SINGAPORE
Illustrated Orchids, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Arbiter Technologies Pte Ltd which has two creative development studios in India, launched two new comics, Bollywood and Santa Banta & Trendy, in Singapore in November. They expect to launch the series, and two others, in India in the next year. Also being planned is the launch of e-comics, which will be sold through their website, and mobile comics in Singapore in association with ComiAsia. (From the Animation 'xpress web site, December 2005)
"Singapore is using a comic book to promote courtesy with the aim of reaching a wider audience than the newspaper advertisements, television commercials and posters it has previously relied on in a 15-year drive to encourage Singaporeans to be more polite." (From the South China Morning Post, December '94)
INDONESIA
In September 1999, Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia [the Indonesian Bible Society] carried out a Scripture Distribution program to several hundred thousand refugees in camps in East Timor. They distributed 5,000 Bibles and several thousand Bible Comics, the latter being given out to any child or young person who could read them. The pastors and workers in the camps reported that the Bible Comics were very popular and especially appreciated. (From the Bible Society's World Report, Asia Pacific, Feb 2000)
"Following the resignation of [Indonesia's] President Soeharto in May 1998 ... a more liberal attitude towards the press has also manifested itself in the book publishing world ... One interesting trend that emerged in 1998 was the publication of a steady stream of slim monographs, known as 'buku cepat' or quick books ... There were a few reasons for this trend to slim publications [including the fact that] cheaper publications are likely to sell in larger numbers ... Comic books with a political theme have also sold very well the first being one on Amien Rais." (From a paper entitled "Freedom of the Press" on the National Library of Australia web page, August 1999)
Fearing unrest and riots during a vote for a new Parliament in Indonesia, a Jakarta research center distributed a voters' information booklet with cartoons which discouraged violent behavior and warned of the consequences of election failure. (From a May '99 AP Story)
Japanese manga/comics are read all over Asia, but, until recently, many of the copies sold in other Asian countries were pirated versions. Now Asian economies are developing systems for licensing publication of translated editions from the Japanese creators. The percentage of pirated manga has fallen to about 10% in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In some countries such as Indonesia, however, pirate editions still account for 80% of all manga publications. (From 1996 articles in the Nikkei Weekly and the Economist)
MALAYSIA
"LAT (Mohamed Nor Khalid) is one of the most-read and prolific cartoonists in Southeast - if not all of - Asia, and with the continued, widespread reprinting and translating of his cartoons, he is gaining worldwide fame... His annual compilations of his strips into books [have been] extremely successful [with] one, Kampung Boy, selling more than 100,000 copies. The first print [of] 60 or 70,000... sold out within three or four months and it had to be reprinted. For a country like Malaysia, that response is a big amount. [His comics have] a very wide range for an audience [including] children, intellectuals, and probably politicians who are fans." (From an article on, and interview with, LAT in '86 and '98, on the LatHouse web site)
"The Gila-Gila Magazine [Malaysian cartoonists' magazine] first started in 1978, [as a] replica of Mad [American comics magazine]. Half a dozen different magazines like Gila-Gila are now published [including] Gelihati, Homor, Guli-Guli [a series in the Sunday Comics], Batu Api, Mat Jenin, and Toyol. The circulation of Gila-Gila, the highest, was 100,000 copies per issue, bi-weekly, but now [has] gone down...to about 80,000. The rest [sell] about 20,000 to 30,000 copies each. (From an interview with Malaysian cartoonist LAT, on the LatHouse web site)
AUSTRALIA
"Australian comics' ... 'heyday' [was] from the mid-1920s to the late 1950s ... The comic did not re-emerge as a major publishing form in Australia until the 1980s ... Support for Australian titles is growing, and justifiably so." (From BONZER, the book of Australian comics,1998)
"From its beginnings Australia has built up a great tradition of black and white art, cartoons and comics. Aboriginal bark and rock paintings often used continuous images to tell a 'Dreamtime' story. Early settlers and aborigines in Tasmania were shown in a comic how they would receive the same treatment if they harmed each other." (From the founder of a large publishing & design organisation in Australia in 1998)
BURMA
"[During] a trip to Burma... I saw everyone from 60 year old women to policemen reading comics. Those who produce Shan literature use educational comics already. We are committed to developing Shan literature for teaching in the church and also to aid in evangelism... It seems to me that the best thing to do would be to develop at least some of our materials in cartoon format also." (From a missionary worker in Thailand)
CAMBODIA
Cambodian government officials publicized the country's first census in more than 30 years with a five-month media campaign that included television, radio, and comic books. (From a March '98 AP story)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
"Bible Comics are being translated in an increasing number of languages [in Papua New Guinea]. Literacy remains an important part of our ministry... Comics have also been used in building up the reading skills of newly-literate people." (From a Bible Society Annual Report on work in Papua New Guinea, 1998)
ASIA-PACIFIC
(General)
"Bible comics are very popular in this [Asia Pacific] region - among adults as well as children - and there are many other Bible products available too... The elderly, children, drug addicts, the poor, and immigrants are just a few of the groups being reached." (From The British and Foreign Bible Society web site, 2000)
Japanese manga/comics are read all over Asia, but, until recently, many of the copies sold in other Asian countries were pirated versions. Now Asian economies are developing systems for licensing publication of translated editions from the Japanese creators. The percentage of pirated manga has fallen to about 10% in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In some countries such as Indonesia, however, pirate editions still account for 80% of all manga publications. In South Korea, the government forbids the import of Japanese films, pop songs and comics. But, despite being illegal, Japanese manga have already captured about 70% of the local comic market with pirate copies. (From 1996 articles in the Nikkei Weekly and the Economist)
"In the past, distribution problems in Asia made following weekly US comic series difficult but today many people in the region have good access to the muscle-bound superheroes' latest adventures. It is still early days but the comics have won a firm following in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, while Thailand, Japan and Taiwan look likely to follow suit... [but still] far more Japanese and Hong Kong titles are sold in Asia than American comics." (From a TimesNet ASIA article, Feb '95)
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