10
The Resident Tourist
Troy is the Fool who stepped off the edge of a cliff. Quitting his job in New York’s music industry, the guy who couldn’t really draw wanted to draw comics. Last year, Troy found himself on a 22-hour flight heading back to… Singapore.
Balik Kampong
“The Resident Tourist” is a story about Troy, written and drawn by Troy Chin himself. This is an autobiographical graphic novel, following his adventures as a comic artist in Singapore. The multi-layered narrative wasn’t at first intended to be a commentary of the Singapore society. Yet, the critique of the Singaporean identity and culture stand out strongly as one of the main themes of this novel as Troy’s life unfold through the pages.
Troy, wasn’t much of a comics reader or an artist to start with. His first love is music. And is somewhat of a game otaku who love shooters and rhythm games. Though, he reads a bit of manga.
Still Life
Back in New York, Troy had difficulty falling asleep. He started seeing a (rather hot) psychiatrist who prescribed drawing as an activity for catharsis. That led to him dabbling with sequential art to tell his stories. There, he first started writing and drawing “All Things Being” and finishing it after coming back to Singapore.
All of Troy’s works are released online. Instead of putting out the stories in chapters, Troy would take his time to complete the whole book, ink on hardcopy paper, before scanning them and posting the pages up on his site.
Two months ago, at the first Singapore Toy and Comic Convention, Troy shared a booth with Ken Foo – he didn’t have anything to sell or show except for the few hand-bound productions of his works for browsing. A comics lover, who spotted his works at the convention, went home after the preview night to check out the rest of his stuff online. On the last day of the Convention, he came back – asking Troy’s permission to reproduce “The Resident Tourist” in hardcopy.
That guy who went up to Troy was my cousin (Cuz). From his own pockets, he financed the limited print run of 500 copies each for “The Resident Tourist” Part 1 and Part 2. He did it because he loved the story. I can pretty much understand why. That’s because Troy’s story is our story – the story of the post-65 Singaporeans who were born in the mid-70s and grew up during the 80s.
NO SPEAK ENGLISH IN CHINESE CLASS!!
Troy’s growing up tales elicit nostalgia among my peers (Cuz and I were born a year ahead of Troy) as we could very much identify with his childhood. The vignettes of his growing up days is a reflection of our anxiety as well as our aspirations – and eventually the choices that we’d make that brought us on separate paths.
Ching-Chong
One of our issues with Singapore is the education system, during the era when Singapore is fighting to be ahead of the other newly industrialised nations. Mixed with our Asian mentality of kiasu-ness, the pressure and expectations piled upon us were immense.
And there’s the other idiosyncrasies of our contemporary society.
CHOPE!
I became a fan of Troy’s works after reading his comics in the printed version (the tactile feel of flipping pages in a book somehow made a difference in experiencing the story – the hardcopy felt more intimate, it’s like reading someone else’s diary as opposed to reading a blog). Troy’s first media profile was featured in I-S Magazine’s “Comic Relief” feature – where he was labelled ‘an underground maverick’.
For the second time, Troy took time out to answer some of my burning fanboy questions:
On Troy Chin
ME: What did you do before leaving for the States – birth year, which primary school, secondary school, JC etc. Then, what was your ‘dream’?
TROY: I was born in 1977. I won’t reveal the Primary School as of yet, but those crafty enough to identify it will know what it’s name is. I am a Victorian, so that takes care of both the School and JC. I went to the University of Pennsylvania for college.
I’ve always wanted to be in a band that writes great alternative rock songs. We didn’t have to be the best band, just a great band that knew exactly what it was doing.
M: What was your memory/impression of Singapore before you left. What was Singapore to you?
T: Singapore to me was that squeaky clean island country you read in the papers on how it’s gonna be the best in breed in South-East Asia but with those sanctions that people ridicule in their free time.
It so happens that I am a citizen of said island country and I bought into that whole in-joke by doing absolutely nothing about it, like pretty much everybody else.
M: What were you doing in the music industry. How did you break into that industry? Why did you quit that industry and return to Singapore?
T: The sexy answer is that I was managing some music labels in SonyBMG. The boring answer is that we were trying to make money selling music to consumers. I started as a puny analyst doing royalty contracts and somehow ended up with the finance and operations team doing the catalog (greatest hits albums), special compilations (those NOW and Totally Hits CDs), Classical (gotta have some Brahms) and Digital (iTunes and ringtones) businesses.
Towards the end, the music biz was going down the toilet. It was evident that the business needed an overhaul and it would take years for the shuffling to take place. The divisions I worked in were actually doing well, so I can’t say that my job was threatened or anything. I just had other things to sort out and so used it as an excuse to bail.
Why did I come back? Well, it’s exactly how it plays out in the Tourist. There is no one convenient catch-all answer.
M: Are you a comics fan? What are the kind of stuff that you read? When did you start reading comics? Who’s your favourite artist/writer?
T: This may turn some folks off, but I have to set the record straight. I’m not really a comics fan. I don’t dig anything from Marvel or DC. Definitely no superheroes. I’m only starting to read indie stuff as people are telling me about them. Stuff from Drawn & Quarterly, some Love and Rockets, and King Cat. And even then, very selectively because they are so damn expensive. So if people put me in the spot, they will be disappointed to find how little I know.
If I have a choice, I always tend to lean more towards the manga side, mostly for the art style and because that’s what I used to browse through when I was a kid in those comic rental shops in HDB estates. Although I must say Dragonball pretty much ruined it for me and I didn’t touch any comics after that. The fights became so tedious that you start asking yourself, WHY???!!!! The series that brought me back to reading manga was Wangan Midnight 「湾岸ミッドナイト」and then later Initial D 「頭文字D」, but it was more for the cars than the manga. Oh and then there’s Beck by Harold Sakuishi for obvious reasons.
My favorite artist/writer? Hmmm. I’d have to say Herge. Yah, he’s Euro! Tintin is great. I actually bought the whole series. That says a lot.
M: What got you started on doing comics?
T: It really is how I wrote it in the book (ed: The Resident Tourist). My doctor suggested drawing something as a primer to tackle my childhood fears and after a few sketches, I got bored with drawing Central Park and the Upper West Side and started sketching/copying some manga art. I think it’s called fan art, right? Then I’m like, hey do you think you can draw a whole book? But what about the stories? Well, I have these dreams I keep in my logbook. Just whack those out into panel form. See what sticks. If they suck, at least I drew all those pictures I would never have done in the first place.
M: You mentioned in your books that you began taking up art lessons just as you started creating your comics. Where did you take classes, and what are the stuff that you learnt?
T: Actually, no. I didn’t have any art lessons. I was referring to art lessons in primary school. I really can’t stand instruction and the whole concept of school, but that’s subject for another discussion. I just improvise every day. Try to find better ways to do the same thing. When you do it for six months, you can see changes. Do it for a year or more and…
M: There are those who embrace the cookie-cutter future, and those who wanted to runaway from that pre-destination. You managed to attain escape velocity; now that you are back in Singapore, do you see yourself getting sucked back into the dreary weary?
T: Yeah, I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t scared of that prospect. The moment you decide to come back, you start to face issues. What are you going to tell people? And you know the answers will have to be tailored to each camp to avoid the headaches of redundant inquiry. I was almost sucked back, more like beaten down at the end of last year. But since I’m doing this interview now, I guess I’m still afloat.
On The Resident Tourist
M: What got you started on TRT?
T: The Tourist started out as a series about a fictional guy coming back to Singapore after living abroad and wanting to kick back and relack in his hometown. He would do very un-Singaporean things and get himself into all sorts of arguments and misunderstandings with the locals. He is a dick, to put it plainly. And each problem would lead to more shit that would bite him in the ass later on.
I inked about 60 pages of the above while doing All Things Being and decided to scrap the project altogether because I thought it was very American sounding and wouldn’t fly. But being the cheap ass scavenger that I am, I wondered how I could salvage the background images for another book. So I essentially just didn’t think too much and just wrote whatever came to my mind about my experience since the day I got back and tried to use up those images, hence explaining why Part 1 has a very choppy, inconsistent look to it. All the nice images are from the original. I also made it a rule to finish the whole book in 4 weeks. No edits, no re-paneling, no corrections.
M: Was it intended as a commentary and critique of the Singapore society, or did it turn out as such? (i.e. from the minutiae of using tissue paper to chope seat, the clearing of trays, the methods of education, to things such as the constant changes to the landscape for the sake of progress and development).
T: The whole point of the new Tourist was not to overthink. Just write and draw whatever comes to mind. Even if it is insignificant, draw it. It’s a method of psychotherapy that my doctor employs. I’m trying to use it here in comics. All the scenes in the series are pretty much what I saw/experienced. I drew them because they amused me more than anything.
M: Kampong Boy appears to be the archtypical ‘Singaporean’ in terms of behaviour, speech pattern, and values. He appears to be your foil, you (and Eric) being the ‘Cosmopolitan’ and he being the ‘Heartlander’. How did you manage to still get along with Kampong Boy in spite of your differences in outlook and values? What do you think of the labels ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Heartlander’? and also the ‘Stayer’ and ‘Quitter’ labels.
T: Labels are just labels, man. I’m not saying that they don’t hurt. They do. If you’re on the receiving end. I can’t change the perceptions of people who have a list of labels waiting to be printed from a Brother P-Touch for me. The most I can do is NOT to use labels. Because you start to think you’re what the label says. And as for Kampong Boy…you’ll have to read Part 3. But I’ll say that I still believe in him because I don’t think he says those things out of conviction, more so from repetition. And that can always be undone.
M: Was it an exploration of what it means to be a Singaporean – that people who don’t subscribe to the unwritten dogma that Kampong Boy follows – the ‘outliers’ – are Singaporeans too.
T: I want to say yes, but that’s a really hard question to answer because I don’t think Singaporeans even know how to define ourselves with ABSOLUTE confidence. Again, I’m not going to overthink and am just going to see where the story ends up. We can check back when that happens.
M: How do you rate Singapore as a City of Possibilities? If its not a city of possibility – is it the fault of the govt? Or is it the conformist, bread-and-butter nature of the society that denies Singapore from becoming one?
T: I’d like to believe so. It certainly has changed its carpeting over the last 10 years. Stuff has been happening, but at the same time, we shouldn’t measure small changes as signs of a coming renaissance. We should expect changes. The question is how much of it has happened and how long more will this go on. The correct answer is to infinity. I hope it’s not simply a new carpet over an old one, because eventually it’ll start to peel.
Whether the government made mistakes in the past or not is really a moot point. If you want to start something now, unless a cop points a gun to your head, who’s to stop you from starting it? If it ain’t illegal, only inaction and inertia are the culprits. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m fairly certain it’s HARD. Maybe that’s it. Hard stuff is…HARD.
M: When Adrian (Cuz) sought you to publish TRT1 and TRT2, what was your initial reaction. Following that, how did the publication of TRT1&2 influence the narrative for TRT3? Did it change the plot?
T: I was like, you gotta be kidding me, you want to waste money and publish this crap?! The timeline of the Tourist is always on a six month lag at least. So it doesn’t really affect part 3. I was already 2/3 of the way through part 3 when he approached me.
M: What is the recommended tracklist for TRT soundtrack?
T: Ho ho. This is something that needs a whole separate article or feature on its own. I am essentially still a musician /music fan at heart, so you can get me talking about the universe using albums and singles. Some albums that helped me construct the scenes are anything by Radiohead, Gish by the Smashing Pumpkins, In Utero by Nirvana, Riot On An Empty Street by Kings Of Convenience, Three by Concave Scream, Tails by Lisa Loeb and Actually by Pet Shop Boys.
M: Will TRT 3 be the final installment of this series?
T: I am dead tired from inking Part 3, so you’ll forgive me if I’m a little nonchalant about the series. I ended it in a way where it could stop here or go on into the future. Ha ha. That means I chickened out! And since it’s on a time lag anyway, I am still waiting for material to arise. Every day I wake up allows me to get new material. This interview might be fodder… so we’ll see. I’ll release more books when I can fill them up. But I really want to start working on other books in the outbox inside my head.
Singapore’s Greatest Comics
Troy Chin is the Singaporean comic artist that all of us have been waiting for, for the longest time. He adeptly put to the use the visual storytelling techniques of the East (style) and the West (layouts). His earlier works shows the influence of the street racing comics Initial D and Wangan Midnight; it’s also a suitable style for his character-driven, slice-of-life stories. By Resident Tourist Part 2, Troy has found his own style – you probably can’t find a genre to pigeonhole that – but to describe it, the meticulous and realistic background art and incidental props are comparable to manga-quality art. And perhaps, the youth manga convention is more suitable for depicting Asian characters.
“The Resident Tourist”, and the rest of Troy’s works, define what ought to be the authentic Singapore comic/graphic novel. His stories bares the ironies of Singapore without having to use satire or parody, presenting Singapore as she is. And never have I seen Singapore so accurately represented in comics.
Troy Chin rocks.
The Resident Tourist Part 3 was published online yesterday, on Singapore’s 43rd National Day. The printed copies of TRT 1 & 2, is available at Ani-Play @ Sunshine Plaza and G&B Comics @ Bras Basah Complex at S$10 per book.
