Abby's review of Town Boy
Town Boy by Lat
I was curious to read this because Jason Shiga (my new cartoonist crush) mentions in an afterword to "Double Happiness" that he was very much inspired by Lat's work & "Town Boy" in particular. And in fact there are a few scenes in Town Boy that Shiga basically replicates in "Double Happiness," only shifting the scene from 1960's Malaysia to present-day SF Chinatown.
I think I liked "Kampung Boy" a bit more than this one, although I did really love the street scenes in "Town Boy." Lat's drawing style is so different from most cartoonists I normally like -- looser, more kinetic in a way -- but I still enjoy it. I especially like how he uses the entire two-page spread to stretch out a scene.
I think I liked "Kampung Boy" a bit more than this one, although I did really love the street scenes in "Town Boy." Lat's drawing style is so different from most cartoonists I normally like -- looser, more kinetic in a way -- but I still enjoy it. I especially like how he uses the entire two-page spread to stretch out a scene.
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Maybe as a cartoonist I read Lat's books with a different eye, but I consider this and Kampung Boy to be (as a set) one of the all time greatest graphic memoirs. The amount of re-captured detail and sheer cartooning skill in these books never fails to awe me.
I have to say that while I'm glad First Second made these available in the US, they really screwed up the page size of the books. The original editions are larger and more of a treat for the eye. If you can find the larger versions, please give Lat another try!
That's interesting about the page size -- I think those drawings would definitely have more impact on a bigger page. I've only dabbled in cartooning a bit, but I too was impressed by the detail in the scenes Lat recreates -- especially in "Town Boy." And I didn't mean my comments to sound like I was writing Lat's work off -- I did actually like them both a lot! It's just that I thought the narrative in "Town Boy" was kind of all over the place -- there was a stronger thread in "Kampung Boy" in my opinion. But I'm glad I read them. Are there more after these two available in the States? I'd love to read about his life as a young adult, especially given all the social unrest going on in Malaysia at the time.
I've seen one called something like "Now and Then", where he's telling his children what happened at a certain place and showing how it's changed. That's probably why I like "Kampung Boy" and "Town Boy" as a set: for Lat's major theme of change in the 20th century, starting rural/traditional and then adapting to city life.
Besides that, I'm not sure if he continued to chronicle his life. He's a superstar political and gag cartoonist in Malaysia (and throughout SE Asia). I have a few books of his one-panel cartoons. (I have a connection in Singapore who helped me acquire my Lat books).
