Tuesday, July 6, 2010

On reading comics

After having read so many western and Japanese comics, I have developed preferences. This is also why I have a tendency to put down local comics that that try and fail to imitate foreign comics. If I see a manga that lacks to have a local touch of culture, I expect it to have a strong Japanese cultural influence. There is no such thing as art with no cultural.

There are people like The Kuppies and Otto Fong, who have done very Singaporean things. Even if the quality of Mr Kiasu is truly terrible compared to Watchmen, it is borne out of your own culture. Because of this, comparing Mr Kiasu to comics steeped in American or any foreign culture can be argued to be unfair.

I like local comics with Singlish. It makes them so much more realistic. May be I am fascinated with Singlish due to my poor command of it. But since most home-grown locals speak it every day, I would expect local comics featuring Singaporeans to do the same. How can we ever have our own local title of gritty, realistic comics without Singlish or any other cultural aspect that defines us as Singaporeans?

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