Malaysian comic book "Andika The Neosantara Saga" revived by American publisher
17 Jun – The team of Malaysian comic book, "Andika The Neosantara Saga" recently announced that their beloved work will now be revived as part of a project with an American publisher with a 12-issue deal in the works.
Mohd Adnan Shamsuddin, the Art Director at Nanzoworks Studio and creator of the comic book, shared the good news on social media, writing, "After years of abandoning Andika's 1st print on 2010 and 2nd print on 2012, I wish not to repeat the mistake again. Again Allah has granted me an opportunity to reprint the 1st issue with some extra pages, under the US publisher for the 3rd time... and what's great is I can continue the story up to 12 issues!"
"Surely I need to take seriously about Andika, this time! And I wish you guys will be part of this journey," he added.
Adnan stated that now that the trend in the US is to turn comic books into animation or TV series or even a movie, he hopes that one day the same can happen with Andika.
The creator revealed that he was contacted by Manuel Godoy, CEO of Black Sands Entertainment based in Columbia, Maryland in the US back in January after the latter came across Andika's comic strip in a foreign art Facebook group.
The story, according to Andika The Neosantara Saga Facebook page, is about a native boy in the archipelago area called Andika who wants to live a free life out from his tribe's strict rules and duty for the sake of protecting their heritage and secrets. One of the secrets was a powerful magical axe that sealed DemonLords which used to breed chaos a long time ago called Benta Genggara. All hell breaks loose when Andika breaks the rules. Now Andika has to hunt back the DemonLords by mastering the power of Benta Genggara.
It is noted that the comic was awarded Best New English Comic and Best Coloured Comic in 2012 by the Malaysian Comic Entrepreneurs Association (PeKOMIK). The first print sold out at Malaysia's Comic Fiesta 2010 - enabling the team to go to the San Diego Comic-Con in 2012.
However, Adnan admitted that the project was never promoted by any organisation or anyone outside the team at the time, and was left out in the dark and forgotten.
(Photo Source: Andika The Neosantara Saga Facebook)
