FROM KUALA LUMPUR TO GOTHAM

The Marvel-ous journey of Malaysian artist Alan Quah

-  STUART DANKER

MENTION THE WORDS ‘MARVEL’ AND ‘DC’ the first thoughts that come to mind would probably be those of comic books and characters. Maybe there’d be a rogue thought of Stan Lee, Christopher Nolan, or even one of the X-Men fighting games. But as Malaysians, we rarely expect one of our own to be on the roster of these prominent brands.

That’s why Alan Quah is here to share his journey of drawing for the top 10 comic publishers in the United States, with hopes of inspiring budding local artists to pursue this unpredictable but rewarding path as well.

The world of comics isn’t exactly the most accessible industry. What gave you the courage to try?

I was a local artist in my teens but gave that up because I realised very quickly there was no money in this field. That was in the 80s. I tried my luck in advertising instead and made a good living for the next 18 years.

But drawing American comics has always been my ambition and I knew I would regret it if I did not give it a try. As the saying goes: never try, never know. So I gave this comic thing a go with a solid plan in place, which was to try it for five years and see what would happen. I retired from advertising soon after.

That’s what gave me the courage to try. The regret. The regret of not knowing if I had the chops to make it in the international comic industry because I didn’t have the courage to take that first step.

Did it take a long time before you gained traction?