Picture a small, tidy room in the hills of Bantul, Yogyakarta. A desk fan hums quietly. Daylight comes through wide windows. And a 50-year-old man draws with a small brush — creating panels that end up on shelves in Amsterdam and Berlin.

That is exactly where Apri Kusbiantoro works every day. From his home in Jetis, Bantul, he has built a career most comic artists only dream about.

Who Is Apri Kusbiantoro ?

Apri Kusbiantoro is an Indonesian comic illustrator based in Bantul, Yogyakarta, who has become one of the few Southeast Asian artists working regularly for major European and American comic publishers. He has worked on titles in the United States including George Carlin, Three Stooges, and Radio Gaga, and in the Netherlands on key series including Storm and De Verloren Verhalen van Lemuria. He is currently on a three-country Europe tour in June 2026 to promote his latest works.

"I have loved comics since I was a child," Apri said, speaking from his home on June 5, 2026. That childhood love started because his older sibling would rent and buy comics — Batman, Tintin, Storm. He was just along for the ride. Nobody guessed that ride would take him to Europe. 

How Did a Bantul Artist Become the Official Storm Illustrator?
A Dutch writer — also the editor of the classic comics Storm and Trigan — reached out to Apri for a collaboration project. That first job came with no payment, only a promise of exposure in the well-known Dutch comic magazine Brabant Strip. It worked. European readers responded immediately.

The turning point came when the original writer of Storm personally asked Apri to become his illustrator — a dream Apri had carried since childhood. "There was a time when I dared to dream of becoming the Storm illustrator. And that dream came true," he said.

What Makes Elang Jawa Different?
The comic that means the most to Apri is also the most surprising one for European readers. Elang Jawa, co-created with Indonesian film director Fajar Nugros, draws from the historical separation of the Yogyakarta and Surakarta sultanates following the Treaty of Giyanti in 1755.

The counterintuitive part? European publishers refused to translate the title. It stayed "Elang Jawa" in the Netherlands and Germany — not "Javan Eagle," not "Javan Arend." The Indonesian name was kept exactly as is. That says a lot about how European readers now see this story. 

The comic first appeared in the Dutch comic strip magazine Eppo, then was published in Germany by the publisher Zack.

How Does He Actually Work?
Apri spends only three to four hours a day at his drawing desk — the rest of his time goes to family. "I'm a family man too. So between dropping the kids off and everything else," he said on June 5, 2026. 

Three to four hours a day. That is all it takes to supply the European comic market.

Yogyakarta's regional government has taken notice. Iwan Pramana, Head of Creative Economy Development at the Yogyakarta Tourism Office, called Apri a key cultural diplomacy asset and an inspiration for younger generations to compete globally.