Indonesian comics grow, but market struggles
Indonesia has a comics scene of its own, but getting local readers to care amid a sea of manga from Japan is the real fight
This is a feature story from Animenomics, covering the business of anime and manga. Today’s story is written by Jakarta-based correspondent Yohana Belinda.
“You cannot rely solely on your own comic IPs to make a living. You need another income source—like working as a designer for clients—with comic creation squeezed in on the side,” said Edwin Fernando Tranggono, a Surabaya-based graphic designer, describing the harsh reality of living as a comic artist in Indonesia.
Tranggono, who goes by the pen name Edwin Te, told Animenomics that a childhood dream of becoming a comic artist has driven him to create his own comics since 2020, with titles like Elang Hitam and Naraka.
“The Indonesian comics scene is still pretty small in terms of who’s actually out there making things happen, but it’s definitely on the rise,” he said. “Just look at all the pre-orders piling up for new releases, not to mention the events that have started cropping up for local creators.”
Tranggono’s success speaks for itself. Elang Hitam will represent Indonesia at the Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan, South Korea, later this year after securing a win at Yogyakarta’s JAFF Content Market in November. It’s significant progress from ten years ago, when the scene for locally produced comics received little recognition.
Indonesia’s comics market is brimming with potential. Physical sales of local comics jumped 35 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data from AKSI, the Indonesian Comic Association.
Despite these improvements, Indonesian comics hold just 10 percent of the domestic market, says AKSI secretary general Rizqi Mosmarth, a brutal reality as Japanese manga continue to dominate and grow stronger among local readers. Indonesia’s youth make up roughly half of the population, and data from Ken Research reveals that more than 30 million of them actively consume manga content. On social media platforms, manga-related content regularly pulls in millions of views.
