Cempaka is a comic character created by RA Kosasih in 1974. Cempaka is a female "Tarzan" wearing leopard striped clothes. In her life in the forest, Cempaka is friendly with various forest animals, and her main friends are Sabor, a panther and Goro, a gorilla. Her actions and deeds are often helped by her animal friends to get rid of criminals, who want to disturb the peace of the forest. One thing that might be a bit unique is the presence of Goro who, if I'm not mistaken, is a gorilla who actually only exists mostly in the African jungle. But if you look at the contents of the story about life in the forest (it seems like in the Indonesian forest), it is an interesting story to watch, but the Cempaka comic is certainly not circulating anymore at this time. Last hope, of course, we can look for old comics sellers or on sites and blogs that provide old comics.
Gogo or Gogo Pendekar Rimba, is an Indonesian version of the Tarzan style comic created by M Ali S in 1983. The character, body posture and location of the Gogo story seem very inspired by the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912). The storyline for the Gogo comic is also similar to the storyline in the Tarzan comic, such as growing from a small boy to a big man living in the middle of the tropical forest, raised and cared for by forest animals.
Jakawana, or Jakawana Pahlawan Rimba Belantara (aka Jakawana Anak Didikan Rimba from 1978 onwards), is a Tarzanide comic character created by S Ardisoma (Saleh Ardisoma) by the publisher of the Bandung Karya Bhakti Foundation in 1978. The Jakawana comic was actually first published in the 1950s with the old spelling "Djakawana" by the publisher Melodie Bandung. Jakawana's early story was inspired by the Edgar Rice Burrough comics Tarzan (1914), while the way he was dressed in a leopardskin loincloth, which covered half of his body toward the left shoulder, similar to Hal Foster's early Tarzan style. Origin: Initially, a small child named Kohar was orphaned in the middle of the forest alone, but who was then nurtured and raised by a large ape, perhaps a matronly orangutan who escaped from an unkind zoo. During his life in the interior of the forest, Jakawana had known various forest animals and made friends with them.
Mala, is a Tarzan style comic character created by Bahzar and A. Bakti, which has been done alternately by the two of them since 1963, published by the Casso Medan publisher. Bahzar and A. Bakti's scribbles are good and look alive. The storyline, characters and location look very much like the characters of Tarzan, but that is enough to satisfy comic fans. The story of Mala's adventure was also very popular in the 60s. The location of the story that does not depend on a place makes the storyline not boring. Unfortunately this comic is no longer circulating, there is little hope to read and enjoy this Indonesian-style Tarzan comic, but with a little luck it might still be able to get it on old comic seller websites or in used comic vendors.
Tiwi or the Goddess of the Jungle is a Tarzanide comic character created by Mar in 1974. The author, who is famous for his superheroes, turns out to also create another comic character whose genre is Tarzanide, and the character's creation is a woman. Tiwi wears a pretty sexy costume, and as a woman who lives in the wilderness, it turns out that she is tough in chasing and defeating criminals who disturb the tranquillity of the forest. Tiwi also knows various forest-dwelling animals. It is not uncommon for Tiwi's actions to fight crime with the help of forest animals. This Tiwi comic was published and circulated in the '70s. It seems that there are not many episode titles issued by the author, especially for now it might be rather difficult to get this Tiwi comic.
Waro or Waro Manusia Rimba, is a comic character from the Tarzanide genre created by Sukri in the 1960s. The name of the Waro character is similar to that of the character Wiro the Jungle Boy. It is not clear whether this comic was inspired by Tarzan's character or from Wiro's character. What is certain is that Waro looks like Tarzan and his name is similar to Wiro. From the 50s to the 80s, in Indonesia there have been many comics in the Indonesian style of Tarzan, such as Wiro, Yimbo, Mala, Zanga, Jakawana, Marimba, Cempaka, Tiwi and others. Of the many Indonesian-style Tarzan figures, the comic Wiro by Kwik Ing Hoo is perhaps the most successful of all. Back to Waro, whose name is similar to Wiro. Apart from that, as an alternative, the Waro comic in its time must have been an interesting comic to read. It's just that the comic "Waro Manusia Rimba" is no longer circulating today. If you are curious about this comic, you might still be able to get it from used comic sellers or on old comic sites/blogs.
Wiro or Wiro si Anak Rimba, is a comic character from the Tarzan genre created by Chinese Indonesians Kwik Ing Hoo (Semarang) and Liem Boen Djien, who appeared in 1956. Kwik Ing Hoo (himself a dude who converted to Islam) is the painter and Liem Boen Djien is the story writer. In Indonesia there are actually many Tarzan comics circulating, but Wiro comics are the most successful and most well-known comics from the 50s to 80s.
Wiro’s actions and adventures in his comics are probably the most suitable for the readers' tastes, and also the natural conditions that suit Indonesian nature, as well as the forest animals that are Wiro's friends are also very interesting for comic readers in Indonesia to enjoy. The initial story and the storyline are actually not too far from Tarzan's story, about a teenager who from childhood lived in the forest, befriended forest animals until he was a teenager, fought against criminals who planned to disturb and damage the peace of the forest. This character, besides Tarzan's genre, might be more appropriate for all ages, as his story is indeed closer to the story of Mowgli the Jungle Boy than that of Tarzan. Wiro, a boy who’s been armed with a slingshot, swings from tree branches to other tree branches. The Wiro comic was very popular in its time and affected many Indonesian children who followed the Wiro style using slingshots and tree climbing in the 60s to 70s. The popularity of this Wiro comic was apparently not only enjoyed by Indonesian children, even Barack Obama when he was a child in Indonesia had read Wiro comics. Wiro's adventure from Java to the forests of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi to West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya) with his animal friends, like monkeys, orangutans, tigers and elephants. In the 1980s Wiro comics were reprinted with Enhanced Spelling, and there were some scenes that were revised and replaced by Kwik Ing Hoo, one of which was when Wiro hunted wild boar and ate them, wild boar replaced with deer. Then in the late 80s, the story of Wiro was continued by other comic artists, but the quality of the graffiti was still below the quality of Kwik Ing Hoo's.
Yimbo, is a Tarzan comic character created by Bahzar in Medan in 1965. The author, Bahzar previously in 1963 had created a character of the same genre, namely Mala, who was made with his colleague A. Bakti. Yimbo looks similar to Tarzan, so does the story line. Yimbo comics were once quite popular in Indonesia in the 60s to 70s. Now of course it has been very difficult to find this rare comic. The only place I know and find this comic is only on the tokokomikantik.com website.
Zanga, is the Indonesian version of the Tarzan comic character created by Eng in the 60s era in Medan. The theme, character and location are very inspired by the Tarzan character who appeared in 1912. This Zanga comic painting scrawl deserves a thumbs up because it looks good and alive. Zanga's face and posture look very similar to Tarzan's. The location of the story is very suitable with the nature of Indonesia. Although this Zanga comic can be said to be imitating the character of Tarzan, but the story and adventure of Zanga is definitely fun to follow, unfortunately this comic is no longer circulating at this time.
