Raden Fajar Hadria Putra, the comic book artist behind GHOSTY'S COMIC, knows a thing or two about how to turn life's realities – either the humdrum or the more pressing ones – into laughable satire. For instance, he learned that hilarity lies in humility, not in humiliation.

"One thing is for sure: Do not punch down on people," the 27-year-old comic book artist told The Jakarta Post. 

"Never mock anyone and put their weakness on display in a frontal manner. For instance, there is satire out there where the artist ends up shaming their subject. That's the stuff that I always avoid."

Fajar’s crafted GHOSTY'S COMIC seems to have pulled off the nearly impossible feat. Thanks to his self-deprecating humor and his astute observation of life's realities, millions of followers and readers of GHOSTY'S COMIC have gotten to laugh with his off-the-wall characters as opposed to laughing at their absurdities – especially in a country where any form of satire can easily be mistaken for an offense.

Halcyon adolescence and quarter-life crisis

A Bandung native, the younger Fajar had been interested in all things comic books, the most memorable example being Japanese comic legend Fujiko F. Fujio's Doraemon. That said, it was another comic book that eventually threw him into the deep end of the comic-verse: Kazuki Takahashi-penned fantasy manga series, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Like many 10-year-old boys, he could not help but find himself intrigued with the content that was slightly more grown-up.

"Doraemon is more, like, kids' stuff. Yu-Gi-Oh!, on the other hand, delivers a story that is more 'mature'," Fajar reminisced.

Fajar soon started scribbling an original comic himself. Little did he know, the comic book doodle that he scrawled back in middle school would be the genesis of what is now GHOSTY'S COMIC. The idea could not have been more lucid: the teen Fajar felt the whim to depict his classmates' antics in the form of a hand-crafted comic strip.

Cut to the present day, and Fajar concurred that his comic book character design – shaped like a ghost in a sheet, hence the title GHOSTY'S COMIC – has not been subjected to any modification since those halcyon, middle-school days. The same applies to the storyline: plotless, it bears little continuity and focuses on the characters' exchanges instead of their arcs.

"The funny thing is, the [character] design has remained the same," said Fajar, chuckling. "But the story back then was about class antics such as playing cards during break time. And I turned my classmates into their respective characters as well."

Observing how his classmates enjoyed his drawings and his sense of humor, Fajar decided to upload the first chapters of GHOSTY'S COMIC to his blog. 

"There was a teeny, tiny hope in me that other people might notice it as well – not just the people in my class," Fajar continued.

Did it work?

"Um, no," he answered, laughing.

Simple hilarity: GHOSTY'S COMIC would often poke fun at current pop culture and internet trends. (Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC) (Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC/Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC)

Fajar had a great time drawing the early drafts of GHOSTY'S COMIC in his teens, though, in all fairness, he still perceived it as nothing more than "child's play" at the time. Once he turned 18, he had to say goodbye to that fantasy-filled adolescence and welcome the new chapter of adulthood. He then attended Bandung Institute of Technology, majoring in information engineering.

Unfortunately, for Fajar, adulthood turned out to be not all it was cracked up to be.

Fajar explained his quarter-life crisis: "It was the third year of college, and I was doing this internship in Jakarta. It was around 2014 or 2015. I found myself stressed out. My passion for IT had started to diminish as well. I couldn't keep up with what I was studying in class because, as it turned out, my brain was too debilitated to do that. I had lost interest in mastering IT further and I was doing my internship half-heartedly."

Desperate to find his spark in life, Fajar decided to revisit the doodles that had been left behind in his adolescent past. Not only did he continue working on GHOSTY'S COMIC, but he also decided to utilize what he had learned in class and digitize his drafts. He uploaded the drafts to a brand-new Tumblr blog and his Facebook. This time around, people finally took notice.

Online success and offline breakthroughs

The idea to turn GHOSTY'S COMIC into something more concrete took flight when Fajar and his college friends participated in a business plan competition. They pitched a platform as a means to support indie and local comic book artists, with Fajar-penned GHOSTY'S COMIC being the comic book they chose as the "first product" of said platform. 

Fajar and his team decided to self-publish GHOSTY'S COMIC and sell the physical format at various events, gathering, quite unexpectedly, a positive reception from its readers. Such a reception later encouraged him to turn his work into serialized content on LINE Webtoon. The first chapter was published on May 25, 2016. 

GHOSTY'S COMIC became a massive success, gathering more than 88 million views and 460,000 subscribers, thus making it one of the top-rated original comic book series on LINE Webtoon. Moreover, even though Fajar had not published new chapters on the platform since April 2019, he observed that the series continued drawing more views and subscribers to this day.

Looking back, Fajar remarked that the "number-one reason" behind the success of GHOSTY'S COMIC was its "relatability".

"Even though the characters are not humanoid at all, the truth is, it is a grounded story," he pointed out.

Another element that, Fajar observed, might have made GHOSTY'S COMIC beguiling to both new and returning readers is the sense of humor that he delivers in each chapter. At its core, GHOSTY'S COMIC is a slice-of-life comic book that incorporates elements of deadpan comedy, satire and tragicomedy, focusing on themes that range from the mundane, such as hobbies and internet culture, to the more complex, such as financial missteps.

To hone his approach to comedy, Fajar would often find inspiration from fellow comic book artists-slash-cartoonists Benny Rachmadi and Muhammad "Mice" Misrad, most famous for their comic strip Benny & Mice.

"My sense of humor is not something slapstick-like or a sort of overreaction," described Fajar. "It's more like a slam against the reality that is currently presented."

Simplicity serves as Fajar's strength as well. Each chapter of GHOSTY'S COMIC typically features three characters only: the financially clumsy Jaret, the dorky Emon and the "crazy rich" Sultan.

Jaret, in particular, serves as the author's alter ego. "[But] I'm not as miserable as him!" Fajar quickly added with a giggle. "Like, I'm still financially responsible. But, there have been moments when I made the same bad calls as Jaret did."

The online popularity of GHOSTY'S COMIC led to more opportunities for Fajar as he decided to branch out to different platforms and business ventures. The comic book's YouTube channel has drawn more than 85,000 subscribers while across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter GHOSTY'S COMIC has amassed well beyond 316,000 followers.

Moreover, GHOSTY'S COMIC has been developed into merchandise and partnerships with brands such as Pos Indonesia, Sony PlayStation, Teh Gelas Botol and Tokopedia. Currently, the physical format of GHOSTY'S COMIC is published by M&C! Publishing.

Was it difficult transitioning from being a comic book artist to being a businessman? 

"Surprisingly, the transition has been pretty natural. I have never felt overwhelmed taking care of the business side of things," Fajar answered with a shrug.

The man behind the satire: Raden Fajar Hadria Putra is the author and illustrator of GHOSTY'S COMIC. (Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC) (Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC/Courtesy of GHOSTY'S COMIC)

Joining the laughter

Ayoga Nanda, the editor currently in charge of the print publication of GHOSTY'S COMIC, explained that the reason why he took interest in the comic book in the first place was its "uniqueness".

"The way the story is presented is very different from most comic strips," he shared. "When most of them rely on a punchline that betrays its premise, GHOSTY'S COMIC would deliver one that we couldn’t even think of."

Despite his work as a music journalist for Creative Disc, Luthfi Suryanda was keen on joining Fajar in developing GHOSTY'S COMIC as more than just intellectual property – especially after observing Fajar's humility and his work's "potential".

He summed up, "I figured, if GHOSTY'S COMIC was to be handled with more decent management, this could grow into something huge. As simple as that."