Review of the Day: Town Boy (Part Two)

Recently I was reading Scott McCloud’s "Understanding Comics" and at one point the author mentioned how different comic traditions are from one culture to another sometimes. Symbols that might seem universal in America, like a moth flying from a purse to indicate a character’s poverty, don’t translate well overseas, and vice-versa. Yet Lat’s story doesn’t suffer, as far as I can tell, from this particular form of culture shock. Wavy lines over cow patties still mean smell. Lines around the fingers indicate movement and action. Lat could have been influenced by Western comic artists early on, or maybe Malaysia happens to know the same symbols we do. It’s hard to say, but at least the book is easy to understand for American kids and adults alike.

• A fun and recent interview with Lat.

• And one from Reader’s Digest Asia.  Who knew?

• An 8-page preview of the book all thanks to Publisher’s Weekly.