Archive - Jul 20, 2007
Some of Som
Submitted by Lynn Lau on July 20, 2007 - 09:47
Yes, I felt a bit of pride when it was announced earlier this year that the ALA’s best books for young adults for 2007 included Lat’s Kampung Boy. This American edition debuted last year, but the comic itself isn’t new by any means. Kampung Boy was first published in its original Malay in 1979, with its local English version following swiftly after. Regardless of the thirteen editions it’s undergone since, the comic retains a quaint timelessness, combining youthful wonder with a bit of nostalgia.
I was thinking about this in terms of another one of Lat’s comics, which invokes nostalgia on a different level. On my last trip home, I’d grabbed the family copy of Mat Som before it could get swallowed by my parents’ moving boxes (I have since smuggled it with me across the ocean, mwahaha).
