Cerita: Sapto Rahardjo (Athonk)
Gambar: Sapto Rahardjo (Athonk)
Dimensi: A5, Xeroxed 1994

Komik ini adalah karya seorang seniman tato. Selain komik ini dia juga membuat komik “oldskull” komik humor tentang tengkorak berambut mohawk yang mempunyai selera humor yang cukup membuat kita berpikir sebentar sebelum tertawa. Tapi saat ini saya cuma akan membahas “Bad Time Story”. komik ini tampaknya dibuat saat peserta pemilu cuma terdiri dari tiga warna. Isinya kritik- kritik sosial terhadap politik dan juga religi, tapi dengan gaya humor yang rock and roll.  Ga sedikit cameo cameo dari slogan- slogan atau lirik-lirik lagu legendaris ber-tebaran di seisi komik ini sebagai pelengkap dan penyambung jalan cerita.
Berkisah tentang petualangan malaikat neraka yang penuh suka duka, dari jalan- jalan sampai perselisihan mereka dengan malaikat surga. Karakter- karakter disini digambarkan dengan menarik, di-mana menjadi kurva-kurva bermata dan bermulut dan bersayap. Tidak lupa ekor dan tanduk untuk malaikat neraka, dan lingkaran cahaya untuk malaikat surga. Jalan cerita berjalan runut, dengan tidak terlalu cepat atau terlalu lambat, karena komikus tidak terbatasi oleh deadline dan limit halaman. [review oleh eric dikutip dari www.deathrockstar.tk]  Thursday, July 08, 2004

http://review_indicomic.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_review_indicomic_archive.html

http://review_indicomic.blogspot.com/2004/07/bad-times-story.html

• Paint it Black in Daliland: Introduction to the Bad Times Story   (originally appeared in the sleeve of Athonk's Bad Times Story)

This first published edition of Athonk's Bad Times Story is likely a major breakthrough in the art of comic artistry in Indonesia. Since the golden age of Indonesian comics, back in the 1960s through 70s (which died with accusations of subversion and denounced as garbage and poison), the local comic industry has been overrun by foreign comics. Beginning with the 1980s, translations of Donald Duck, Spiderman, Flash Gordon and other American and European favorites have filled the book shop shelves, while their Indonesian native cousins wallow in the dust of neglect, if, that is, they can even be found in the storage bins. By the end of the 80s, translations of Japanese and Chinese comics such as Dragon Ball, Candy, and Kung Fu Boy entered the local scene with their more "eastern" styles of story-telling and drawing. Indonesian comics, reduced to the efforts of a handful of artists who tend to present witty and often sarcastic social commentary, appear only in newspapers, one page of the Sunday comics supplement, and in weekly magazines.

It was not just the success in sales of foreign comics that has squeezed the local varieties off the shelves. Since production expenses and the time it takes to publish local stories are much greater than buying the rights to established foreign comics, local producers have little incentive to support local artists. Furthermore, Indonesian comic artists now copy presentation styles of foreign comics, neglecting their own history and perspectives on humor or traditions of story-telling, making their own efforts seem obsolete or inferior. With no opportunities for publication now, and a fairly dead tradition, comic artistry seemed to have taken its final bow. In light of such a sad history, Athonk's effort here should indeed be recognized as a rarity. Born in Semarang into a military family, Athonk claims to have grown up drawing comics, most of which were borrowed and circulated by friends. With an obvious talent for drawing, he insists pictures without words are empty. This comic influence does very clearly appear in his posters, graphics, and sketches with their brightly colored, cheerful and rather chaotic little mosaics of activity splashed over with words, names, places, events. Closer inspection however, reveals there is an awful lot more going on within these frames than viewers would initially recognize. Each contorted frame within the jumbled mass depicts actual and symbolic events in Indonesian history as well as the artist's own history as a citizen of Indonesia. The idealism of youth mixes right in with some rather biting social and political commentary. Yet my own dilemma in writing this introduction rests in how to assist readers in knowing where one ends and the other begins. First inspection of the Bad Times Story reveals that all the main characters are devils. Yet, a demonic appearance does not necessarily signify evil just as Athonk's own appearance, a fondness for punk gear, chains, and a Mohawk haircut, does not signify a rejection of his Javanese heritage. Nothing is necessarily what it would seem and all things must be taken for their own merit. Such a seemingly simple statement, however, resonates with an objectivity that is rare and even outlawed in the de-politicized world of modern Indonesia. But what have devils with halos, punks in conservative Java, and questions of good and evil have to do with Indonesian politics? As the artist writes, the Bad Times Story is "a story of an endless warfare". But where is this war? It is a war of independence from oppression, the battle to be an individual, to speak freely and question the rules of order. It is a battle to survive in whatever way one sees fit. But in the narrow confines of local society, this translates as a battle for the right to chose one's own road, one's own means of expression in a world where such freedoms are illegal. Thus, as in Athonk's everyday life, the idealism of youth, the social pressures to conform, and major questions of which is good and which is truly evil despite all appearances, ring throughout this story. Linguistically also, the Bad Times Story needs explanation. It is written in an English that the artist insists must not be 'corrected'. Having grown up in the sharply contrasting environments of a military base in Semarang and Jalan Sosrowijayan in Yogyakarta, Athonk learnt English through frequent associations with tourists and the other local youths who make their living serving them in the Sosro area. This comic is, then, written in what is generally termed "Sosro" English. But there are some fascinating twists here. Since Athonk is also an avid rock and roll, film, and American culture fan, he has a uniquely vast vocabulary of rock lyrics, quotes, clichés, and other formulaic phrases through which he communicates. Not all of these clichés are presented here in their recognizable forms and many have been superimposed upon others. For example, the "Angel in Disguise" is on a mission to "seek and destroy" in order to satisfy his "appetite of destruction", and the "first falling" is followed by the "second coming". "Holy WOW" and the frequent jumbling of rock lyrics might seem a bit confusing to the non-native English speaker, especially those who are not rock connoisseurs. Meanwhile, long term Rolling Stones fans will have a distinct advantage here where no attempts are made to disguise blatant borrowing. Regardless of how 'odd' the language may seem, English is the language of free speech and expression, and as such, it is the language of choice even for those who may not be proficient enough to pass as native users. Clearly, proficiency is not Athonk's concern, while careful reading displays a much more biting social criticism than could ever be expressed in a more conventional language. Readers should keep in mind that even though they may recognize the source of the lyric or cliché, nothing is necessarily what it may seem. In terms of visual symbols, the three devils we accompany through their adventures frequently reveal themselves to be just as blind, deaf, and mute as the three monkeys in many other popular cultures. Such ignorance is not at all coincidental. The formulaicity of their language mirrors the limitations on freedom of speech and creative expression so common in this modern world. The stone heads of Easter Island and Poso, Sulawesi are also introduced here with Athonk's own twist. They are given the facial features of Salvador Dali and are located in a tropical island paradise called "Daliland". Why Dali? Firstly, Athonk's father's name is Dalijo. Second, one of the major art movements in Indonesia is Surrealism with Dali as the major influence. Daliland then is symbolic of the Indonesian art circles that have censored Athonk's artwork as too political, preventing him from public exhibition. While first appearances may not seem terribly striking, look closer at these Daliland figures and you will see how militaristic their features are. These statues are then huge, ever-present, overwhelming military figures, staring out over and threatening everything that occurs on Daliland. This edition of the Bad Times Story includes the first two episodes of the first exclusively Indonesian original comic book to be presented in years. In light of all of our struggles to reach maturity with at least a meager understanding of good and bad, right and wrong, we should hail Athonk's efforts here as a brave and highly personal account of the conflicts associated with such development in Indonesia. Yet despite the periodic and occasionally serious limitations placed on his own freedoms, Athonk continues to battle against the forces of both good and evil, never quite knowing which is which. The idealism of youth prevails in his own attempts at understanding what freedom of expression may mean. Such an effort deserves both respect and support. Selamat membaca!  Laine Berman, Ph.D.  Yogyakarta, 11 November, 1995 http://www.geocities.com/laineberman/BadTimesIntro.htm

• http://www.qdcomic.com/artists/athonk2btimes.htm same review as above, different link page.

• http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/rri/irri/indones.htm Michigan State University Library Catalogue

  Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division, Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection

  INDONESIAN COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC.
     Bad Times Story : a Comicbook / by Athonk. -- Yogyakarta,
     Indonesia : Athönk Productions, 1997. -- 19 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. -- Self-published comic book

  . -- Call no.: PN6790 .I57    A75B3 1997
   

   

• The Comics Journal -Thrown to the Wolves http://www.tcj.com/3_online/w_review_badtimes.html

• Bad Times Story
  Athonk self-published

  A little while back, in a thread on the Journal's message board, I mentioned that I had yet to broach postmodernism in my reviews. Now, it seems, I cannot avoid it. Athonk's Bad Times Story is so obviously and deeply buried in a postmodern mindset that to critique it without a sensitivity to this tradition would be counterproductive. But first, Surrealism: Indonesian art, as the foreword explains, is heavily steeped in Surrealism. And Athonk, clearly a participant in the Surrealist tradition, has produced a work strongly imbued with dream-like qualities. Now, for the layman, when I say "Surrealism," it's best that you not envision Salvador Dali's melting clocks. That isn't likely to help you envision Athonk's work. Rather, it's instilled with very personal imagery, deep-seated metaphors, which run along without any real sense of structured chronology. Just like a dream. Things skip from moment to moment held together despite lacking any true narrative cohesion. Which brings me back to where I began...

  Athonk's piece is at the same time religious, political and psychological. Yet not in a manner constructed on the basis of commonly-held beliefs or experiences. Athonk's story is based on complicated metaphors he has not deigned to explain to his readers. The reader is, in essence, asked to interpret a reaction without a point of reference to the concepts which served to catalyze this reaction. It's not altogether unlike interpreting the dream of someone with whom one is utterly unfamiliar. In this sense, Athonk in fact has something in common with late pop-art master Keith Haring.  That's about as far as the parallel can be stretched however. Where Haring is iconic, Athonk's work is based on a more narrative template. Where Haring's art is clean and simple, Athonk's is sketchy and rough. Where Haring's iconic metaphors are as void of detail as possible, Athonk's are complicated and fully fleshed-out. Scott McCloud would argue, perhaps, that this allows the reader more of an opportunity to project into Haring's work; TCJ News Editor Michael Dean might disagree (and, in fact, inasmuch states this in his newest Online Editorial.)  I would have to side with McCloud on this one. Athonk's work is replete with odd semi-sequiturs used to, seemingly, comment on the action played out in the narrative -- elements which seem to attempt to fill out the holes in the story -- the interpretive holes, that is. Thus, while the work of Keith Haring seems to fall directly in line with postmodern reworking of Roman Ingarden's "spots of indeterminancy" -- that is, the reader is forced to fill in what the creator leaves out with elements from his or her own experience or imagination -- Athonk's work is a different animal. In Haring's case, each reader is left, in the end, with a wholly different interpretation of the work than every other (the concept is more complicated than this, but that's it in a nutshell). Conversely, what each of Athonk's little semi-sequiturs do is add a complicating factor to the simple formula of Haring's work. The reader is forced to interpret each of these clues and then apply those interpretations to the rest of the story. The other option (decidedly non-postmodern) is to try and figure out what Athonk meant by each of these elements. It's like following clues to some mysterious end. But, by the end of Bad Times Story the reader is no more enlightened as to the basis of Athonk's story than he was in the beginning. The detective method, apparently, isn't the way to go with this one. In the end, a reader's best bet is to look at Athonk's work as if one were peering through a scrying pool into someone's dreams. So, we come back to Surrealism.

  The art style Athonk adapts is not one particularly suited to pleasant dreams. The rough, scratchy penlines have a primal feel which, in concert with the unusual storytelling, gives the book a feeling of outsider art. Athonk certainly has a sense of depth and form, and knows how to portray it visually (the stone heads in the story are evidence enough of this). But he chooses, for the most part, to draw cute little angels (which bring to mind some mythic offspring of Carebears and the Shmoo) and hairy little devils (not altogether unreminiscent of that hairy little thing on The Barba Poppas). They're more iconic than Athonk is capable of, and I have to imagine he's attempting to use them to effect. Perhaps he's giving McCloud's theories some credit. Also, though, Bad Times Story is filled with misspellings (supposedly intentional) and other little elements which hint at an anarchic bent to Athonk's work. In the end, is Athonk's work good? I imagine he achieved much of what he set out to achieve. It's certainly stimulating in some respects. But is Athonk's work entertaining? Not particularly. This isn't a work you would choose to read on the bus between stops. I believe I'd like to meet the creator, or at least see some prose work by him, so as to give me a legend by which I might be helped to interpret the story. It might help get rid of this mental itch the book seems to have given me. -Darren Hick

  To better help you understand what they hell I'm talking about, I'd advise you get a copy of Bad Times Story. Contact Athonk in Indonesia at sapto_raharjo@hotmail.com or order Bad Times Story through Che Gilson's _Plastic Planet_ distro. (P.O. Box 2001, Hanford, California, 93232-2001, USA.) Alternatively, you can write to Athonk at: Sosrowijayan Wetan Gt. 1.77, Yogyakarta, 55271, Indonesia.

   

• http://komikazemedia.tripod.com/review.htm same review as above on Komikaze Media Indonesia

OLD SKULL - IN THE GARDEN  -  komik ini memperoleh

KOSASIH AWARD - The Best Indie Comic In Decade - Indonesia  2007

Features The adventures of Old Skull AsiaViews, Edition: 12/IV/Apr/2007 The Jakarta Arts Council organizes an exhibition of Yogyakarta’s underground cartoonists. One of them is Athonk, a punk rocker and tattooist.

WHILE being imprisoned for several months, Athonk, Yogyakarta’s cartoonist and tattoo artist, produced instead his unique works. Excerpts of these works are included in the exhibition of 10 Yogyakarta underground cartoonists being held at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. Athonk features Old Skull, the character he created in 2001 while he was still in prison.
Old Skull is quite different from other cartoon characters. He has a terrifying appearance. His looks resemble a skull. His hair is Mohawk-styled, but he is actually a very simple man. This character is behind bars and is involved in funny miseries. “I went through a lot of experiences while in prison,” said Athonk, who was born Sapto Rahardjo. Mid this year he will publish this “prison edition,” a book about 200 pages thick.
An Australian observer once said that Athonk’s comic strips had the spirit of zamisdat—a term usually referring to the underground literary movement in Eastern Europe when the communist regimes were still in power. Athonk’s first comic strip, Bad Times Story, appeared in the 1990s. It contains social criticism of the general elections and religions. The comic strip came out in a rock ‘n’ roll style, with a lot of quotations from the lyrics of underground groups’ songs. This comic strip could be said to be the first indie comic strip. It was sold in Yogyakarta at Rp7,500 and was reprinted thousands of times. In those days, it was easy to buy this comic strip at bookstalls in tourist areas in Sorsowijayan.
Then he created the figure of Old Skull, a reflection of his own life. Like Athonk himself, Old Skull is also a tattooist. Athonk has made Old Skull and Friends, a comic strip series about Old Skull traveling all over the world. One of the strong points of Old Skull, in comparison with other comic strip characters, is his cosmopolitan element. We are familiar with Malaysian Lat, who created Kampung Boy or G.M. Sudarta, the creator of Om Pasikom. While Kampung Boy and Om Pasikom are involved only in local events and situations, Old Skull frequently goes to bars, cafes, and underground communities in Honolulu, New Orleans, and Melbourne. Indeed, Athonk often chooses foreign countries as the setting of his comic strips. Although Old Skull travels anywhere, the character trait of his “rural Yogyakarta” is still strong. Once, in front of a shopping compound in Honolulu, Old Skull got a free pizza. He did not realize that the pizza had pork filling. When he learnt about this, he was shocked and his face turned pale. At another time, while on a deserted road somewhere in the Puck Alley area, Hawaii, he was confused when a religious preacher approached him and greeted him: “Would you like to talk about Jesus with me?”
Some of Athonk’s comic strips are in English. “It depends on the atmosphere. Sometimes there is also some Javanese,” he said. The English that he uses in the dialog is not standard English, but what is known as “Sosro English,” which is the kind of English that he has picked up from tourists in the Malioboro area. Punk, in its perspective, is a spirit of eternal resistance. That is why although Old Skull seems to be a fan of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, he is also featured to be someone inhaling the aura of the flower generation of the 1960s: Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix. “For me, punk is a reflection of dissatisfaction over the social and economic conditions,” said Athonk when met in his tattoo workshop, Eternity, in Jalan Selokan Mataram, Yogyakarta. Athonk first created his punk comic strips while he was still a student at the Graphics Department of the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta and was often involved in protest rallies. He drew his comic strips on HVS paper and then had it photocopied. He was also one of the founders of Black Boots, a punk music group that is now quite famous. Athonk, however, later left the group.
In 1998, Athonk’s junior and fellow cartoonist at ISI, Bambang Toko (now a lecturer at the Graphics Department of ISI), attempted to ridicule Athonk’s choice of punk. Bambang published a comic strip titled Bogel, the Failed Punker with Bogel and Athonk as the main characters. In this comic strip, Bogel was originally a punk but after being frequently admonished by Athonk, he withdrew from the punk world and opted to be a swimmer. “It is true that one of the characters in my comic strip is Athonk,” Bambang said. His criticism, he went on, is actually meant for many punks in Yogyakarta who do not understand what punk really means. “I have often found them, for example, wearing the accessories of Queen Elizabeth II of England as a parody but they do not know who Queen Elizabeth is,” Bambang noted. In 1997, he said, the School of Letters of Gadjah Mada University invited Black Boots to perform there. Athonk also took part in this event. Many punks from Yogyakarta also came. Bambang was present along with a German cartoonist, Anna Bloom. Suddenly, Anna Bloom got angry after seeing a lot of punks wearing the Nazi swastika and pins. She called some of the punks and said: “What do you know about punk? As a German, I hate seeing Nazi attributes like these.” The punks, Bambang said, could not say anything in reply. “Only a few understand what punk really is and Athonk is one of them,” Bambang said. In Athonk’s hands, the figure of Old Skull is aware of the latest issues, ranging from human rights to ecological matters. Athonk expresses all this in his own style, which is neither reprimanding nor propagandist. Just observe the adventure of Old Skull in the story called Dead President. The panel shows US President George Bush being annoyed by a daily telephone terror that tells him about various tragedies occurring in the world.
“Hey, your jet fighter just bombed your own people in Kuwait,” the anonymous telephone caller said one day. “It’s you again,” Bush said, furious. The caller was Old Skull, who, out of his exasperation because of Bush’s failure to overcome problems, shouted at him: “Mr. President, let me take over all of these crises!”

• OLD SKULL - IN THE GARDEN
  ($5.00 US, $5.00 AUS, RP 20.000 from Athonk, http://www.javatattooclub.org/pureblacktattoo.htm)
  This collection of one-pagers features Athonk's Old Skull character, lots of punk rock and rock & roll references, lots of weed and some American locales. Athonk visited the US and most of these strips were drawn in New Orleans and Monterey, California. I get the feeling that Old Skull – with his discussions of music, troubles with women, and recreational drug use – is an autobiographical character. I hope Athonk doesn't really look like that, though http://poopsheetreviews.blogspot.com/2004_04_11_poopsheetreviews_archive.html

• In the Garden
  Posted: Tuesday, December 23 By: Darren Schroeder
  Creator: Athonk Publisher: (Self Published)
  Address: USA and Indonesia/A>
  Price: $5 (US), $5 AUS, 20 RP.
  Old Skull the puck rocker who doesn't seem to have any flesh on his skull hangs out with his friends discussing the effects of smoking, war, hurricanes and Valentines Day. He seems to be a traveller as several stories are set in the Bars of New Orleans. Athonk's artwork is great to look at with the characters having a lively appearance. Old Skull is a striking character with his mohawk, selection of punk t-shirts, and sunken eyes. Even though he looks a wild sort there isn't much at all that readers would find extreme in these strips. Old Skull is just trying to have fun. There's an existential stance in a couple of stories, and he gets into discussions with friends about how bad for them smoking is. We will have to take his word that marijuana is better for us. The dialogue is occasionally stilted which suggests that it is Athonk 's second language, and I lack the skills to decipher the goings on is the group of Indonesian language comics. The humour isn't laugh out load and the book isn't actioned packed, but they have an enjoyable quirky quality.  In a Word: Spiky 

  http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/smallpress/107217199170804.htm

   

  http://interview_indicomic.blogspot.com/2004/07/sapto-athonk-rahardjo-old-skull.html  - interview on Indonesia comic books

  http://indiecomic.endonesa.net/asset/interview.htm#athonk

   

  • Kisah Old Skull edisi terbaru garapan Athonk. Komik setebal 40 halaman ini menceritakan tentang keseharian Old Skull. Komik Strip Old Skull bisa diakses langsung di Komikaze99    http://bambaystudio.tripod.com/

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