Saturday, March 8, 2014

Greetings from sunny Jakarta!

As a few of you may know from facebook, I'm an English teacher here starting this month.  It's quite an interesting city, with first- and third-world elements all jumbled up, sometimes right next to each other.

But...let's not lose sight of what's REALLY important here.  At a kiosk just down the road from my apartment, LOOK WHAT I FOUND OMG:


Not a bad deal for the equivalent of a little less than a buck and a half--five Egmont stories, three ten-twelve pagers and two four-pagers, along with miscellaneous kids' puzzles.  Also, a page of fan art by Indonesian children, which really gives you hope for the future.  Of course, one might well ask: do I actually READ any Bahasa?  And the answer is...no, not per se as such.  But I'm going to learn some!  And Disney comics will be a great learning aid.  Inducks is pretty shaky on Indonesian material; if you believed them, you might think that the country had ceased all publication sometime in early 2013.  But no, in addition to the DD title, there's also a US one, as well as a number of things where I'm not sure whether they're regular titles or specials.  But they're here!  I would index this issue, except I would have NO idea how to identify the stories.  Maybe I'll photograph some sample pages (no scanner over here) and see if anyone can help.

BUT ANYWAY.  What does my being over here mean for this blog?  Well, hopefully nothing too traumatic.  You're not likely to see much in the way of  translation work in the near future, since, alas, I had to leave all my comics (import and otherwise) back in the states (that was why the sudden burst of activity in that regard over the past three months--I DO have a few stories scanned and ready to work on if I ever get the time/inclination, however).  Still, I have a SHITLOAD of scanned American comics (I have a tablet device that I use to read them--works surprisingly well), so expect a lot of that--including more old non-Barks Western stuff than usual--in the near future.  Cheers.

8 Comments:

Blogger Joe Torcivia said...

Congratulations on the position, Geo! You do seem to be something of a “citizen of the world”, at least among this crowd, and it seems fitting that you’re stationed in a corner of the world that seems appropriate for an Uncle Scrooge adventure. Have a great “adventure” of your own!

Your discovery is bittersweet in that these comics are probably EVERYWHERE except the birth-country of Walt Disney, Carl Barks, and Floyd Gottfredson.

March 8, 2014 at 8:47 AM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Thanks, Joe. I intend to do my best. I'm DEFINITELY gonna check out some komodo dragons.

March 8, 2014 at 9:33 AM  
Anonymous Elaine said...

Happy New Job, GeoX! So the question is...if Indonesia is the culture in which Obama Learned to Be Cool, did that process include reading Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics?

March 8, 2014 at 12:03 PM  
Anonymous Unca Paspasu said...

Congratulations for moving to a country where they have Disney comics!

Aren't there any story codes printed in these Indonesian issues? I think I (and others) could identify many Danish and Dutch stories, so even without codes indexing will be possible.

Here's the cover: http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=HC+DD2012-27

March 8, 2014 at 3:54 PM  
Blogger Chris Barat said...

Geo,

Good luck in the new setting. I imagine that the missing Malaysian plane is a hot topic in that part of the world at present. It definitely is back here.

Chris

March 8, 2014 at 6:34 PM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

@Elaine Thanks! The oldest Indonesian issue inducks lists is from 1976, so I fear our President will have missed out, alas. IMAGINE HOW DIFFERENT THINGS MIGHT BE.

@Unca Paspasu Thanks! If only things were that easy. Not only are there no story codes, but there's not even any identifying information about creators. A few of them are clearly Vicar, but there are also a few I'm not sure of.

@Chris Thanks! Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about the plane. As usual, the local angle gets emphasized, so I have learned that apparently there were seven Indonesians on board.

March 9, 2014 at 5:13 AM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

Well Joe Torcivia already wrote "Congratulations", Elaine already wrote "Happy New Job" and Chris wish you "Good Luck".
What can I write now to expres my best wishesh to you but not be a copycat and sound oryginal? Mhhh....


GO GET THEM GEOX!!!! YOUR THE MAN!!!! :D

March 9, 2014 at 7:12 AM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Thanks, Pan. You are truly an inimitable presence hereabouts.

March 9, 2014 at 8:11 AM  

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