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Jakarta Post

Benny and Mice: Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful

BENNY RACHMADI AND MUHAMMAD MISRAD (JP/J

Adisti Sukma Sawitri (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, March 30, 2008

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Benny and Mice: Oh but they're weird and they're wonderful

BENNY RACHMADI AND MUHAMMAD MISRAD (JP/J. Adiguna)

For cartoonists Benny Rachmadi and Muhammad Misrad style has so far meant two things: jeans and T-shirts.

Muhammad Misrad, 38, was wearing baggy shorts, a T-shirt and trekking sandals for last month's interview and photo session with The Jakarta Post, while Benny, 39, had slipped a black jacket over his T-shirt.

"We've given up on being handsome. We are just happy being us," Benny said.

The cartoons in their "Lagak Jakarta" (Jakarta Style) books are an unfailing source of humor and satire, reflecting the daily lives of Jakartans.

The first book in the Lagak Jakarta series, Trend dan Prilaku (Trends and Behavior), was launched in 1997, selling more than 11,000 copies, while the second book,Profesi (Profession), sold about 10,000 copies.

Almost nothing is sacred to Benny and Mice, who have been drawing together since 1989, when they completed their studies at the Jakarta Art Institute's Graphic Design School.

At art school they caricatured their teachers, as well as politicians, making them funny and ugly.

"The cartoons reflect our general imperfections as human beings. That's what makes people laugh," said Benny, sketching a cartoon of a woman with frizzy hair and big lips on the corner of his notepad.

The art school allocated them wall space, which they filled every day with cartoons of rejected lovers and bad-tempered lecturers.

Mice said he and Benny liked to draw the things they knew the best.

"Many times we were given the opportunity to make pictures about the Lapindo mudflow or issues in other regions, but that is just not us," said Mice, who was born and bred in Jakarta.

In the six Lagak Jakarta books, published between 1997 and 1999, the two make fun of everyone and everything -- from the nouveau riche with their fancy cell phones to the government's "crazy" transportation ideas.

When Kompas daily asked them to regularly contribute to its Sunday edition, they also chose the characters they know the best: themselves.

The comic strip, titled Benny&Mice, features Benny as he is, tall and frizzy-haired, while Mice has glasses and a big nose.

Benny and Mice have the ability to mimic each other's styles.

For instance in Benny&Mice, Benny can draw the Mice character while Mice can draw Benny.

"Not even my wife can pick whose drawing is whose," said Benny.

Despite the current format of Benny&Mice, the two used their own styles for the first three Lagak Jakarta books.

While Benny produced highly detailed drawings, Mice was more expressive, using bold strokes to create drama and humor.

Their styles merged for the first time in the fourth Lagak Jakarta book, titled Krisis oh Krisis.

Also appearing for the first time were the characters of Benny and Mice.

The two have been influenced by a number of cartoonists: They draw teeth in the style of Matt Groening's The Simpsons, while their caricature and story-telling techniques stem from the Malaysian cartoon "Kampung Boy" and MTV's Beavis and Butthead.

Jakarta Art Institute lecturer Tantio Adjie said the duo had always had complementary drawing styles.

"It's like a car. Benny is the one who starts the engine by creating atmosphere, while Mice contributes the sassy characters," he said at the launch of the latest Lagak Jakarta book, 100 Tokoh yang mewarnai Jakarta (100 characters who color Jakarta).

But Benny and Mice do not do everything together. Benny also draws cartoons for the newspaper, Kontan, while Mice works as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer.

Benny said there were a lot of cartoonists out there with better techniques, but most of them focused on non-Indonesian characters and stories.

Mice added that in the early days of Lagak Jakarta it had been hard to escape the influence of Dato' Lat, the creator of Kampung Boy.

He said it had taken them 12 years for to develop their own styles.

"What we offer is a strong concept and consistency in picturing Jakarta. That is what makes us different from the others," Mice said.

With more Lagak Jakarta books coming out this year and a regular spot in the country's leading newspaper, the two are now aiming to put Benny&Mice on television.

"It would be fun to see them moving," Benny said.

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