Elex Media Komputindo is a

publishing company Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

in Indonesia that publishes books, comics, magazines, novels and other print media. Established on January 15, 1985, Elex Media Komputindo is a subsidiary of Kompas Gramedia Group. Elex is headquartered in

Tanah Abang Tanah Abang () is a districts of Indonesia, district of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The district hosts the biggest textile Market (place), market in Southeast Asia, Tanah Abang Market. It also hosts Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Kelurahan Gelora ...

Central Jakarta Central Jakarta (, ), abbreviated as Jakpus, is one of the five Cities of Indonesia, administrative cities () and ''de facto'' Capital City of the Jakarta, Special Capital Region of Jakarta. It had 902,973 inhabitants according to the 2010 census ...

. Elex Media Komputindo is known as the pioneer of

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

publishing in Indonesia, and is now one of the largest comic publishers in Indonesia.

History

Established in 1985, Elex Media initially published various electronic and computer-themed books. The founder of Kompas, Jakob Oetama, was interested in the potential of manga during his visit to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the late 1980s. In 1991, Elex Media plunged into the manga publishing industry with the publication of Kyoko Mizuki's '' Candy Candy'' manga, originally published by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

. Other manga like '' Kungfu Boy'', ''

Doraemon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...

'', and ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

'' began to follow. The decision of the New Order government to allow the establishment of private television stations was also influential in the spread of outside culture, including the manga. Various private television stations licensed and broadcast Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

which also influenced the interest of comic and manga lovers in Indonesia. Indonesian local comics began to appear in 1994 with the publication of the ''Imperium Majapahit'' (Majapahit Empire) by Jan Mintaraga. Elex Media began to adopt the Japanese manga style publishing in 1995 and applied it to local comics in 2001. As of December 2008, almost 7500 comic volumes had been published. Elex Media established their adult manga imprint, Level Comics in 2005. Their manga titles including '' 20th Century Boys'', ''

Homunculus A homunculus ( , , ; "little person", : homunculi , , ) is a small human being. Popularized in 16th-century alchemy and 19th-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has root ...

'', '' Vagabond'', '' Shin Angyo Onshi'', and '' Soul Eater''. They also adopted the age rating system for its readers. All adult-themed comics and manga are published under the Level Comics label, while Elex Media is responsible for publishing comics in all age categories or teenagers. In determining the age rating of an individual comic, Elex Media doesn't follow the rating standards in Japan, but rather the suitability of the comic for readers in Indonesia. Elex Media doesn't publish comics or manga with blatant

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

. In August 2009, Elex Media established Romic (euROpean coMIC line). The book titles included in this category are ''

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...

'', '' Smurf'', '' Michel Vaillant'', '' Yakari'', and '' Spirou & Fantasio''.

Magazines

*'' Hanalala'' is an Indonesian version of ''Hana to Yume and LaLa'' (discontinued) *'' Shōnen Star'' is an Indonesian version of ''Shonen Sunday'' (discontinued) *'' Shonen Magz'' is an Indonesian version of ''Shonen Magazine'' (discontinued) *''

Nakayoshi is a monthly Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga List of manga magazines, magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized ...

'' is an Indonesian version of ''Nakayoshi'' (discontinued) *''Champ'' is an Indonesian version of Korean manhwa titles (discontinued) *'' Winnie The Pooh'' is an Indonesian version of Disney's ''Winnie The Pooh'' *'' Cars'' is an Indonesian version of Disney's ''Cars''

Books

Elex Media have also published a range of books in various genres, including self-help books, novels, business and travel genres. Some of its best selling authors are Ippho Santosa and Dedy Dahlan, who both written non-fiction self-help and business books. Elex Media also translated some foreign books, including, formerly,

Microsoft Press Microsoft Press is the publishing arm of Microsoft, usually releasing books dealing with various current Microsoft technologies. Microsoft Press' introduced books were ''The Apple Macintosh Book'' by Cary Lu and ''Exploring the IBM PCjr Home Comp ...

titles.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Kompas Gramedia Group 1985 establishments in Indonesia Indonesian companies established in 1985 Manga distributors Comic book publishing companies of Indonesia

History

Magazines

Books

See also

References

External links