Amazing Batman bootleg from Indonesia!4668
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Define999 private msg quote post Address this user | |
  Holy moly folks! This was a tough book to research. I had to really stretch my skills for this one. This amazing book is an Indonesian bootleg(most likely), and what has to be one of the most killer redraws of a Batman cover ever. This book was published in 1979 by Indonesian publisher Melati, which has a suspiciously ripped off Gold Key logo! The amazing re-imagined cover is the work of Indonesian artist Widodo Noor Slamet. The cover is based on Batman 205, a classic cover by Irv Novick. Boy did Slamet change this shit up. What used to be a normal man with glasses has turned into a demon. And his Indonesian style just drips all over this thing. I love it to pieces man! And the demon angle makes sense when you consider the confusing interiors…..  The interiors are the classic 227 Demon of Gothos Mansion storyline! Who knew we would find another foreign edition of Bats 227!!!!! No cover but still….. The weird part though is this. Thru my internet research I found these exact Bats 227 Indo translated interiors to be in another Indonesian book published by a company called Maranatha. The guts from my book are exactly the same along with other DC stories as the Maranatha album called Superman - Batman - The Green Arrow. This Maranatha published album is thicker like a TPB with multiple stories, including the 227 of the Melati along with what seems like other licensed DC stuff?. The Melati re-drawn cover book though contains only the Demon story from 227. What makes it even more confusing is that that album, Superman - Batman - The Green Arrow.... the one I just mentioned by Maranatha, also used the same cover for a title called The Green Arrow - Panah Jutaan Rupiah!!! What the heck? This book is thinner and came first. Damn these Indo publishers really did not give a shit about mix and matching covers and interiors. Its freakin crazy how confusing it is to research. And just so we are clear, the Marantha stuff does not use the killer Slamet re-draw Melati used.  So what the hell? Is Maranatha the publisher connected to Melati somehow? A subsidiary perhaps? Did Maranatha buy the old interior plates from Melati, which maybe did have an official DC license but made their own covers? Maybe, cuz the Maranatha stuff all seem to be published in the 80's after Melati was no more I think? And again, were these stories licensed at all or were translated plates made from the American book interiors? We know the cover is a bootleg for sure but I still think the interiors were made from the American art somehow and translated without license, DC copyright on the artwork be damned. There is so much more to learn folks…… the Indonesian bootleg world is like an onion. Or a rabbit hole with no seeming end…. it looms large as a crazy part of the foreign niche for sure. Thanks for reading…. Also, I have included an image of both books side by side for comparison.  |
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shrewbeer private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Quite the rabbit hole you have there, cool stuff! | ||
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ComicHaulics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Very cool! Artwork is great | ||
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Define999 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Thanks guys! Yea, this has def become one of the coolest Bats bootlegs in my foreign collection! | ||
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 I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My initial thought of the gold key logo is the same as your theory when I started reading. The cover is fantastic, and better than the original. Could this simply be bootlegging lost in translation so none of us here on the west side are none the wiser? Fascinating tale. Well done, brah | ||
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Define999 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by kaptainmyke Thanks! Yea, its freakin crazy over there. They bootlegged everything. Many of the local illustrators were actively involved in bringing American comic culture over. They then used it to sort of bridge the divide with the local Indo comics culture. Later maybe because of this cross pollination, actual licensed comics in Indonesia arrived thru companies like Misurind. But, they were much later in the 80's. I have another interesting Batman bootleg from the Philippines if your interested in seeing that? |
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Savage_Spawn private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Great stuff!!! You never know what gems will pop up on these forums! | ||
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I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Define999 Of course! |
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Define999 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Ok, so here is another very interesting Bats bootleg! Mystery Murder, Alyas Batman.  Now when I was showed this book by my buddy Glen I was very pleasantly shocked! Listen, I had sorta known about the bootlegged Alyas Batman movies from the Philippines in the 70's and 80's. But, what I hadn't known was that the islands also created bootlegged Batman stories in tagalog!  In case you didn't know, indigenously produced Filipino comics are called "Komics" with a "K". Within this "Komics" world are original books local to the islands but also many flat out copied(in look) super heros from around the world. These are basically Filipino versions of other well known super hero properties but are not really bootlegs per say because of subtle changes made. But, this book I feel lands right in the bootlegged category easy. But, don't be too quick to judge, many of these locally produced books seem quite competent to my eyes. Very cool indigenous stories and art were created in tagalog with varying quality over the years and some of these "Komics" really are very well produced. With this Bats book, no major changing of the characters look happened. He is clearly Batman within the pages but because of its un-licensed status a new story was written. Batman is Batman and he does what he does so well…. kick ass! LOL My guess is because the publisher knew the locally produced Batman movies had been very popular on the islands they hoped to continue the appeal of the Alyas Batman and did not need a Batman-like character but the caped crusader himself. A bootleg is born!  So why is this book important? I believe that within the Batman collecting world outside of the Philippines, absolutely no one knows about these bootlegs! An extensive internet search reveals absolutely nothing in English about Filipino bootleg Bats "komics". And, while searching in tagalog, which has so few speakers it isn't even in google translate, I couldn't find anything besides the afore mentioned movies. This book or books possibly, don't exist online for even a good internet researcher like me to find…. which is impressively scarce. Lets do get back to the important question though shall we? Why are bootlegs important? Well, I believe these books give popular loved properties space to breathe outside of the strictly controlled environs of licensing parameters. Any superhero bootlegs wether they be Indonesian, Chinese, or Filipino can be used as cultural mirrors reflecting our pop culture right back at us thru the lens of the culture assimilating it. Lots can be learned if you ask the right questions. Lots can be sleuthed about ourselves from a cultural standpoint using bootleg properties as a catalyst.  Now, to the book itself…. Its published by MMPC and is titled Murder Mystery Alyas Batman. A stamp, advance copy, is on the cover and some idiot hole punched the entire book!  Sooo sad, but points to the fact this book might have been some sort of file copy used for reference? Reading the cover I think the issue number is #371 but I cant be sure as no idicia exists that I could find in the book. Maybe one of my buddies from the Philippines can enlighten me. The cover does feature our favorite caped crusader above some villain punks he has captured. The art is well enough done despite some weird color changes to Bats costume! He has a odd-ish pinkish hue where normally grey or blue would be the standard. The classic Bat shadow made famous in the popular Year one storyline rounds out the covers title. The book itself has other stories within it besides the Batman story that I think are local to the islands as I do not recognize them. Getting back to the art changes, the interior art features a Batman that has a red logo bat on his chest and a red utility belt which is a very interesting color choice to make. The start of the story again utilizes the Year one classic shadow and title but is repurposed to highlight the writer and artist. Now the art is pretty cool and I like the style for sure. The artist Jun Dayo was researched by me and it seems he is a very popular illustrator in the Philippines. All in all an amazing bootleg which might be the only copy in the states.... who knows?  |
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I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Such trippy artwork. I love it. This definitely seems like a case of being lost in translation. Very fascinating. | ||
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I bought a meat grinder on amazon for $60 and it's changed my life.
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kaptainmyke private msg quote post Address this user | |
| There's another guy here on the forums.... comico globo I think? He has a Facebook group, too | ||
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Define999 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by kaptainmyke Yea I know him...... |
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