Rampokan is a comic book by the Dutch cartoonist Peter van Dongen which consists of two parts, Rampokan Java , published in 1998 and in its French translation in 2003, andRampokan Celebes published in 2004 and in its French translation in 2005.

The title is taken from a traditional Javanese ceremony, the rampokan macan , a sort of ritual designed to exorcise the misdeeds caused by a panther or a tiger. The rampokanwas banned by the colonial authorities of the Dutch East Indies in 1905.

Rampokan belongs to the current known as the ” clear line ” ( Klare lijn in Dutch ).

Synopsis

Indonesia proclaimed independence on August 17, 1945. The Netherlands, driven out of their colony of the Dutch East Indies when the Japanese landed in 1942, do not recognize this statement and intend to recover their colony. The colonial occupation army KNIL ( Koninglijke Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger or ” Royal Netherlands Indies Army “) is not enough. The government of the Netherlands therefore decides to send a contingent of conscripts to fight those he calls “terrorists”. Among them, Johan Knevel, who was born “in India”, hopes to find the lost paradise of his childhood. He is confronted with the reality of a war where no one keeps his hands clean.

Publications

In Dutch

  • Rampokan , Oog & Blik :
  1. Java , 1998. ( ISBN  9073221579 )
  2. Celebes , 2004. ( ISBN  9054920548 )

Translations

  • ( En ) Rampokan (Translated by Jean Delahaye), Vertige Graphic :
  1. Java , 2003. ( ISBN  2908981610 )
  2. Celebes , 2005. ( ISBN  290898198X )
  • ( id ) Rampokan , Pustaka Primatama bekerja sama dengan Komunitas Komik Alternative, 2005. ( OCLC 71788495 )
  • ( from ) Rampokan (Translator Jan Kruse), Avant-Verlag :
  1. Java , 2008. ( ISBN  9783939080299 )
  2. Celebes , 2008. ( ISBN  9783939080305 )
  • ( id ) Rampokan : Jawa & Selebes , Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2013. ( ISBN  9786020307701 )
  • ( In ) Rampokan , Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2015 ( ISBN  9786020322100 )