Comic Luv : Why a Sri Lankan would actually read a book with pictures ?

"Comic Luv" the title is very personal.

 It was done on purpose to give the comic book "kinda" title to establish the feeling of creativity through manipulating language. I will not go into introductions of the history and origins of comic books and other theoretical aspects related to it.

I will deeply analyze my personal experience as a comic book reader since a kid and how it affected me to be a good reader.

I'm a reader from a third world country and getting hold of these books with pictures was a great reading experience.

My perspective on comic books is it's a great mental stimulation to unlock your creative thinking. I know many of western comic books have violence, drugs, and sex. But it does not mean you have to stop reading them. These books reflect on their culture. So as a reader from an Asian perspective should learn to avoid them and get the better aspects.

This article is about my love for comic books, how it unlocked my perspective of art and creativity and how it colored my childhood.

My father is an avid reader of many novels and academic books. And also a serious moviegoer. He may be the best fan of cinema and literature I know of. He also told me that he read comics in his youth that was published in Sri Lanka, I don't know his depth of in related to Sri Lankan comics but it seems he was highly into comics when he was a kid.

But the best reader I know is my elder brother. He reads comic books like a machine. I actually follow him. I have no bibliography like him but he was my influence to read comic books since I was a child.

The most valuable factor for a reader from comic books is the mental stimulation you get from creative artwork and language fused with color and pictures.

It's a refreshing reading experience. I recommend anyone just to even try to read a comic book once in a while. At Least from a local newspaper, because it expands the mental horizon mainly through humor and creativity.

Because if you closely look at them, the unique artistic style of each artist makes every comic strip a unique reading experience.

For a Sri Lankan reader it is not much to read in comic books in the Sri Lankan context.

As an avid fan of comic book adaptation films from the western world, I was exposed to few of foreign comic books, but not much so I am in no authority in reviewing comic books from the western world.

Basically, comic books are a reflection of many artistic signatures of the relevant artists and how they build on these universes. That is my simple observation.

Now as of personal experiences for a reader many of these books reflect upon stories for children.

But there are few comic books that focus on adults as well thematically. ("Watchmen" where I downloaded it from the internet as a ".pdf" document and read it.)

Now one of my favorites is "Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson" and "Garfield by Jim Davis". There are a lot of comic strips collected books for children under these titles, but I've only read two which are "Garfield: I only look harmless" and "Calvin and Hobbes: Thereby hangs a tale."

Garfield is extremely fun. We find this unique cartoon cat and his master's day to day life depiction in comic strips and we see Garfield's fun perspective in life.

Calvin and Hobbes is a true comic book experience. It reflects on a child and his toy tiger's personal experiences in a more fantasy filled manner which is considered one of the greatest comic books on the children's mind and fantasy in my opinion.

And then there is this my personal purchase I made in 2012 May using eBay.

These are comic books printed by "Burlyman Entertainment" which is fully owned by "The Wachowski Brothers" or the team who brought you "The Matrix".

These comics are much better for adults.

According to the Wachowski's this venture was executed with the sole purpose of expanding the comic book world with a new artistic touch for the comic fans as well for the artists by providing opportunity.

They have issued 2 comic book volumes called "The Matrix" which is based on the film franchises universe but expanding it into tiny mini comic book strips and stories making it an unforgettable comic book experience. The fusion of various artwork styles (Anime, Noir etc.)  has made it an amazing comic reading experience.

And I also read and purchased "Doc Frankenstein by Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce". This was stopped after 6 issues. It was one of the greatest comic book experiences of my life. It discusses many legendary monsters fused with modern world politics and catholicism creating a personal experience of reading and it has a mental stimulation we get from "Thundercats" or "Silver Hawks" when I and my brothers watched it in Sirasa Tv when we were kids, but much more violent and dark.

And also I personally experienced loving "Wallace and Gromit: Arachnophobia" and "Ladybird's: Dennis The Menace" which were really fun.

Archie comics were also fun but it's not my type. I prefer comic books to be unique and filled with fantasy but Archie's were like reading young adult novels.

I was a big fanatic of pokemon cards in the 2001's and later I collected some Pokemon comic books based on the feature film and other with an anime style printed in black and white.

And then there's this world famous "Tin Tin" and "Asterix" which I loved the films but couldn't read a lot of comic books. I love how art and jokes are crafted in these books.

Especially each page ends wanting us to read more adding curiosity to turn the next page. That is something unique I find in these comic books.

Also, read Batman comic's from DC where the darker aspects which are unique to the "The Dark Knight's" world is explored. But it is not as good the films for me. I've watched 6 Batman films with 3 different universes and 3 comic books don't give a better perspective into the character for me. Anyway, it was a good read.

I read "Lee Talks' The Phantom" which was kind of a good read but not as good as other comic books It's because maybe my lack of exposure in Superhero comics.

In the Sri Lankan context I used to read "Gajaman", "Lapaya", "Mal maama peni sitina taka takas" (A comic strip in "Wijaya") and also several political cartoons but I was not exposed to the golden era discussed above that my father used to say that was existent when he was a child.

Now Sri Lanka has no comic book industry. It's gone.

But I got my hands on a famous comic book issue called "Neelo" which is from the 70's about a hero from a parallel fantasy universe. It's like Conan from the western world. And it's kind of awesome. Guilty pleasure.

But from your mother tongue Sinhala and it is a rare experience. And I still regret losing that copy. It was when I was so young around in 1995.

In the Sri Lankan context, 70's was the golden era for comic books. Famous comics from the historical incidents like "Landesi Hatana", mystery like "Bili Pujawa" and fantasy like "Neelo" were there to read.

Currently, there are no comic books by 2000's "Gajaman", "Lapaya" and many are stopped printing due to the lack of readership in the industry.

Currently in the year 2016 a Sri Lankan artist Sachi Ediriweera with a foreign artist Chriss Lismann brought back a Sri Lankan historical legend fusing with fantasy in English as "Lion born" as a modern artistic comic book which can be seen as a revival for the comic books in the local context but in my view it will take a long time to revive the comic book industry.

Now as for going deeper into the roots of the Sri Lankan comic book world, I found 2 artists who passed away but kept their mark in the local scene during the golden era.

Susil Premaratne

Susil Premaratne, his creative story of comic drawings was "Hora Hawula", "Maha hene riri yaka" which was written by the late prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

These were published in Lankadeepa and their popularity among readers convinced him to write his comic books "bili poojawa" and "Landesi Hatana".

Daya Rajapakse

A younger contemporary of Sinhala comic book pioneers, who started with a dip pen and Indian ink and end with felt pens whose parallel to Susil Premaratne.

He started as a comic book drawer for Silumina in 1966 with "Indu". He was self-taught.

Daya's output was prolific throughout a career which spanned for fifty years. He managed to draw fifty years of four regular comic strips, plus numerous satirical cartoons.

"Kandulu Niwasana" (House of Tears) was read by thousands of avid readers.

In the '80s comics of Sri Lanka peaked competing with cinematic medium. It started declining in the 1990s. Ever since it never recovered. The day of the weekly comic strip tries to breathe in life to local comics and thanks for this it still survives.

He was considered an innovator of comics. Some like "Sakwithi Suwaya", "Hulawali", "Anupama" and "Sathveni dawasa" was adapted to film.

He despised copying western comics.

And also straight adaptations of the history which was done by Susil Premaratne.

His stories depicted upon folk traditions and his own real-life observations of lower-class life, which provided him with an inexhaustible source of stories. His stories reflected on down to earth human beings. The drama lies in their humanism.

It is the realism, brought alive with such assurance and conviction, which makes Daya a towering figure in the annals of our comic book history.

Again back to the benefits of reading comics,

Benefit and the need for comic books for Sri Lankans in local and foreign context is their ability to penetrate the human mind with pictures and words in a unique artistic universe embedded for each artist. 

These factors reflect upon the expansion of the reader's mind with an experience they would never have while reading a novel, non-fiction or fantasy or watching a cartoon.

I myself is a personal belief that these books reflect on the human mind's expansion in a positive manner. So personally I recommend reading comic books.

Why the comic book industry passed away after the '90s from the local scene is its inability to expand with Sri Lanka's socio-cultural and economic changes.

This article does not have statistical proof but there are several factors like "television" and "foreign entertainment" taking over the "cinema", "Comic books" and "Sinhala literature" making the local audiences follow foreign sources than local sources.

In conclusion as a comic book reader, the need of comic books in the Sri Lankan scenario is these comics are very strong factors of niche entertainment in the local Sri Lankan cultural scene, Where a unique literature experience can be understood by the reader as well as the creator and accordingly have a cultural experience of the relevant society.

So it is a "need" and it must be re-established.

References

Newspaper article found on the website

·        -  Premadasa, T.K. (2017). Article Title – Susil Premarathna: Great Artist with a variety of talents. Newspaper – Asian Tribune. [Online]. Available at: http://www.asiantribune.com/node/78734 (Accessed date: 2017/02/13)

·        -  Akeemana, G. (2017). Article Title – Remembering Daya and his inimitable style. Newspaper – Daily Mirror. [Online]. Available at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/remembering-daya-and-his-inimitable-style-84089.html (Accessed date: 2017/02/13)

Images

·         Image: Calvin and Hobbes (2014). Format : (jpg) Available at: http://www.dailydawdle.com/2013/02/45-awesome-calvin-and-hobbes-wallpaper.html  (Accessed date: 2017/02/22)

·         Image: Garfield (2015). Format : (jpg) Available at : http://pt.jikos.cz/garfield/2015/  (Accessed date : 2017/02/22)

·         Image: The Matrix Comics: Volume 02 (2003). Format : (jpg) Available at : http://matrix.wikia.com/wiki/The_Matrix_Comics  (Accessed date : 2017/02/22)

·         Image: Camillus Perera’s characters (2014). Format : (jpg) Available at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillus_Perera#/media/File:Gajaman.jpg (Accessed date : 2017/02/22)

·         Image: Comic book images (2014). Format : (jpg) Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/comic-speech-bubble-set-299037428?src=FSwyqSl7_6tzA1wKXs4tbA-1-8 (Accessed date: 2017/02/22)