Books I Love: Lat's Caricatures & Cartoons

Some of Lat's comic books I own (CNB 2012)

Who does not know of Lat or Dato' Mohd Nor bin Khalid? Our most famous Malaysian cartoonist has been creatively producing cartoon strips and comic books for more than 40 years! His cartoons in the New Straits Times newspapers then (starting in 1974) was something I always looked forward to. In his graphic drawings and with the very minimum of words, he provided apt commentaries on our Malaysian life. He still does (The NST, Mondays).

I have acquired what I hope is almost all of his published works. In fact some are yellowed and almost in tatters, from years of me and the family thumbing through the pages, that entertain without fail. (I feel that Lat cartoons are the equivalent of P Ramlee movies - almost always evergreen, and appealing to all ages). Appropriately, Lat has been honoured for his work, including with the 'Datukship', a Doctorate (UKM), and other prestigious awards.

'Lat Kampung Boy the Musical' was staged in 2011 at Istana Budaya. I was lucky to be able see this musical and it was truly memorable, with the real Lat himself appearing on stage at the end. In fact Lat and his cartoons are leaving his (their?) mark on many things, from two Air Asia aeroplanes to postal stamps, to sardine cans.

Cover of Budak Kampung

A Bibliography of my Lat comics:
Keluarga Si Mamat (1968)
Lots of Lat (1977)
Lat's Lot (1978)
Budak Kampung (1979)
With a Little Bit of Lat (1980)
Town Boy (1981)
Lots More Lat (1982)
Lat and His Lot Again! (1983)
Entahlah Mak ...! (1985)
Its a Lat Lat Lat Lat World (1985)
Lat and Gang (1987); its missing from my library, anybody borrowed and forgot to return?
Lat with a Punch (1988)
Better Lat than Never (1989)
Mat Som (1989)
Lat as Usual ... (1990)
Be Serious Lat! (1992)
Kampung Boy Yesterday & Today (1993); I also have a 2008 9th reprint copy.
Lat 30 Years Later (1994); contains 'Lat on Lat', Appreciation by Piyadasa, & Retrospective 1964-1994 of Lat's caricatures and cartoons.
Lat Was Here (1995)
Lat Gets Lost (1996)
Lat at Large (1999)

Lat at 17 on the cover  of  'Lat 30 Years Later'

Lat, whom I have had the privilege of meeting in a few 'art programmes' in Pulau Pinang (USM) and KL is a contemporary, born in the same year and month.  So his Kampung Boy and Town Boy stories are especially nostalgic of my childhood era too during the 1950's and early 1960's. Although I was more a railway child and living in towns, but spending school holidays in the kampungs of Pulau Pinang.

Ex Libris CNB