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Manga Big Bang! has released a one-shot manga comics by a special guest titled Avianista on 25th July 2017 via our Patreon site. Avianista follows the daily life of an Indonesian flight attendant Adinda, a fictional character created by writer Gerry Soejatman. This charming comic with art and story telling style similar to seinen genre in Japanese manga is sometimes comical, and at times, mellow. Manga Big Bang! editor Tiffany has interviewed the artist behind it, Rimanti Nurdarina Baga.  Welcome to Manga Big Bang, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Hello Manga Big Bang!, glad that I can be part of this exciting project with you. I'm Rimanti Nurdarina Baga, or Rima. Jakarta, Indonesia is where I live and also the setting place I usually use in my daily life themed comic books. In my free time, I spend my lone time going around anywhere, observing anything. Sometimes there's always unexpected new insight that I can put into my works. I love listening to chill indie or lo-fi musics, also some movie soundtracks. I can crouch in my bed with the lights off, concentrating on the musics by my earphones for hours just to imagine the plot of my comic characters as if they were in some epic film reel in cinema. It helps me writing the stories as close as possible to its sentimental point. Watching films definitely inspires me. Last but not least, obviously, I put my soul in aviation, mostly the commercial industry. Nothing beats the thrill of listening airplane engines roar near me and the crazy idea of flying tons of steels to the sky. I can talk about aviation for hours and days with anyone, sharing my passion on it, through illustrations and comic books. Oh God sorry it's no longer 'a bit' anymore isn't it hahah.  Adinda from Avianista Tell us about the upcoming debut in MBB with the story Avianista: It's about an aviation geek and how the said aviation world reacts to him, in a very small scale, humorous banter. Avianista is a one-shot comic book with open ending so I just leave the opportunity of continuation there. I don't know if I would in near future though because right now I'm putting my concentration on newer works, about aviation too, definitely. Avianista had been published by myself two years ago during a convention, people were looking forward to my works, and now to have a chance partnering with MBB, setting Avianista off to international readers is giving me back that excitement. I feel honored to be chosen as a partner here. Let's do our best together. We are also very excited to be working with you Rimanti :-) How did you and your team came up with the idea of writing a story like Avianista? First I need to explain about 'Airdrama'. It's an alias name I made as my works are usually within helps or participation of others. I can't take the whole credit alone. Airdrama revolves only in aviation theme, and we focus on the authenticity, the accuracy of our works. This is to fill our educational mission as well. We have to be believable. For this Avianista project by Airdrama team, I worked with Gerry Soejatman as writer and Fadjar Nugroho as producer. Gerry is a renowned aviation consultant that often gets invited by media, while Fadjar is a captain at Qatar Airways and he owns an educational website about commercial aviation. Avianista was intended to be a mini experimental project to test the water, on the target audience's interest for niche genre like what Airdrama aims. The idea came straight from Gerry himself, a full fledged aviation geek. I supervised him throughout the story building. Fadjar helped on the publication for a major pop culture convention at Jakarta. We printed Avianista for only about 125 copies and it was sold so fast like a hot cake, we could barely sell anything by the 2nd day over 3 days long convention. We totally didn't expect that. Even after the convention ends, people were still demanding for reprints but we never had a plan, put aside the cost itself. A year after, we decided to make it free for read through our Facebook page. People shared it like crazy and we recognized that our target audiences are totally there. Now, with MBB, we'd like to see how our Avianista flies in the 'international airspace'. We definitely hope for a smooth flight ahead.  Which places would you like to visit/ have visited? UK, London. Then to Brooklands Museum, meeting Concorde. The.Most.Beautiful.Airplane.Ever.Period. Would love to have a chance attending the events. There's also one in Manchester at Duxford Museum. Not to forget meeting the MBB team hahahah. Toulouse, France, for Airbus and Seattle, USA, for Boeing. For leisure, I'm dreaming about Santorini, Greece. I love all those white and blue combinations. Honestly I've never been to many countries but I could frequently visit Singapore for a good, long walk around, feeling the city vibes. I wish I can travel more to various places. Any word for your fans and new readers? If you are a fellow aviation geek, you'll enjoy this comic, and if you are an airline crew, you'll know the feeling of being weirded out by an obnoxious pax. Even if you are totally not having a single clue about flying tins, you can still follow the drama while 'subliminally' being taught about aviation hahahah. Avianista is not a long series but we'll keep working on some much more exciting new stories about aviation for everyone. Meanwhile, please enjoy the curious adventure of 'avgeek'. Thanks and welcome to Manga Big Bang! You're welcome! To read Avianista 1, click on the image below and follow the instructions to be our Patron! *Avianista 1's download link will expire on 25th August 2017. 
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Andrés Zerpa, the artist of Manga Big Bang!'s comic Avatara has won the Editors Award this time in the prestigious yearly manga competition, Silent Manga Audition 2017 held by Coamix corp in Japan. He had previously won the Excellence Award in Silent Manga Audition 2016 along with his co-creator, the story writer of Avatara, David Thomas. What is the driving force that keeps Andrés' performing at high level? Manga Big Bang! editor Tiffany had interviewed him to get a glimpse into the life of this emerging star.  Grace Flowers from Avatara  Andrés' winning entry at Silent Manga Audition 2017 Hello Andrés Zerpa, you’re already part of the team of MBB but can you please tell us a bit about yourself for those new readers? I am 22 years old, I live in a city called Mérida in Venezuela, and I am 100% Christian. I decided that this is what I would do for life, so I started getting serious about drawing Manga since 2012. There have been ups and downs along the way (many more downs than ups) but I have continued giving my best despite all the circumstances. I see myself drawing for ever, with wife and kids, maybe in my country or in Japan drawing for one of those big and prestigious magazines, well... unless The Lord has other plans for me. Could you tell us about the implications of being an artist in your country? Being an artist in my country is like riding a bike... but through burning lava. In Venezuela the situation is really delicate, in the economic aspect having the current highest inflation in the whole planet; in terms of security one of the most dangerous countries and not having a good leader to try to fix things up, really limits an artist work because almost nobody is interested in buying art, but staple foods, medicines and basic items. But thanks to The Lord and because I did not give up and continued straining, I am currently hovering over the lava, working for Manga Big Bang, winning SMA contests and designing characters for someone overseas I have been able to live of my drawings. We know you’re a manga artist, but are you planning to write your own stories in a future? if so, what would you like to write about and why? Oh yes definitely! I would like to write a "shonen" story like Saint Seiya wich is my favourite series. A story where the hero continues to fight up against really powerful enemies, that may look impossible to defeat in order to save the earth, but by the power of the will and the support of brave friends he can overcome all and defeat them in the most wonderful way. That! is the type of story I would like to draw. Tell us about the process of being the manga artist for Avatara It has been wonderful working in the Avatara project, thanks to the stories of my friend David Thomas who portrays the scenes in the script in such way that manga panels in my mind just start to flow like a river! Also with the advices of a pro Mangaka such as Miss Vivian (Dr. Vee), my brother in Christ and editor Ricky Hardjono and the help of my very talented assistant Alcula. I have to say it is hard to draw an action story with few people, but with them its not impossible. On 2016 you won along with David Thomas the Excellence Award from Silent Manga Audition, with the title “Clowning Around” and this year 2017 you won for the second time the same award with the title “Boogy Boogy”; talk to us about this contest, award and the experience of competing with other artists around the world. Winning a Silent Manga Audition award was my dream since 2012, its one of the most prestigious world wide contests on the planet with very talented judges. This been said, obviously the competition is hard, there are exceedingly talented Manga artists in the most unthinkable places. Despite the "easy" guidelines for the silent manga, it is difficuld to portray the story without words but it is the essence of Manga; the text is suplementary, Manga should be like a silent movie on paper, to be able to entertain the reader with performance is the heart of Manga, what makes it unique from the other type of comics. This contest has taught me all of that, I am not saying that I am an expert or a proffesional in the field of Manga, but I will continue to work hard in order to fulfil my dream. Impressive enough, Alcula, assistant to Andrés Zerpa, also got a nomination this year in SMA with the title “Spicy Love”. Alcula also happen to be a member of Dr.Vee Mangaka Club, online manga mentoring program founded by Dr.Vee the chief editor of Manga Big Bang! and is currently studying at level 7. We have included a brief interview with Alcula below.  From Alcula's nominated entry, Spicy Love MBB would like to know how did you met your teacher; what did you gain from the experience and your future plans in this amazing industry. I met Andrés sensei about 2 years ago. I don't know what the exact story at that time but apparently he need an assistant to help him draw (mostly) background for Avatara. So my teacher Dr. Vee sensei introduced us and then we started working together. I was never drawing via digital media before and he taught me really patiently. And then there is Silent Manga Audition. I joined it twice and I got much more than an improvement in my skills. The first time I joined SMA, I got my mental and mind blown because creating a "good" manga is not as easy as I thought. It's different from when I was an assistant because no one guided me in the process of making manga. Becoming an assistant is easier because you just need to draw what the mangaka (*manga creator) tells you. I remembered that I almost gave up and I also remembered that I cried with a so-not-manly-tears when I finished the silent manga. The reason for my tears is because: first I finished the manga and second is because I know that no one in the right mind want to read this (sorry for my language) f*cking piece of sh*t. Even so I still submit it to the audition knowing that I will not get any award because I felt something special in it. It's like a mark in my life which I can't never forget. It teach me to have a mindset of grit, perseverance and not giving up because I believe that failure is not a permanent condition. Sorry if I talk to much because I don't think that the reader will understand if I only say that "I got a slap from reality and learn to become more perseverance" from my first experience in SMA. In the second time I joined SMA, I used my experience from my first audition and somehow got an "award candidate". It's an improvement although I felt there is not much I gain other than improvement in skills and a bit of joy. For future plan, maybe I'll join the next SMA round and I considering to go publish via web comic. But still, I really want to try to publish my work in Japan so I need to learn Japanese first, mainly kanji. Thank you very much Alcula for sharing your experience frankly. It is inspiring and insightful, and we hope that it will be a source of learning for budding creators out there. Links to read Andrés Zerpa and Alcula's winning entries at SMA 2017: Boogy-Boogy Spicy Love As a lot of you might have already seen, recently we chatted with the gaijin mangaka Dr. Vee about the best ways to become a professional manga artist if you live outside of Japan. After she took us through the necessary processes involved in becoming a professional, we got talking about her journey and her experiences in the medium. What it is that she did to reach her goal, and what it is she did once it had been reached - the good times, bad times and in between times.  Image taken from Ai Mai Mi Dr. Vee tells us that for as long as she can remember she wanted to be a mangaka. Raised on anime and in particularly on Doraemon, it was natural to her that she grew to idealize the creators, Fujiko Fujio, and from there she knew that she wanted - or was meant to be - a cartoon creator of some description. When asked about her first journey into the medium we found out that it was as she entered primary school that she began to draw with the use of speech bubbles and other such things. Having seen her ability and dedication, a classmate took the initiative and teamed up with Dr. Vee to form what was possibly the youngest (and probably most adorable) team in the industry. Her friend would write the stories and Dr. Vee would draw them - this bond continued for as long as they were in the same class and when that time drew to an end and they were seperated, Dr. Vee began to both write and illustrate her own manga. You could say it was at this point she became a professional - in time classmates and friends began trading possessions for her art. As her primary-school empire grew, so too did the fondness of her fans and in time a friend began paying her regularly for a long running series. This miniature scale empire continued to grow to the point that the teachers could no longer miss it - the whole operation was closed down.  Image taken from Ai Mai Mi As she grew older and reached middle school, the ‘real world’ was starting to take control. As most parents would do, Dr. Vee was pressured into academics and safer, more by-the-book pursuits of a career. Becoming a mangaka is a risky game and can often take the form of an all-or-nothing pursuit. After a countless number of arguments with her family, Dr. Vee eventually decided to go with the flow. At the age of 15, Dr. Vee was sent to the USA and UK to attend prep schools in hopes of getting into a med school. “There was an air of 'academic achievement rules', and I felt great pressure for getting a place in medical school. At the time it felt as if I would be a complete failure if I didn’t reach that status. I struggled with my lifelong goal, and with all the stressful events going on around me, I chose to give in and go through med school instead of fighting for my dream.” Working as a medical doctor for two years, Dr. Vee was drained of energy and in part enthusiasm. “I had good salary that allowed me to get a car, live in nice neighborhood, buy designer labels. One day I reflected upon my choice and admitted that I was miserable despite the material success, and wondered what life would have been like if I had the courage to pursue my dreams.” Following this train of thought Dr. Vee left her surgical job and once again began her search for an opening in the industry. After considering the possibility of moving back to the US to attend an art university Dr. Vee discovered a certain manga creator who ran classes for the medium in Jakarta, Indonesia. “I felt that realistically at age 27 it was practically impossible to start learning the trade and make a success as manga creator in the competitive industry, but apparently I was wrong.”  Image taken from Mangirl 8 months after enrolling Dr. Vee succeeded in publishing her first work, PramBanana, in Indonesia. It was received very well and gained her a fandom of loyal readers. One and a half years following its publication Dr. Vee found herself on a plane to Tokyo to study manga in a designers school. Fueled on ignorance and completely unaware of how high the standards were in the industry, Dr. Vee made a beeline directly to the Shonen Jump office as soon as her plane had reached Japan. “I arranged an interview for a job as Masashi Kishimoto (creator of Naruto)'s assistant with my PramBanana comic pages in hand, done on low-quality A4 copy paper, full of outdated techniques.” In the end things didn’t work out with Shonen Jump but as is often the case with life every failure brings with it some success. Though in the end nothing came of this particular endeavour Dr. Vee left the office after a short period of dealings knowing more about the industry and how it worked. Because of how the Japanese view trust and work ethics, it is often frowned upon to deal with more than one company at a time - especially if they're rivals. Though Dr. Vee was dealing with multiple publishers, she knew that she had to take a chance and ally herself to one of the many. In the end it was Shonen Sunday that she found herself working under and it was here that she managed to make her professional debut as a mangaka.  Image taken from Mangirl At times, we were told, the journey was of particular difficulty for Dr. Vee and although these times often felt like they could last forever, Dr. Vee never failed to continue looking in hope that someone would notice her own abilities. “All the editors who previously showed much interest in my work suddenly stop doing so almost at the same time, after more than a year of working together.” This slump was short lived, however and it was when a job opening for the assistant of Kenjiro Hata, the creator of Hayate the Combat Butler, opened up that Dr. Vee found her escape. It was at the hands of Kenjiro Hata that Dr. Vee was able to get a lot of her works into the limelight. “One of my mentors, Mr. Hironobu Kaneko, who had been the head editor at Tezuka Production said that a mangaka should form a fully transparent relationship with his/her editor and be able tell everything to them like to a best friend” Though many of her editors were helpful and offered key advice that lead her to becoming a professional, many would be very fickle about certain things and pay little to no heed to her efforts. We were told that certain editors would spare little time for her work, demand certain changes and then months later decide against the whole project. These times were obviously very stressful for Dr. Vee but through speaking to her we got the idea that even these times she deemed incredibly valuable to her journey. We were informed about a particular friend who had had her work discarded as ‘rubbish’ by one editor and published by another. One thing that we found out from listening to Dr. Vee is that editors are individuals - being told one thing by one does not mean that you will be told the same thing by another.  Image taken from Usagi Drop After working very closely with Kenjiro Hata, the previously mentioned creator of Hayate the Combat Butler, for almost 2 years, Dr. Vee found her way to Shonen Sunday, where we already know she debuted. Her journey to Shonen Sunday was by no means an easy one and probably couldn’t have been done without the help of many others throughout her life. Through talking to Dr. Vee though we discovered that one thing above all else made it a possibility for her and that was her ability to keep looking forward and keep that passion that she had had since a child. Inspired perhaps by the difficulties in her own journeys, or perhaps by those who had helped her, Dr. Vee offers manga classes for all ages and abilities. In her classes Dr. Vee offers so much more than drawing techniques alone and actually offers guidance into the industry itself. Growing now from a physical class to an online one, Dr. Vee’s Mangaka Club is open to everyone regardless of age, location or ability. Classes are held on a one to one basis and are certainly something we feel you should all at least take a closer look at. You can find all the information you might need here.  Image taken from Mangirl “Every step I have taken towards becoming a professional has been a valuable lesson, even the failures. One thing I wish I realized earlier is that dreams do come true. The universe will move in your favor when you focus on your goal, no matter how much seems to be against it. Age, financial circumstances, the language barrier and talent are not reasons not to achieve the goal, and it is never too late to start. I have seen many who thrived despite their adversities - the key is never to give up and to think outside of the box when all roads seem to be blocked.”  Image taken from Mangirl Reference: http://media.goboiano.com/read-more-news.php?id=1322 Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: 
Dr. Vee, editor in chief of Manga Big Bang!®
Manga Big Bang® is UK’s original manga magazine featuring multiple manga comic series and one-shot manga comics. You can follow the Manga Big Bang! manga series by becoming our patron on our Patreon page. Click on the Manga Big Bang! logo: 
In this second part of the interview we ask Dr. Vee the creator of The Rose of Buckingham Palace for more insight regarding the series which is starting in May 2017. The Rose of Buckingham Palace is the story of princess Diana told through a fictional character Freddie Butler, a teenage butler.
How do you think you’ve evolved creatively? This is the first work I'm writing entirely in English. I didn't have the courage to do it in the past as I always thought my English wasn't good enough but I'm getting help from the team especially editor Obi. I've also researched into diverse cultural backgrounds to ensure that my characters behave in natural and believable way appropriate to their profile. As this is my first self-produced comics it is probably the first work that I have full control of. I'm aiming to create something that will create positive impact to my readers regardless of profit. What is the hardest thing about writing this work? I think it is deciding where to draw the line in employing poetic license. There are reported historical events and I try as much as possible to stick to what actually happened and that is why I prefer to watch video footages than reading articles, but at the same time I have to attach personalities to the characters based on real historical figures. I am aiming to show the human side of each character, that they are neither good nor bad. How long on average does it take you to write a book? I have written one within 6 months in the past, but it will take 12 months for the first volume of The Rose of Buckingham Palace to be published. It took me exactly 1 month to write the plots for 12 episodes. For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books? I would prefer paper book any day. I've bought an expensive ebook reader but I ended up not using it after the first few weeks of attempt as I always forget to charge. Besides, I like to be able to quickly flip back to previous scenes to recap on what I've read, and paper is more eye-friendly. The only downside is it's expensive to order online and I don't always find the books I want in stores. In what formats is The Rose of Buckingham Palace available? It will be run first on a digital platform Patreon as monthly series starting in May 2017, and the first volume will be available as ebook and paperback the following year. The pilot one shot manga that inspired the series can be read in the Manga Big Bang! Prototype book.  The Rose of Buckingham Palace manga comic will be released as monthly series beginning in May 2017. Its pilot episode was originally published as a 32 pages one-shot manga in the Manga Big Bang! Prototype.
Its synopsis excerpted: "Freddie Butler's personality was always too big for a sleepy village in the English countryside. But after he loses the most important person in his life, he suddenly finds himself amongst the richest and most powerful people in London! Nothing's been too difficult for this kid, but this change won't be easy and he will have to give everything he’s got to keep his hopeful dreams alive." Though the concept for the series is not far off from the pilot, The Rose of Buckingham Palace creator Dr. Vee has prepared a different first episode. Hi Dr. Vee, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your background? I started creating manga professionally in 2006 though I have always loved manga and comics all my life. In 2005 I left my medical career to pursue comics as career. Since then, I have been published professionally most notably by the Japanese manga publishing giant, Shogakukan Inc under the magazine Shonen Sunday. I have also published several books in Indonesia and ran a newspaper series in Japan. Tell us about The Rose of Buckingham Palace series, how is it different from the pilot? Conceptually it is the same. I wanted to retell the story of princess Diana through the eyes of a fictional character, Freddie Butler. That part is historical fiction, but above all it's a story of personal growth under the big theme of 'finding a place to belong'. I feel that in modern society today people are often disconnected and lonely. I want to address that issue and to show that there are still hope in this world. Give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special? Freddie Butler is a teenager who accidentally stumbled into the world of the British royals and decides to become a footman. He has his strength and weaknesses, at times he makes the right decision, another time he regrets his decision. None of my characters are perfect, each of them have flaws and that's ok. I want my readers to know that it is ok not to be perfect because perfect don't exist. Freddie is growing and learning something new in each episode just as how it is in real life. How much research do you do? A lot! What is shown in the comic series are merely the tip of the iceberg. I might be able to write in more details should I develop the novel version of this series. Have you written any other manga comic in collaboration with other writers? Yes, I have co-written Virgin Territory with Michael Benko and a new potential series with a different author. I cannot yet say the title but I'm sure it will be announced soon. |
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