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omic artist Veby Surya Wibawa sheds a different light on conservative Muslims.

Better known by his pen name, Vebi Djenggotten, the 30-year-old does not look like his fellow artists in the field.

A conservative Muslim, he sports a long beard and wears celana ngatung (loose trousers with legs cut at ankle-level) that are commonly worn by traditional Muslims in Indonesia.

But ankle-length pants are as far as he goes with his religion. On the paper, he is a prolific artist that can find humor from subjects ranging from the hadith (the words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad) to Facebook.

Veby is the man behind the two series of 33 Pesan Nabi (33 Messages from the Prophet) in 2011 — which are among the best-sellers in their genre and will soon be published in Malaysia.

“Things that I share in the 33 Pesan Nabi are basically based on hadith from [prominent clerics] Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim and represent my personal concerns,” says Veby.

Among his concerns is how Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim-majority population in the world, is often portrayed as a nation of “hard-liners”.

“Through these comic books, I portray a different kind of Muslim who actually has great universal values that every one shares.”

He also has produced other solo comic books titled Aku ber-Facebook Maka Aku Ada (I Facebook, Therefore I am) and Mangan Ga Mangan Penting Eksis! (Eating or Not, Stay in the Spotlight) in 2009; as well as a collaborative comic book with his wife, illustrator Mira Rahman, titled Married With Brondong (Married to a Younger Man) — which was reprinted under the title Bo & Jo in 2010.

In compilation works, Veby has made contributions to several publications—Para Gokil (Crazy People) from 2010 to 2012; Majalah Cergam Kampungan (Tacky Illustrated Magazine) in 2010; and to Berkah dan Bencana Motor (Blessing and Danger of Motorcyle) and Yang Penting Rating (Rating that Matter) in 2011.

As a young boy, Veby was an avid fan of several local and international comic books, including Javanese graphic novels by the late Indonesian comic maestro
RA Kosasih as well as Belgian’s Smurf by Peyo and the Japanese manga 20th Century Boys by Urusawa Naoki.

Veby says he never thought he would become a comic artist when growing up in Malang, East Java.

He says that he just knew that he loved to draw ever since he was at elementary school, and had participated in many contests. The heroic monkey Hanoman from Kosasih’s Ramayana epic was his favorite character.

“In high school, I started to draw comic characters like Beni and Mice,” Veby says, referring to the popular comic artists. He says that the duo has had a solid influence to his pieces.

However, during his four years studying architecture at Brawijaya University in Malang, Veby decided to temporarily leave everything about comics behind to focus on his education.

After graduating in 2005, he embarked on a career in architecture in Sidoarjo, East Java. He landed in Jakarta and found as a set designer at television channel ANTV a year later.

Veby says meeting Mira, the love of his life, was among his most important journeys. Like a match made in heaven, he and Mira, an architecture undergraduate from University of Indonesia and fellow comic aficionado, met on the Internet in May 2007.

“We just ran into each other while chatting on the Internet. At that time she thought I was her friend, while I assumed she was some grown-up lady,” Veby says, “but we do have several things in common, like an architecture background and the comic stuff.”

“We decided to meet face-to-face for comic reason. In September, I proposed to her and by the end of 2007
we got married,” says the father of a four-year-old.

Starting with the desire to make a 100 page humorous comic book, Veby ended up with the 110-page of Aku ber-Facebook Maka Aku Ada, which tells about the phenomena of Facebook. He started to draw it during his time at ANTV.

Later, a publisher wanted to reissue the book as Mangan Gak Mangan Penting Eksis!

Creative people will remain creative no matter what. It happens to the Wibawa couple who decided to work together for Married With Brondong and Bo & Jo.

“We’ve been discussing collaborative works since three month before our wedding. The story in those graphic novels is based on a true story,” reveals Veby, referring to the seven year gap between him and Mira.

After facing challenges when distributing Aku ber-Facebook Maka Aku Ada and Married With Brondong independently, Veby decided to directly offer his solo comic books to a publisher.

Veby found that Zaytuna was the most suitable publisher for his 33 Pesan Nabi.

“I do comic books because I simply want to share all the good things in life,” Veby says.

On Sept. 9, he published his latest work called 101% Cinta Indonesia (101% Love Indonesia) — that talks about everything about the country, including corruption.