys, games, and animations which is organized by Revata Cipta Kreasi (Kreavi). As a platform to support local creative industry, Popcon Asia has become an event for collaboration and networking among creators, brands, medias, government representatives, and other related people who have a common goal, which is growing creative industry in Asia. The event itself will be held for the sixth time in 5-6 August 2017 at Jakarta Convention Center, Senayan.
The Indonesian Anime Times | Reports and photos by Zacky Dhaffa Pratama
