I arrived at PeKOMIKON in PWTC this afternoon just in time to catch the
last few minutes of Gilamon's (Lefty, Slaium & Michael) presentation.
Thankfully, at least I managed to catch Komikoo chief editor Roy
Ablah's informative presentation in its entirety.

During Gilamon's presentation, I happened to sit in the same row as
Roy, who introduced himself to me. Not sure how he knew how I looked
like (I'm trying to have a secret identity but I'm failing miserably),
but I thought it was nice of him to say hello to me. Well, maybe I was
just shocked he didn't try to choke me for my criticisms of Komikoo!
Hehe. (I may yet get killed by Tony at a Powder presentation, so I
reckon I'm not out of danger.)

Here's the big news: Komikoo may not be in the market for the next 2
months. Don't worry, it doesn't mean Komikoo has folded for good; it
will be relaunched in June (issue no 3) after a re-strategising. During
the next two months, Roy will be looking for more artists to increase
its comics inventory.

He said that he didn't expect much change to Komikoo except perhaps a
higher page count for comics, as he is now the only writer. (I didn't
ask where the other writers went 'cos it might be personal)

He also expected Komikoo to carry comics that were not to "art"-
sy. "We'll have comics for the masses. Abang Ujang told me that even
though I wanted to make comics along the lines of 2000AD, I have to be
realistic and try to tackle the masses. Komikoo cannot have too many
stories that are too heavy. So we'll have a mixture of heavy and light
stories."

In terms of page rates, Komikoo is paying RM80 for a black and white
page and RM120 for a colour page. Around RM100 for illustrations and
RM200-RM250 for cover art.

According to him, so far there have not been many people submitting
their comics to Komikoo, perhaps because Komikoo doesn't accept fully
completed comics. Roy prefers to first see a complete synopsis of the
proposed comic. "The synopses that we usually received have a question
mark at the end: 'What will happen next?' I want a complete synopsis
from A to Z, to see the peaks and how the story ends," he said.

During his presentation, Roy showed Adijin's detailed script
for "Siapa", but he said it was okay just to send a normal synopsis.

After Roy gave the greenlight, the artist must then make thumbnails for
approval.

He said he wouldn't mind seeing a finished comic being submitted, but
then the person who submitted it was taking a chance. It would save his
time and Roy's time for him to first send in a synopsis.

On the type of stories he was looking for, Roy said he preferred those
with a Malaysian backdrop. Even if it's a Final Fantasy type stuff, he
would not want to see a Japanese Final Fantasy. It doesn't mean he's
only interested in Malay legends; he's also looking for stories on
Chinese myths.

It's also not true that Komikoo doesn't want manga-style art. "It's
okay to do Japanese style, but we don't want something generic," he
said.

In fact, Komikoo is planning a manga issue (issue no 6, slated for
September).

Roy doesn't mind a continuing series, but he prefers stories that do
not go on for too long. If the series is running for a while, then at
least have short story arcs, emulating the TV series concept. I support
Roy on this 'cos I myself don't like series that go on forever with no
pay-off. In fact, I have difficulty following a lot of the comic series
in local magazines 'cos I'm only entering into the stories midway; any
which way, I'd forget what happened in the comic if it's not
interesting with strong characterisation.

For artists who do not have a story, Komikoo can provide a script for
them to draw. But it does NOT accept scripts from writers (yup, I'm
crying here). He advised writers to find an artist to collaborate with,
and show him 1 or 2 sample pages.

On the issue of copyright, Komikoo allows comic creators to keep their
copyright, and it only holds the publishing right for three years.
During those three years, the comic creators are free to send another
comic to another publisher that uses characters from the comic that's
running in Komikoo! I think that's pretty generous of Komikoo, though I
wonder whether there's any other publication that's willing to accept a
comic whose characters currently appear in Komikoo.

Noradz Productions, Komikoo's publisher, is also planning to launch
another comics magazine, but Roy said he was in no position to talk
about it. (I wonder what it'll be. Manga-oriented, perhaps?)

PeKOMIK president Azhar asked whether Noradz would publish graphic
novels. Roy said he did have plans to publish graphic novels because
graphic novels could remain on retailers' shelves longer than
magazines, but he did not expect this to happen very soon.

Roy said: "To the artists out there, your future is in graphic novels
because the shelf life is longer." To this, Ubder (former Umbra Comix
publisher), who was in the audience, said that monthly publications
were also important to promote graphic novels.

One of the ways to launch a publication, like what Ujang did, was to
flood the market with low-priced magazine, he said.

"They later could raise the cover price, but by then, people are hooked
and continue buying. Unfortunately, we (Komikoo) do not have a
benefactor to pump in enough money to flood the market," he added.

Roy said he didn't know why very few comic creators tried to draw for
Komikoo. "We're offering something different from everyone else. Art
Square (Gempak, etc) is offering manga style and fantasy, and its
target is more children and teens. We want to gain Art Square's readers
post-Art Square. We are trying to target adult readers."

He said it was hard for Komikoo to compete in the market as the market
was saturated with English comics and manga (original and
pirated). "The chances of local publications succeeding are low, so
most are doing it mainly for the passion," Roy said, admitting that
Komikoo's sales were "not good" although it printed many copies.

He felt Komikoo's problem might be due to the lack of marketing. It's
something that Komikoo plans to tackle. So far, in terms of media
publicity, Komikoo has appeared in The Star's Malay portal, and on
ntv7's Breakfast Show. This coming Tuesday, do watch TV2 between 8am
and 9am as Komikoo will be featured.

Roy said he did not think the X-factor of Art Square's comics magazines
lay in their comics. It's in selling information. "If they take out the
information, they'll have a difficult time. It's difficult to sell
comics on their own."

I, for one, wish Komikoo and Noradz Productions success.

I may not have time to review Komikoo #2, but I just wanna take this
opportunity to say that I like Kromosom's art in "Tra La La la La". I
think it ranks among his best work.

And while I'm in a reviewing mood... I saw Team Saladin's part of the
longest comic banner, and I must say, it's very good. Everyone there --
Eisu, Aimo, Hanie, Kromosom, Popia, Mel C, Sandra Khoo (did I forget
anyone?) -- did a great job: not just cartoons but actual comics that
can be published. If you guys come to PeKOMIKON tomorrow (Sunday), take
a look at Team Saladin's banner on the right side of Bilik Kedah/Johor.
it wasn't there today 'cos PeKOMIK team put it up only tonite. In fact,
you'll also find other completed comic banners in the room if you come
tomorrow (and you MUST come for the PeKOMIK launch by Lat, plus the
National Illustrators Conference and the comic artists gathering!).

Grab yourself the PeKOMIK zine, "Wow!" issue no. 1. It's only RM4.99
(cheaper than RM5.00!). It has, uh, an article on Mediaseni by me
(shameless plug). Also it features IceSoul's and Jee Wai's comics,
among others. (I haven't read "Wow!" yet at this writing 'cos I just
bought it today myself.)

Happily, I also managed to get a copy of Fieza's "The Cavaliers #1".
It's her last copy, apparently. Fieza, if you want me to return it to
you later, let me know. (in case you don't have a copy for yourself)

Guys, please, please come tomorrow (PeKOMIKON's last day!) and show
your support of PeKOMIK!!! (There'll be some food, I hear, and I may
just bring a bunch of free Marvel/DC comics for you...)