John A. Lent was a professor for 51 years in universities in the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia, Canada, and China. He founded and has edited or presided over a number of periodicals and organizations. He lives in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.

This is the first overview of cartoon art in this important cultural nexus of Asia. The eight essays provide historical and contemporary examinations of cartoons and comics in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and sociocultural and political analyses of cartooning in Singapore, Myanmar, and Malaysia. The collection benefits from hundreds of interviews with Southeast Asia's major cartoonists, conducted by the four contributors, as well as textual analyses of specific cartoons, on-the-spot observations, and close scrutiny of historical documents.
All genres of printed cartoon art are studied, including political and humor cartoons, newspaper comic strips, comic books, and humor and cartoon periodicals. Topics of discussion and comparison with cartoon art of other parts of the globe include national identity, the transnational public sphere, globalization, alternative media forms, freedom of expression, consumerism, and corporatism. Southeast Asian cartoon art has a number of features unique to the region, such as having as pioneering cartoonists three countries' founding fathers, comics that gave their name to a national trait, some of the earliest graphic novels worldwide, and a king who hired a cartoonist to illustrate his books.

Table of Contents


Preface

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Part I: Historical and

Contemporary Overviews

1.¿Cartooning in Indonesia: An Overview: John A. Lent

2.¿Philippine Komiks: 1928 to the Present: John A. Lent

3.¿The Uphill Climb to Reach a Plateau: Historical Analysis of the Development of Thai Cartooning: Warat Karuchit

4.¿The Swerving Status of Cambodian Comic Art: John A. Lent

5.¿Cartooning in Vietnam: A Brief Overview: John A. Lent

Part II: ­Socio-Cultural and Political Issues

6.¿Chinese Cartoonists in Singapore: Chauvinism, Confrontation and Compromise (1950-1980): Lim Cheng Tju

7.¿Political Cartoons and Burma's Transnational Public Sphere: Lisa Brooten

8.¿Cartoonist Lat and Malaysian National Identity: An Appreciation: Muliyadi Mahamood

About the Contributors

Works Cited

Index