Didn't mean to comment on Komikoo #3, but I just got an email from a
zackey_84 and he seems to think that I'm in charge of Komikoo:

hello bro... i hope next month improve your magazine. 2 month
tertangguh tau. i think your magazine is over. yelah ari tu janji tak
ulang lagi pernangguhan dalam penerbitan.

i have a idea. komikoo magazine di translatekan in english. it's
meaning buat satu story seperti novel grafik dalam bahasa inggeris.
and then you can sell your product in asia tenggaralah...

ok good luck.

(end of email from Zackey)

It's kinda funny that someone would mistake me for Roy (the hair
alone would've set us apart. Hehe). But let's pretend for a bit that
I'm Roy (but with a combed hair). What would I have done differently
with Komikoo #3?

Firstly, there really isn't that much of a difference between issue
#3 and the previous issues in terms of the dark tone. This scares
me 'cos I don't think Komikoo has changed enough to attract a wider
base of readers than it did previously.

Using Ben as a cover artist is, at some level, inspired. EXCEPT...I
think even people who like Ben's work will agree that the cover isn't
one of his better pieces. It's dull compared with his Powder covers.

As "Roy", I would've asked Ben to re-draw the cover before I would
publish it. Otherwise, I'd just have someone draw a big red bow
across the cover (like the bow on top of a birthday gift) and there's
a small card attached saying something like: "A brand-new Komikoo
inside!" Of course, it'll have to really be a brand-new Komikoo
inside and not just hype.

I'd scrap all those darn names cluttering the cover: Adijin,
Celestial, Maro, Shah, etc. I'm sure they are nice, talented people
but I doubt that most of the general reading public have heard of
them. And even if they have, I doubt that they are a strong enough
draw like, say, Lat, Ujang, Reggie Lee, Aie, etc.

Instead of Bernice Chauly, I'd probably have an interview with
someone who is more popular among youth and put the photo of this
woman (yes, it has to be a woman) on the cover.

A two-month hiatus is pretty long (it's actually three months between
issues, if you think about it), so I wasn't surprised that even
Azhar, who first published "Siapa" in Urban Comics, mentioned he
forgot what the story was about! And this is also true with me -- I
couldn't remember that well what went on previously for both "Siapa"
and "Hikayat Sebuah Mitos". As "Roy", I would've done something to
remind readers what had gone on in the last two issues.

Wordless comic "Mat Skipa" is confusing to me for the most part, and
I totally didn't get "Bulan, Bintang & Mentari". "Hikayat Dua Pemuda
dan Gergasi Rimba" (part 1) is a pulp fiction story but without a
pulp fiction cliffhanger ending, and I would've asked zafran to add
one or two more pages to ensure that.

I'd ask Shah to do the opposite for his 8-page "Darah Aram", which I
feel could've been shortened by half – it took too long to get to
the "punchline" and anyway, there's no real sense of build-up towards
it.

I like Maro's "Seekers", but I don't know whether it works for people
who are not familiar with the show(s) being parodied. "Ex ex ex wai"
is perhaps too black a humour, something few people would find funny.

"Formula Krisis" – the ending is a bit anti-climactic. The last or
second-to-last panel should've been the panel with the mutated babies.

"Hantu Rempit" is weird, but it works at a certain level. I would not
have shown the accident. The humour, to me, is really that the ghost
could not move from the spot of the accident and is just pretending
to zoom.

"Cinta Tekno" may be my favourite comic in this issue of Komikoo.
It has an international feel to it. But I would've put the man on the
left in that last panel so that the woman's reaction comes AFTER the
readers have read the man's words.

"Kultus Kucing Hitam" is too weird for words. "Obesia" is promising,
and hopefully it'll continue its slightly-controversial train of
thought.

"Nujum Pak Cuaca"'s punchline is kinda weak when compared against the
dark humour at the very start of the comic, when a person is thrown
off the roof. Why was the "accident" introduced at all if it had no
bearing on what happened afterward?

"Wawansabda bersama Bernice Chauly" -- I would've included one of her
poems to give readers a taste of her "Book of Sins." Of course, I may
not have chosen Chauly to interview in the first place 'cos she's
probably below the radar of the large non-yuppie, non-high-art
segment of the market.

I'm being quite critical here, but I do respect what Roy and the
Komikoo team are doing. I don't envy Roy 'cos his job is really
tough, and in the past, more experienced people have failed to
sustain comic magazines.

There is a need to balance commercial viability with personal vision
and artists' egos.

The Olympics is coming, and hopefully, the upcoming Komikoo will take
advantage of the fever that'll grip the public. (The "oo"
in "Komikoo", for instance, can be turned into the Olympic rings. But
I'm sure the Komikoo team can be even more creative.)