Jai Sen, author

Jai Sen is the author of the Malay Mysteries, a series of graphic novellas drawn from the folklore, monster myths, and ghost stories of colonial-era Southeast Asia. The first book in the series, Garlands of Moonlight, won a Xeric Award and was nominated for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award—comics’ highest honor—in the Best Graphic Album category alongside works by Lynda Barry and David B., plus a Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award nomination. Books from the series, illustrated by Indonesian artists, have been named “Comics Worth Reading” by critic Johanna Draper Carlson.

His full-color alternate history The Golden Vine imagines a world in which Alexander the Great survived to unite his empire, told through three Japanese artists’ distinct visual styles. Reviewers called it “spectacular in scope and execution” (ComicBookNet E-mag), “moving and wonder-filled” (The Gay Comics List), and “one of the most beautiful books published” the year it was released (Out Magazine).

Beyond comics, Jai is a scholar of colonial history, folklore, and South and Southeast Asian culture, as well as Greco-Roman history with a specialization in Alexander the Great. He is one of only a few Alexander experts to have attempted a psychological portrait of the Macedonian conqueror that tries to fill in gaps in the historical record around his lifelong companion, Hephaestion.

M. Reza Aribuwana, illustrator

M. Reza Aribuwana studied architecture at Parahyangan University in Bandung, Indonesia. He is the lead series artist of The Malay Mysteries.