Mapping Mangasia

Pema Tshering (born 1 July 1985) is a Bhutanese contemporary artist, illustrator, designer and founder of the first comics studio in Bhutan called Thimphu Comics (2013) with which he self-published GARPA the attendant (2016). Tintin, as he is popularly referred to, re-examines Buddhist and Bhutanese concepts, freeing them from their expected, familiar contexts and reframing their meaning. GARPA is a graphic novel based on the story of Bhutanese legend of Garba Lungi Khorlo, known to be able to ‘run like the wind’, who was the official messenger or attendant for the ruling leaders. The fictional story set in 1800s Bhutan is the first graphic novel produced from Bhutan by a collective of artists headed by Pema Tshering.

Zao Dao (born July 1990) cartoonist and illustrator from southern China’s Guangdong Province began publishing her work online in 2011, leading to her first book commission in 2013 released as Song of Sylvan (2015), followed by Carnet Sauvage (2016) and Le Souffle du vent dans les pins (2016) translated and published in France and Italy, and two book set Ink of Wild (2017). Dao most recently released her first book translated in English Cuisine Chinoise: Five Tales of Food and Life (2020) featuring insects looking for a meal made of ghosts and a man named Yuzi who's passion for cooking is the only hope of maintaining a family legacy. Zao Dao’s artworks in ink and watercolour are widely recognised for her distinctive style blending the mystical and mythical with modern cotemporary graphic techniques, her influences ranging from Buddhism and traditional Chinese painting to Japanese manga comics.   

Lai Tat Tat Wing (born 1971) works as an independent comic artist and theatre director in Hong Kong. His original comic character, Woody Woody Wood (1995 - 2012) was published in the Yellow Bus, Oriental Daily and Metropop, further examples of work include, The Magic Flute (1999), East Wing West Wing (2008), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (2005), and The Pork Chops Inferno (2017). Directly from comic to theatre, Lai co-directed The Magic Flute Playground (2015) inspired by Mozart’s classical opera and The Pork Chops Inferno Theatre (2019) an immersive theatre experience bringing supernatural stories and comic illustrations alive. Known for his experimental and peculiar stories, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star follows Jade a young Chinese woman, obsessed with her lucky star, caught in a run with fate as she is challenged in a deadly game and faces further obstacles in a shootout where she ends up in hell, her story is a turbulent struggle where modern culture clashes with Chinese popular tradition. 

Lat (born Datuk Mohd Nor Khalid in March 1951) was raised in a village community, a kampung in Kota Bahru, Perak, Malaysia. In 1964 his first cartoon was printed in Majallah Filem, a Singapore publishing house, but got his big break at the age of 13 when Sinaran Brothers in Penang published his comic book Tiga Sekawan (Three Friends Catch a Theif, 1964). Drawing since his school days his cartoons have become a part of Malaysian life and culture, particularly his much-loved autobiographical comic The Kampung Boy (1979). Lat recounts his childhood growing up in Malaysia as a village kid in the 1950’s through the character Mat, an adventurer and mischief maker, he goes on fishing trips, works on his family’s rubber plantation and attends religious school but many traditional ways of life are steadily disappearing with family farms and kampungs being replaced by tin mines and factory jobs.

N. Erdenebayar is a Mongolian comic illustrator and writer, author to the Bumbardai (2015) graphic novel series, since 2017 it has been released as an anime series on TV in Mongolia. Bumbardai is a five-year-old boy who is learning about nomadic life, a part of his heritage and integrated into the lives of ordinary families, these teachings bring him closer to his culture, humanity, teach him to be environmentally friendly and continue nomadic ways of life. 

Arnold Arre (born September 1971) is a Filipino comic book artist and writer known for his graphic novels The Mythology Class (1999) a four part action–adventure mini-series and Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat (The World of Andong Agimat, 2006), other notable works include Trip to Tagaytay (2000) and Halina Filipina (2015). The work of Arre immerses readers into supernatural worlds infusing Filipino myth and folklore; Andong Agimat is inhabited by superheroes steeped in mythology and sharpened by the dirty grey tabloid world. In the Mythology Class readers will meet tikbalangs, kapres, and all sorts of engkantos–mythical creatures who have escaped and are causing havoc in the human world.

Sonny Liew (born September 1974) Singaporean comic artist, born in Malaysia produced award winning The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015), other notable works include The Shadow Hero (with Gene Luen Yang, 2014), Doctor Fate (with Paul Levitz, 2016) and Malinky Robot (2011). A winner of 3 Eisner Awards, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye tells the history of Singapore through the lens of a fictional comics artist. Liew parallels the island nation’s turbulent history with Chan’s life and career, resonating with his personal sketches, photos, accomplished paintings and the ever-shifting subjects, styles and formats of his comics, shot from fading print or original art, some of it previously unpublished.

Li-Chin Lin (born 1973) left Taiwan to study art in France. After making short animated films, she turned to comics in 2002. She has published short stories in many fanzines, has produced two children’s books and is the author of graphic novels My Youth: My Formosa (Formose, 2011) and Fudafudak (2017). Formosa (Taiwan’s former name) is a visit to Li-Chin's childhood and Taiwan’s complex history, she approaches with frankness memories of growing up within a strict regime torn between languages, cultures and her own desires to become a comic artist. Formosa won the Literary Award for High School Students of the Île-de-France region in 2013.

Art Jeeno (born 1987) comic illustrator and artist from the North of Thailand, grew much attention for his work publishing drawings online since the early 2000’s. Since he has released 11 books to date including Now (2013) and the trilogy Juice (2015) published in France by Éditions çà et là. Now is a completely wordless comic, dreamlike and sensual in style, produced in 100 days expressing the daily emotions of each day for an exhibition of the same title, the outcome demonstrates the ability of comics to stage movement, physical sensations, leading to unique adventures in our minds. The Juice trilogy explores the daily life of Thai youth figuring things out whilst feeling life's pressures and stuck in a rigid system. 

Phong Duong comics established in 2004 are a Vietnamese comic drawing group, created by artist Thanh Phong and writer Kang Du’o’ng. The group are the creators of Orange (Viet Comics, 2005 and Phong Duong Comics, 2011) and Long Thần Tướng (The Holy Dragon Imperator, 2014).  The long form graphic novel Long Thần Tướng chronicles the Trần dynasty's second resistance against the Mongol army during a period where two nations are on the brink of war. Moving between modern day and the past recalled by six-year-old Ánh My as her memory is stored with many mysteries of ancient legends from 800 years ago.