Comix Chat

A lunch today with Soeung Makara (animator), Neth Sokunthea (Cambodia Book Sector Federation) and Em Satya (comic artist). We chat a bit about the plans for the Symposium. Piseth and I hand out some comics so people can ‘skoal knea’ – know each other.(Getting them at wholesale price now, 350 riel each!)

Halfway through lunch Em Satya picks up one of the comics and notes that they’ve taken a lot of the art in one of the comics from his work. I look and sure enough, the style is quite similar.

We’ve got to get our database cooking, there are a lot of comics and details

to note and arrange.

+ + +

An intriguing article polling science fiction writers on the way things

are going.

http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Features/09_ShirleySocialFuture.html

Hul Sophon

A visit to Hul Sophon’s house finds an energetic and prolific artist, hard at work.

If you’ve gazed at a rack of novel covers in a book stall you’ve seen one of his paintings. He’s also done ‘Rose of Pailin’ as a line art comic for Reyum.

He’s got some unpublished painted work, a legend story.

(It’s got narration, is it a comic or a storybook?)

Flappie…

Image above from Merilee Challiss, who recently exhibited at Java. She, Chris Lawson and others have used comics for collage art along with Cambodian artist Leang Seckon.

http://www.collarmoth.com

http://www.craneorchard.com/

http://www.machinewithnoname.com

http://www.merrileechalliss.com/

Nhek Sokhaleap

A visit to publishing NGO SIPAR yields a wealth of names and in particular some new painted comics by Nhek Sokhaleap. Above is a Hanuman picture he has done for a series of cards.

Also pleased to hear that the Cambodia Book Sector Federation is picking up steam.

Off to see Hul Sophon soon.

Books and pictures

Some discussion with librarian Thonevath Pou at the weekend, who is working on efforts at the National Library.

Khmer has a number of words we use in the discussion of comic books:

cipau (book)

roop (picture)

roopheap (picture-ness)

roong (story)

komplaing (funny)

Sometimes people say ‘cipau roop’ or ‘cipau roong komplaing’.

The term I’ve been using lately (after some discussion with friends) has been

‘cipau roong roopheap’.

T.P. is compiling a dictionary of bibliographic terms and this may just become

the official term for comic book! I’ll have to see what other people say colloquially.

And as regards ‘roop’ some of Thonevath Pou’s art can be seen on sale at Reyum gallery.