Photo courtesy of Kedai Kebun Forum
GYMBJ or God You Must Be Joking is a satire humor comic by Kharisma Jati a.k.a K. Jati, a comic writer from Jogja. The contents laden controversy. Contains allusions to religion, God, human existence, and even sex. Often the themes are carried from the standpoint of philosophy. This comic was born of the background K. Jati feeling “itchy” to see people conduct prejudiced to each other and making stereotyping. GYMBJ was originally a comic strip published weekly on Facebook. Because the content is intriguing and bold, this comic became viral and popular.
This comic strip was collected and then published as a book through an independent publishing pathway. Trails indie selected by K. Jati because he feel that the content will not be accepted by the common publisher or large currents publisher. Through indie, comic artist who created the character Gigi Dua, figure that often appear in the comics, also feel freer to express.
Saturday, September 17, 2016, the comic strip that has become a book, GYMBJ, dissected at Kedai Kebun Forum (KKF) as a part of series of Buku Andalan events, held from 8 to 24 September 2016. The discussions presented Gus Udin, books and literacy instigator, M. Hadid, the curator of Buku Andalan, and K. Jati as a writer. The event was attended by approximately 50 people, and dismantle GYMBJ in terms of both aesthetics and themes.
Despite claims the way of expression is unsafe and risky, because the presumption arises that the comic is considered to mock religion, toying God, and the worst, leading readers become atheist, but does not make Jati K. losing nerve. With this “nosy” comic, as Aji Prasetyo Hidup Itu Indah, he tried to give another point of view, giving a balance, so that one’s perspective is not always black and white. |Yumaya Mija|