Academic
Every culture has their own origin stories. Tales of ancient gods and heroes legitimise political lineages, justify occupancy of lands and foster tribal unity…
FOMO Art Weekend organised by OICsingapore happened on the first weekend of December at *SCAPE. As a mini event preparing for the resurrection of Illustration Arts Festival (IAF) which…
A large proportion of local comic creators have cited Japanese manga as their greatest source of inspiration and influence in their formative…
Apart from the predominantly English-language driven superhero genre, comics from East Asia…
Singaporean themes need not be tied to realistic local subject matters and settings…
Two kingdoms vie for power over the Malaccan Straits: Te Johor Sultanate under Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah III, a rising power in the east born from the ashes of Melaka…
The predecessor of all modern comics came from caricatures and cartoons in humour magazines…
A kitten boards the ship of Parameswara, a prince on the run from Majapahit forces after his failed uprising. Leaving behind the beautiful lands of Nusantara, they end up on the shores of Temasek…
Singaporeans are fortunate. We enjoy access to a wide array of food, consumer products and…
Similar to the state of cartooning in Malaysia after independence, the early years of Singapore nationhood was one of social consensus building. Cartoons in newspapers were expected to play the role of supporting government policies and campaigns.
Independence does not necessarily equate to freedom. In 1957, Malaya gained its independence while Singapore would remain under British rule until 1959 when it was given self-government status (British authorities still retained control of defense and foreign affairs).
Comics/cartoons in the modern sense arrived with colonialism. Early manuscripts such as Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals) have existed in the Malay States before British control of the area. But newspapers came with the British merchants who needed shipping and entertainment news…
To write about the global history of comics, especially for former colonies like Malaysia and Singapore, is a challenging task. There are three difficulties: chronology, geography and representation…