Children and Comic Books

It’s been a long time since we last heard from Lat, the famous Malaysian cartoonist. What does he have to say about Crayon Shin-chan, the comic book that’s causing quite a stir? What does he think about American comic strips? Why does Crayon Shin-chan come up short compared to Lat and Calvin and Hobbes? Here’s an exclusive interview between TEMPO and Lat and an article on naughty boys in the international comic book scene.

February 27, 2001

How are you, Lat? Still around? Still producing comic strips for the New Straits Times? "Yes, yes, three times a week," he replies to Purwani D. Prabandari from TEMPO in a phone interview. His thick Malayan accent and deep voice conjure images of his round body shaking because of the surprise phone call from Jakarta to Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The cartoonist, whose real name is Mohamad Nor Khalid, recalls, "Christine Hakim once

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