INDONESIA — An Indonesian comic book illustrator is facing disciplinary action from his employer after sneaking political and religious references into his work without approval.
On April 8, Marvel Studios confirmed controversial issues about a religious text YouTube doesn’t want us to mention have been cited in a newly released comic, X-Men Gold. Marvel says they will proceed with penalties against one of their Indonesian illustrators, Ardian Syaf. Syaf subtly slipped his political views into the X-Men comic as his way of supporting anti-Ahok movements.
The first illustration in question is “212,” referring to a mass demonstration in Jakarta on December 2 to protest Ahok. The second number is written on Colossus’ shirt, in reference to the holy book’s Al-Maidah 51 verse, which Ahok has complained about in a speech. Marvel and Ardian’s fans who’ve noticed the sneaky symbols in the comic are surprised and disappointed. To voice his displeasure, one Indonesian fan has gone so far as to pen a public letter addressed to Marvel Comics.
In the middle of this chaos, Ardian now admits he intentionally snuck in his stance against Ahok in his artwork. He even screen-captured a conversation with one of his fans on Facebook, revealing the reason he supports the anti-Ahok movement is because he subscribes to a particular religion YouTube doesn’t want us to mention.
Marvel Comics will remove the controversial panel from X-Men Gold #1, and Ardian will incur his penalties soon.
