In Conversation with Indonesian Comics IMANSYAH LUBIS

Imansyah Lubis, Editor and Production Manager at Bumilangit, sits down with Interviews Editor, Andrew Irvin, to talk about his experience in the industry and comics of his own.

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COMIC BOOK YETI:  Imansyah, I'm glad we finally have time to feature an interview with you. Thanks for being here, and welcome to the Yeti Cave! How’s everything going in Bandung? 

IMANSYAH LUBIS: Hi, Andrew. Thank you for the invitation and your warm welcome. Bandung will always have a special place in my heart. So, yeah, everything is fine in one of the most important cities in Indonesia’s sequential arts ecosystem.

CBY: I am always impressed by the enormous breadth of work in the Indonesian comic and illustration industry as I learn more, and I would be keen to better understand the local variations in comics culture around the country. When you were growing up, which local comics inspired you? When did you decide comics provided a career worth pursuing? 

IL: Many local comics inspired me, especially the ones from the superheroes genre. I really dig the Gundala series (created by Hasmi in 1969) and collected several volumes of the series back then. Starting from Gundala, I discovered many other Indonesian superheroes and started to grow a liking for them. I also started reading translated European and American comics since I was in elementary school. So, yeah, they also influenced and inspired me. When I was in my junior high school days, I discovered manga (Japanese comics) and boy, how am I addicted to it, right up until now! Later on, I also read translated manhua (Chinese comics, mostly martial arts-themed) and manhwa (Korean comics).

I have been a lecturer, a curator, a project manager, and others… but my dream job is to be someone in this comic books universe. Because I lack the skill of drawing, I found myself interested in its storytelling. I also co-founded and initiated a local annual comic book event here in Bandung, called Pesta Komik (‘Comic Party’, previously Pasar Komik Bandung or ‘Bandung Comic Market). When I was working at one advertising agency, Bumilangit called in need for a comic book editor. The rest is history, just like a dream come true.     

CBY: You’ve been working for Bumilangit Entertainment as an editor and production manager. It’s been around over twenty years, and has picked up an extensive library of intellectual property extending back over 60 years. There is also a burgeoning cinematic universe,with three films released and more on the slate. What should people outside Indonesia know about what Bumilangit is up to?

IL: Bumilangit Entertainment (PT Bumilangit Entertainment Corpora) is an Indonesian media and entertainment company that manages one of the largest libraries of comic book intellectual properties (IP) in Asia. Founded in 2003, its primary mission is to restore and revitalize the "golden age" of Indonesian comic characters for modern audiences.  

In Bumilangit we revived Indonesia’s superhero comic industry, built a shared universe of local heroes, pushes Indonesian pop culture into global spaces, and at the same time acts as a bridge between old comic legends and modern media (film, streaming, games)

In short, Bumilangit is a character-driven entertainment company that revived Indonesia’s classic superheroes and is trying to turn them into a modern, interconnected universe across comics, films, and digital media. The best is yet to come, so please support and pray for us!

CBY: I was joyously surprised to hear the Virgo and the Sparklings trailer feature “Pot Kettle Black” by Tilly and the Wall - a band with whom I’ve been acquainted for over 20 years. A wonderful example of sub-cultural connections across countries. I am often curious about these avenues for creative resonance and synthesis. What avenues for cultural exchange, both formal and informal, lead to creative decisions like this? How can collaboration be fostered further? 

IL: Well, when you talk about sub-cultural connections across countries, creative resonance and synthesis aspects tend to intertwine each other. The mood, including the music, has been discussed among the creative team, but at the end of the day, it’s the director and producer’s call to settle the tone.

CBY: You are also working as a creator on MIRA: Incepta, which I gave a look, and it appears to draw inspiration from classic 80’s mecha anime and manga, and Ghost in the Shell. What were other reference points as you put together the narrative world and characters? 

IL: Thank you for noticing MIRA: Incepta. Let’s move further towards other classical references which inspired me in writing it: Tetsuwan Atom (Osamu Tezuka, 1952), Kikaider (Shotaro Ishinomori, 1972), and Pluto (Naoki Urasawa, 2003). Yes, I admit: I am old school. From these references, I noticed their similarities: robots tried to be human, and in the end became more humane than ourselves. It’s a journey to the centre of yourself: identity, ethics, and the fear of losing control over oneself. That makes it feel surprisingly modern, especially in today’s AI-driven world. I intended it not to focus on action-driven, because many of the cyberpunk literatures already did it marvelously. With the nod of its original creator, I wrote it as a slice-of-life heartwarming drama. I want the reader to rediscover his or her humanity after reading MIRA: Incepta. 

CBY: You worked with Abraham Derri and Ragha Sukma to complete MIRA: Incepta. Can you tell us a bit about how you met both of them and the collaborative relationship you’ve built with them to put together this title?   

IL: I have known Derri since our Multiply days. I noticed that Derri has a mandatory repetitive task about explaining MIRA to others, so I thought: why don’t we give her an origin story? We’ve met a couple of times discussing the world building for MIRA and the basic ground message that we want to convey. Here comes the first challenge: Derri and Ragha haven’t met each other. Ragha was my co-worker at Bumilangit, and I strongly recommend his versatile skill and good attitude towards a project. So I arranged an offline meet-up in Bandung just to foster the chemistry among us. Thank God, it worked so well. Our common passion towards manga, anime, tokusatsu, and toys really helped us to blend. So we’ve had several offline and online meetings to produce MIRA: Incepta, and launched it at the Jakarta 20th Toys and Comics Fair 2025.

CBY: As I’ve learned more about the Indonesian comics and illustration market over the last few years, I am increasingly convinced it has the potential to be an enormous creative powerhouse. As someone in the comics business, what policy instruments would be useful to help the country develop a stronger creative industry, both domestically and internationally?

IL: When we are talking about an industry, we are talking about a whole production, distribution, and consumption processes. These are always changing, growing, and developing in their own unique ways. They can not stand alone, and act together as a whole system.

From the production’s side, the country can be fostering a new generation of writers, illustrators, colorists, layouters, editors, designers, and others who are directly involved in the production cycle of a comic through educational institutions, courses, and such contests held by the government. 

At the same time, a museum that collects a vast amount of huge and rich Indonesian comics from back then up until the contemporary ones would be an ideal place to put all of them as a national culture heritage. The country can curate the best of them and help them to be recognized as a national asset in a regional and international event.

Bookstores as the main source to get comics should be enriched by more local comic titles, while the indie ones can be distributed via comics-related events and online marketplaces. Local comics should be easier to get by its potential readers, and at the same time, easier to distribute by its producers. Both hard copy and soft copy of a comic should be easier to access.

CBY: Joko Anwar’s affiliation with Bumilangit properties has also yielded Nightmares and Daydreams, a fantastic sci-fi/horror anthology series that achieved broad international acclaim. If you had the opportunity to put together an anthology graphic novel focusing on Indonesian stories across the ages, who would you invite to contribute? What stories would you like to see told by your favorite Indonesian comic creators? 

IL: Now that is an interesting question! I always want to do a superhero-based anthology graphic novel, but with a little personal touch. I have always like tokusatsu shows. You know, the Japanese shows like Kamen Rider or Super Sentai. Power Rangers are its Westernized version of it, and it makes them really popular. I would really like to do a down-to-earth story, a kind of story we can really relate to. Heartwarming, inspiring. At the same time, I also want to see the other point of view of Indonesia’s folklore. So, yeah, lots of things in my mind that need to be written later. For the contributors, I also have a list of names but I think I will get on that later on or I might get into overthinking it 🙂 

CBY: As an editor, what criteria do you expect comics to meet to really engage your attention and read cleanly? What drives your aesthetic decision-making and how do you cultivate an eye for talent? 

IL: As for writers, I always like the ones who can present their ideas in such a short, clear, and concise way. I’d love to hear a complete story with clean structures, and a writer who knows the end of it. For artists, understanding the basics is a must. The art style might be distorted, stylized, or even deformed, but the basics are absolute. An artist with his or her own distinctive style would be nice, as we can easily notice his or her art among others. 

I also would like to hear who influences them in their own storytelling style.  

CBY: I’m familiar with various aspects of Indonesian culture and society, but I recognize its enormity and diversity, and the reality that I actually know incredibly little relative to the full richness of the nation. I’ve often asked Australian creators since I moved here what makes comics coming out of this culture distinct, so I’d like to turn the question in your direction; what Indonesian perspectives are unique in the comics and storytelling you see coming out of the enormous creative community around you?

IL: As a country with a vast variety of cultural backgrounds, I think its diversity is the most unique storytelling point. We can tell so many stories about our traditional folklores, as much as our daily lives nowadays. There are so many interesting points of view to explore through so many genres. You can tell the same story over and over again, yet it will differ in such ways each time you tell it. The sky is the limit for the potential of Indonesian contemporary comics. 

CBY: We always provide creators with an opportunity to make mention of work unrelated to their own projects that has been providing them inspiration lately. When you’re not working on your own comics, what other comics, films, literature, music, etc., have been catching your attention?

IL: I am not fond of horror comics, but I am really attached to Dedy Koerniawan’s Sinawang (published by Koloni). I also recommend the rest of his comics. I have always been a fan of Erfan Fajar’s comics also, especially Arigato Macaroni. The manga, Masked Rider Spirits by Kenichi Muraeda based on Shotaro Ishinimori’s original works always keeps my spirits high, and I really like JAM Project songs. As for the West side, I am head over heels for Batman: The Animated Series and DC Comics Animated Universe. Paul Dini did really good ground work, while Dwayne McDuffie did an amazing job putting the whole universe together. I wish I could write like them. 

CBY: Imansyah, thank you for joining us today! If you have any additional portfolio, publication, or social media links to share with our readers, now is the time, and this is the place.

IL: Kindly check (and buy!) one of my comics here.

Zenit: Eclipse explores a haunting tale of legacy, obsession, and supernatural force, rooted in classic Indonesian comic storytelling. Originally created in Indonesia nearly two decades ago, this chapter now returns in English—bringing the legend of the Moon Sword to a new generation of readers.

Thank you for having me here. I consider myself still a Padawan, not yet a Master. So let’s explore the universe of comic books and have fun together!

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