JUST as we thought we had lost all our sense of humour with what’s taking place now, here comes an exhibition of Malaysian cartoon classics so that we can look back and laugh again, and not scoff, at true-blue Malaysianised jokes. The Lagi-Lagi Gila-Gila expo, featuring works by some of the country’s top cartoonists, is being held at the Petronas Gallery, KLCC in Kuala Lumpur till the middle of next month.
The show provides a nostalgic trip down memory lane because the only humour that seems to be left nowadays lies much in the not-so-amusing Malay slapsticks in the cinemas like the ridiculous Hantu Kapcai and the nutty Maharaja Lawak on television. The exhibition, therefore, grabs us like a dream and takes us away from the madness and absurdity of the state of affairs around us these days.
The throwback is on humour magazines that made a killing in the past, such as Gila-Gila, Gelihati, Humor and Ujang, which have practically vanished from the scene in a flash. Gila-Gila, the crowd’s favourite, was first published in early 1978, capitalising on the craze for satirical cartoons as found in the American Mad magazine, as well as living up to the benchmark of amusement laid by Lat in this paper and in Berita Harian. Lat’s compilations were also published in books around that time, hence, they added to the rage. And, Gila-Gila shot up like a rocket in terms of sales, moving from 10,000 in its first publication to well over 100,000 at its height just a year or so later.
Among the cartoonists it featured were Jaafar Taib, Zainal Buang Hussin, Azman Yusof, Rejabhad, Tarzidi, Nan, Fatah Ngah, Kerengge, Reggie Lee, Don, Zamri Abu, Rossem, Imuda and Long.
Gila-Gila, with its tagline “National satire magazine”, was published fortnightly in its heyday, and most of the time, it would fly off the shelves the moment it came on sale, especially when it came out with its bumper issues to commemorate big festivals like Hari Raya, Merdeka and Chinese New Year.
It soon became a trendsetter of sorts, and opened the way to similar magazines and comics following suit, providing biting and sarcastic comments and lampooning Malaysian happenings. One banner that was featured on its front cover some years ago had American business magnate George Soros, notoriously known for speculating on currencies, captaining a vessel headed for Malaysia, but having to turn back vigorously, shouting “Mahathir still around”. There was also a section called English 101, with all its cynicism going beyond, for instance, the “egg is telur, wood is kayu” stuff and meandering on common mistakes.
For a while, we thought Malaysian humour and comics had found their niche after being in the tight grasp of so many publications from the West. We remember all those years ago, waiting each week for the latest edition of Beano, Dandy, Topper and Beezer comics from the United Kingdom, at one time selling for 35 sen each here.
They were smash hits, the characters being remembered to this day like Dennis the Menace, Corporal Clott, Roger the Dodger, Desperate Dan and The Bash Street Kids. They have disappeared from the scene as well, just like the more serious comics series that came along in Spy 13, Battler Briton, Kit Carson and Kansas Kid. It was common at that time for parents, especially, to come down hard on children found with comics, often shouting out, “You should be reading your schoolbooks and not comics”, not realising that comics indirectly had their advantageous elements.
But all seems to be gone now, including Gila-Gila, which, though still published every two months, is hardly seen in the streets. There’s no more old-fashioned humour.
In its place? The blatant, unmitigated Internet.
The freelance writer is an award-winning columnist