View Full Version : 漫画王 Comic King
rookiyong
24-02-2005, 11:13 AM
Comic King was published by Malaysia's Gempak Starz Sdn. Bhd in June 2003 and has gained much readership since than. Since its inauguration of the comic forum in Oct 2004, there are more than 8000 memberships to date, with a significant number being readers of Comic King. It was first published as a monthly issue with variety of Comic News, Anime, Toys, Movies, Games, Technology and a few short comic stories by Malaysia's local artists, with only one overseas comic by HK, 果酱 Jam as they want to promote Malaysia comics.
Distributions include Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore and it can be found in most comic shops including Popular. Since last year, it has been changed to a bi-monthly issue and still features loads of variety and good information at a reasonable price of $2.80 with over 100pages. The earlier issues even included double-sided posters and postcards of popular comic and movies.
Usual major features are comic artist reviews/interviews from Japan, HK, Korea, Malaysia and China like 黄玉郎, 何志文, 富坚义博，藤泽亨 etc…
Although the quality of the magazine printing can be improved and the comics are not of top-grade quality, it is a commendable effort by the company to boost the industry and providing a variety magazine at a good price to readers.
I have stop collecting since #16 but is still reading every issue at major bookstores as it is very informative. If you have not seen it before, do grab an issue and see what enthusiasts in the industry are doing to boost Chinese comics.
http://www.gempakstarz.com
http://www.gempakstarz.com/v2/img/store/mag/comicking/001.jpg
LoneWolf
24-02-2005, 11:40 AM
I totally agreed it very informative, though i don't collect, i always flip through at the comics shop i frequent :wink:
rookiyong
24-02-2005, 11:45 AM
I think they try to keep the price low by using paper that is not very good, but I was surprised at how much they did and only charge at a price lower than a HK weekly.
Hades
24-02-2005, 01:05 PM
Does this mag contains the latest works of Naruto, kyo, death notes etc..??
I read once in the camp which is also a Malaysia weekly mag. It seems that they never had the copyright and just printed those latest series of manga into the book..
rookiyong
24-02-2005, 01:21 PM
That is 漫画周刊, still releasing every week. 漫画王 do not want to adopt that as they want to promote their own artists. It publishes mainly Malaysia works.
Hades
24-02-2005, 01:27 PM
Thanks for explaining to me :) I thought this is the mag that u r refering to
hey guys,
do u think if there's a similar local magazine publish in sg...will u all support it? will local market be supportive enough to keep a local chinese comic magazine going on and on...?
i always look forward to see if there's this local chinese comic magazine publish in sg....so that more talent can show their real talent to the community...and show the society that to be a comic artists is something promising...
nothing wrong with going for your dreams...
i always think that local dare not reach out for their dreams...even the malaysian have a proper local comic studio to publich their magazine...and it's more than 1 title....
when is our turn here...??? :supz:
rookiyong
25-02-2005, 12:25 PM
I will support if their direction is right :D
MAGE is close but than mainly Jap manga and Anime. I would prefer something like comic king, alot of resources and promoting local art. I dun think they really earn much rite?....its their passion that counts.
welll....
i think they earn.....but only the com earn a lot...artist going on a fix salary...i heard it's not much...but enough to keep them alive in KL...as staying there cost of living can be quite high.
most of the $$$ don come in tru sales of mage, but the advert in it...u'll notice now there's more n more advert in comic king...
local market too small...n most of the resources and info r publich in comic king...
my idea is to promote local comics and the talent here...if there's any chance...might be head hunted over to draw for oversea publisher...
since comic king has a handful of info...no point crash with them...plus we don hv full time worker to do reasearch on those info oso....sad thing
Terry Hooper
05-09-2005, 03:35 AM
Fire,the easiest way to start is by producing a mag that will not cost you a great deal financially. You can produce colour covers on a computer but get all the interior photocopied. A limited number of copies helps you establish a fan or client base. If it then takes off you can always go for a proper printer but you need to promote and push as much as you can -even if its letting local radio know because however short an item they might do it let's people know you and the mag are there.
Go for it!
Hi Terry,
thanks for your encouragement. actually financial prob is not the biggest issue for me (coz i work in a printing company... :D ) the major issue here is to look for local talent that are willing to contribute fr the beginning.....coz there might not be any moneytary return...(coz if i start this mag, i finance it myself and i'm not able to pay $$ to those artist.... :D ) so wher got ppl wiling to contribute without return?? very rare loh.....thats one thing holding me back.....unless its a personal work by myself....then no prob....only me drawing..... :laugh: but i not that powderful.... :laugh:
joequakze
12-09-2005, 02:25 PM
....comic king is quite successful in Malaysia in promoting their local comic art but i think recently...we do have group of artists doin the same thing already though in a different manner....
....Imaginary Friends Studio has gathered a few local artists and combining the work of other artists around the world mostly in asia.... and came out a bk compliation of all their work... its actually like a catalog of artists introducing them and their work.... but the concept is smiliar with Comic King in Malaysia.
...the different is that....Imaginary Friends...their work are mostly wat i call gaming art...not much of the comic aspect.... but Comic King...is almost solely Comics, focusing not juz on local comic news but also comic scene around the world mainly asia... its a entertainment magazine concept...
....i know that in sg...another group of artist formed a 'society' of their own and are also coming out a complilation bk but focus mainly on comic script art... hope they can sucessfully produce they bk and release into the market soon....
.... :rock: :supz: :sing: :drum: :dance:
LoneWolf
12-09-2005, 02:30 PM
I really hope so, the main challenge is always sustainability. Most of the local effort always stop half-way. Key reasons is Spore always have not enough supporters.........
As a full-time career also another issue. Nevertheless, i will definitely give full support by getting a copy if i find the effort is serious =D>
joequakze
12-09-2005, 02:46 PM
...yes u right abt the 'stop half way' of local production...wolf... :)
....i think 'not enough support' is the main reason but certainly not a excuse to 'stop half way'.... why is there 'not enough support' from our own local comic fans... thats the reason we must look into...and solve...and not juz give up and blamed it on 'not enough support'....
....sadly.... this the mindset of most local production nowadays.... 'not enough support' means 'no market'... 'no market' means 'no returns'....'no returns' mean...'no investors'....cannot surpport the cost of production...cannot survival.... :(
....thus....inorder to 'survival'.... like i had mentioned in another thread in this forum... one's work must SELLS... 'can sell' means got chance to gain more support from local comic fans.... build on this foundation and gain more support by producing more 'sellable' work.... :D
....hopefully we can see more 'worth buying' local productions soon...and i m more particular on the comic aspect...and not juz on those 'gaming art' artbk.... :)
:supz: :rock: :laugh: :drum: :sing: :sing:
i agree on what uncle wing said :salute: another thing bout local artists here is they work on their own msot of the time, own time,own target,own story...thats why own $$ oso....i think working with local publisher shld be another alterntive to solve the production prob (both $$ and target market), coz if u work alone, u tend to draw your own comic(own taste), but if u work together with publisher, they will look into the marketing espect seriously, if they think your story dont hv market value or not "hot" enough for the market...then they wont publish it for u.....coz all they want is to earn money...and they will hv deadline for artists....so artists will hv to be more disipline when come to drawing speed....same thing happen in Jap...publisher will chase them for art pieces most of the time...if not..everyone tend to take own sweet time to draw and the reader wll MIS sooner or later.... :D
joequakze
12-09-2005, 09:03 PM
...yes fire...u are quite right abt working with the publisher and let them solve the comic production cost thingy... :D ...
...the thing abt publishers in singapore are that they are more business minded, eversince the economy clash in 1999...i think.... they have been cautious and are not willing to invest in comics production unless the artist can show them something of market value....
...in recent years, i know some publishers have regained their 'confidence' in our local artists work but still... though they are supportive, they are still cautious...
....thus, if any artists wanna approach a publisher for help in he/she comic production.... put yourself in the publisher's shoe first and ask how sellable is your comic...convince yourself totally first then try to convince the publishers...
...Good luck to all comic artists... :D
:sing: :drum: :supz: :rock: :dance:
rookiyong
12-09-2005, 10:08 PM
Are there many local artists working alone now? Our culture here is not built up yet, if you don't have enough Jing Liang, people just don't look at your works and you cant say "I will draw what I like because its my passion", reason simply is you still need to feed your mouth and family.
I like this type of comic entertainment magazine, very "on the ball" and follows trends closely. I actually bought till #15 and read the rest at popular :read: . Notice that they take comments very fast, evolve, change, evlove, change, feedback......and now its quite different from when it 1st started. They are very responsive to changes.
Our local MAGE magzaine doesn't have that much interesting info.
joequakze
12-09-2005, 11:25 PM
...to me...mage... isn't really....good....actually....its not worth buying... :red:
....rookiyong...i think there quite a number of lone ranger comic artists like me around...and i mean comic artists and not artists who's into gaming art illustrations etc.... :D ....
...yeap...we been laying dormant for a long while.... and only recent years some of us have finally decided to venture out into the market again.... and yeap...quite a few 'casualty' we have already.... :( .... but...dun worry.... we never die one lah.... some of us will strike again.... :supz:
:rock: :drum: :sing: :supz: :laugh:
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