Illustration by Dini Lestari
Sometimes, the truth is stranger than any fiction. Gabriel García Márquez, the godfather of "magical realism," knew this well, remarking in an interview that his work wasn't even particularly imaginative, explaining that "the truth is that there's not a single line in all my work that does not have a basis in reality. The problem is that Caribbean reality resembles the wildest imagination."Now, the Caribbean is pretty far from Southeast Asia. But the kinds of magical thinking that seeped their way into Márquez's work aren't endemic to Latin America alone. And it's no surprise that when Márquez decided to return to journalism, he felt the pull of SE Asia and ended up in Vietnam.All of us here at VICE's offices across the Asia-Pacific, seven countries and counting, are deeply familiar with magical thinking. It expresses itself through various ways in our respective cultures, something we paid an ode to in our recent Halloween series. It's also why we constantly write about the mystical and the supernatural—our Indonesia office is haunted after all.So when it came time for our annual fiction week—last year was all about Indonesia in the year 2038—we went straight to magical realism. But instead of just asking our favorite authors to write a piece, this year we paired them up with some of our favorite comic artists to collaborate on a story. And we love the results.In the coming week, we're bringing you comics written and drawn by Joshua Ip, Marguerite Alcazaren De Leon, Sharlene Teo, Dea Anugrah, Edo Wallad, and more. Just check in daily, or at this link right here.We hope you enjoy this project as much as we've enjoyed working on it.