I

would like to thank Matheos Viktor Messakh for his fine article titled "Mahabharata's heroes return" in the July 1 issue of The Jakarta Post.

It's high time that some attention is paid to the nostalgic longings of those of us Indonesians who are now decidedly well past our fifties, but who, in our very youthful years (and here I'm talking about the 50s and early 60s!) mostly had comics from Indonesia, created by Indonesians, to enjoy.

Most of the comics that appeared on the Indonesian market in the 1950s were published by Toko Melodie, located on Jl. A.B.C. 19, Bandung and these were generally wayang stories about the heroes of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

The attentive reader and ardent fan of classic Indonesian comics may have noticed that on the second photograph in the article, a cover of one of the several Wayang Purwa issues, depicting Batara Guru or Lord Shiva, is shown. The Wayang Purwa series (and if I'm not mistaken there were more than 20 individual comic books in these series) were created by S. Ardisoma, whose drawings were superb.

S. Ardisoma also created the pictures for the Ulamsari series, ten comics in all, of which I fortunately possess in a bound copy that is now half a century old. The paper and drawings are still in excellent condition. And yes, I have a copy that I made last year! Is anyone interested?

Again, in the Ulamsari series, S. Ardisoma's illustrations are outstanding, with great and painstaking attention to detail. The depiction of the hero Gatotkaca, for instance, is magnificent.

Several of my friends have compared S. Ardisoma's drawing style to that of Burne Hogarth, that immortal drawer of the Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan stories. And this comparison is not so far beside the mark, as anyone who has seen and admired Ardisoma's work can testify!

R. A. Kosasih, of course, contributed significantly to the Indonesian comics world with the Ramayana and Mahabharata series as well as the lesser-known Tjiung Wanara, Lutung Kasarung, Siti Gahara and Sri Asih; Indonesian's first superwoman!

Those who were fortunate enough to own all these titles may have noticed that R.A. Kosasih, who, as far as I can remember, created rather detailed illustrations in Lutung Kasarung, Siti Gahara and other first works, might have been rather in a hurry when he created the last of the Mahabharata series.

Nevertheless, it must be said, and emphatically so, that R.A. Kosasih has earned everlasting gratitude from Indonesian comic lovers who, thanks to him, were introduced to those ancient Indian legends.

But please, let us not forget S. Ardisoma and other talented illustrators such as Oerip, who created the Gatutkaca Sewu series and the (regretfully!) anonymous ones who created Baju Antakusuma and Sang Hyang Telaga Pancuran, and other, now almost forgotten, wayang stories. They, too, deserve their place in the limelight. We owe them so much .