Inspiration leads to ‘Borneo Boys’ comic series

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(From left) McLaughlin with his cartoonists Wong and Goh in front of the Seng Wang Kong temple which is the inspiration for ‘The Borneo Boys’ first issue.

The first two issues of ‘The Borneo Boys’ series which feature the Great Fire of Kuching in 1884 (left) and local warrior-hero Panglima Seman.

The river at Kampung Panglima Seman, which serves as the backdrop for the second issue of ‘Borneo Boys’.

The character sheet for Dzul, one of the main protagonists.

The character sheet for Hong Huat, one of the two main protagonists in ‘The Borneo Boys’.

Artists behind ‘The Borneo Boys’ series Helena Goh (left) and Natasha Rusdy Wong.

KUCHING: The inspiration to write a Sarawak-based comic book began three years ago, when Tom McLaughlin, a native Marylander, wanted to do something for the people of the Land of the Hornbills.

An American expatriate living in Kuching with his wife Suriani Sahari and son, he was teaching at Lodge School and was inspired to transform his love for local history and lore into a comic book which he believed would be the best medium for teaching the youth of Sarawak their own history.

“I’ve noticed that many books – especially those of history – just sit on the shelves and are not read by students or their parents. So with that, I thought a comic book would be the best way for the children to read and learn as they will have something in English with history in it. That was the reason behind ‘The Borneo Boys’.”

Set in present-day Sarawak, ‘The Borneo Boys’ features the time-travelling adventures of schoolboys Hong Huat and Dzul via a magical ‘tajau’. Through their time-travelling, they experience local historic events as they happened.

So far, two issues have been completed, featuring the Great Fire of Kuching in 1884 and the legend of local hero Panglima Seman.

“As we go along, we are also going to explore the other parts of Sarawak, as long as we have the money and the feedback we receive from the readers, our series of ‘The Borneo Boys’ comic book could be endless,” said McLaughlin.

Currently, McLaughlin and his team of illustrators and collaborators are working on the third book of ‘The Borneo Boys’ but they require funding.

“Basically, we need about RM17,000 for printing and the overall process.”

He added that with the funding, they will then try to distribute them to schools, tourism offices, even convenience stores and retail outlets.

According to McLaughlin, all the background information on these historic events are from hours of research and interviews with locals.

“Everything is as close to true as I can get. With many hours spent in the library and interviews with the local people, I then write the draft, and take the draft for my cartoonists to start the creative process and drawings.”

To maintain it as a Sarawakian production, McLaughlin enlisted local cartoonists Natasha Rusdy Wong and Helena Goh.

According to Goh, McLaughlin constantly feeds them with the information and from there the creative process like storyboarding and scripting begin.

“Basically, when we see the draft, Helena, Tom and I do a brainstorming session, sometimes with the help of another cartoonist Keith Voon,” Wong said.

“We will sit down, discuss how the characters should act and react and these give us ideas on how we should draw them according to their character sheets. After Tom agrees to it, we proceed with it. Everything goes according to certain process and procedures.

“It was quite a tricky process for us at first, because Tom is very precise, and he always wants the characters to be represented well,” she said.

She elaborated that the research that McLaughlin does is not strictly literature-based.

“He goes out and talks to people of Sarawak. He is not just a guy who just reads from the Internet. He visits the actual sites, takes us there and talks to the people.”

One thing that Tom had not realised was that it takes more than one person to produce and work on ‘The Borneo Boys’, including those who do the drawing, the colouring, as well as the dialogue. “So with more than one person to produce ‘The Borneo Boys’, the cost adds up.”

For those who would like to help and contribute to the ongoing process of ‘The Borneo Boys’ comic books, email McLaughlin at [email protected] or contact him at 0168944124 or 0128812166 (Suriani).