Mulyono Illustration

By day he trains Pencak Silat, by night he tries to save the world — Mulyono is the handmade comic that proves the most original superheroes come straight from the kampung.

Comic Illustration — Mulyono

Hand-Drawn Comic · Action Comedy · Original Character · Pencak Silat

A handmade comic illustration for Mulyono — an original action-comedy character whose story follows a dedicated Pencak Silat practitioner with grand ambitions of becoming a superhero. The premise is delightfully local and deeply human: not a billionaire in a suit, not an alien with a cape — just Mul "Yono," a silat fighter from the neighbourhood who decides the world needs saving and figures he might as well try.

The cover illustration is drawn entirely by hand — white chalk or pencil on jet black paper, the most stripped-back medium possible — and yet the execution is electric. Mul "Yono" is captured mid-kick in a dynamic flying side kick pose — leg extended, arms braced, body coiled in the explosive energy of a silat practitioner at full force. The white-on-black contrast gives the figure a luminous, almost glowing quality, as if the character is materializing out of darkness — a fitting visual metaphor for a hero still figuring out his own powers.

The crinkled, folded paper surface on which the drawing is photographed adds a rawness and authenticity that no digital illustration could replicate — this was made with hands, with intent, and with a genuine love for the craft of sequential storytelling.

The character name "MUL 'YONO'" is lettered in bold, italicized type at the lower right — the alias of a man too earnest to be an anti-hero, too funny to be a tragedy, and too Javanese to ever give up.

A comic that could only come from Indonesia — and a character the world absolutely needs.