An Indonesian hand in world of superheroes

Gotham City could not be farther removed from the quiet village of Tenggur in East Java.

But the two are inextricably linked.

The connection is revealed when an Earth-like planet explodes due to mounting internal pressure from its core, after superhero character Tomar-Re fails to absorb the excessive pressure in order to prevent the catastrophe.

The debris from planet Korugar's explosion flies in all directions, and a major chunk shatters into a dotted formation of big and small islands not unlike the Indonesian archipelago.

The link makes perfect sense, for this scene from the latest Green Lantern comic - out this month - is drawn by up-and-coming Indonesian illustrator Ardian Syaf, 33, who has also done work for the Batman and Superman series for DC Comics in the United States.

The man who has hardly left his hometown is the first Indonesian to do such extensive comic drawings in a world-renowned comic series.

"I read Batman and Superman comics when I was young, but never imagined I would one day draw these comics myself," Mr Ardian told The Straits Times.

His pencil renderings of such cosmic explosions and adventures in Gotham City are all done in a room that doubles as a makeshift studio in Tenggur.

He mostly does pencil work and covers of these comics.

But he has deftly asserted his own style while drawing to a storyline provided by DC Comics. In some of his drawings, Mr Ardian throws in unique touches like a skull wearing a blangkon, a traditional Javanese headdress made of batik fabric.

A banner advertising the popular Mr Joko Widodo, who was elected governor of Jakarta last September, and the city's iconic national monument, Monas, feature when superhero characters visit a place called Little Jakarta.

His previous works range from Superman/Batman volumes 68 to 71, which he did between January and March 2010, to Flashpoint Emperor Aquaman volumes one to three in mid-2011.

Mr Ardian is one of a number of creative young artists putting Indonesia on the world map in their own subtle ways.

His late father, the principal of a state-run school, spent his spare time writing fictional short stories in Javanese for local publications.

More crucially, perhaps, his father also enjoyed drawing.

In 2004, when Mr Ardian earned a degree in visual communication design from the University of Malang in East Java, he challenged himself to become an illustrator for a newspaper in East Java.

While doing freelance roles, he also searched for a job on the Internet, exploring online forums that had information about comic book-related jobs.

Mr Ardian married a kindergarten teacher in 2006, and they have a six-year-old son.

At first, the job hunt was slow. He occasionally did small projects, drawing fewer than 10 pages of comics for US publications, earning US$25 (S$31) a page.

At the same time, a local school offered him a freelance job helping to design an internal publication, paying him only 2,500 rupiah (33 Singapore cents) a page.

In 2007, he thought of giving up his illustration work, as his son fell ill and he could not afford to pay the medical expenses.

Fortunately, he heard about an opening as he struggled with his daily finances.

A writer from Ireland - with whom he once worked on a few small projects - sent an e-mail message to inform him that the US-based Dabel Brothers Publishing needed a penciller for its Dresden Files comic series.

It was his lucky break: He pencilled drawings and covers for Dresden Files: Welcome To The Jungle volumes one to four, and that artwork propelled his name onto the radar of the comic world.

Today, Mr Ardian gets US$300 for every comic page he draws.

Each page takes him up to one day to complete, and he typically draws pages 20 days a month.

In his spare time, he teaches boys in his village to draw. It is a goodwill gesture, and he charges his pupils nothing.

He is now setting his sights on creating his own comic character, and harbours ambitions of promoting Indonesia to the world.

Now that his depictions of Indonesia are seen by readers of the Green Lantern and other comics all over the world, Mr Ardian hopes readers will also think of visiting the country at some point.

"That may make readers familiar with the geography, and later make them choose to come to Indonesia when they see it on tourism promotional brochures."

wahyudis@sph.com.sg

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