Photo: Webtoons
Books are a great way to tell stories, but words aren’t the only way to do that. Comics, with their engaging colours and pictures, are also a fantastic medium for all ages to enjoy.
Photo: Wardah Books
Hanna Alkaf’s The Weight of Our Sky gained plenty of traction during its release early this year. Her debut novel is set in Kuala Lumpur and tells the tale of the May 13th racial riots, with a music loving teen who has OCD and is trying to find her mother. The audience is transported directly into the chaos, which is a huge part of Malaysia’s history.
Those who do not like reading words can now rejoice because the novel will now be available in web comic form on the Webtoons app. Hanna Alkaf told The Rakyat Post that Webtoons approached her first with the proposal to adopt the novel into a webcomic.
While she was not the one directly responsible for the adaptation of the novel into a webcomic, she did have the chance to give plenty of input and got to review the episodes beforehand. Hanna also requested for an all-Malaysian team of creatives to properly portray all the parts of Malaysia’s culture.
The artwork is headed by Malaysian artist Nisrina AN, along with help from colourists Nurel and Toadfrogs. Hanna is pretty involved in the process, as she wants the little details like settings, background, and geographic landmarks to be just the way it used to be.
The novel is available in bookstores nationwide, while the webcomic has only 4 episodes right now, and will be updated weekly.
Have you read her book yet?
By: Celestine Foo
