Mohammad Nor Khalid, better known under his pen name "Lat", is a Malaysian cartoonist and possibly the most famous one of his country.
He notably drew comics about his childhood in a traditional Malaysian "kampung" village, his travels throughout the country and the world, and political cartoons about news.
His Kampung Boy series was made into an animated series in 1999, and was broadcast on Nickelodeon.
His comics contain the following tropes:
- All Men Are Perverts: In Town Boy, art teacher Mr Lee tells his male students that anything can be art, including the naked figure of a woman, and tells his students to draw anything, as long as it's art. Cue all the boys drawing sexualized women in various states of undress.
- Animated Adaptation: His Kampung Boy comic was made into an animated series that ran two seasons, from 1999 to 2000. It focused on (a very fictionalized version of) Lat's childhood.
- Art Evolution: His first cartoons in the 70s had rougher, simplistic inking and more realistic human proportions. It lately became sleeker and cartoonier. This is especially noticeable with his own Author Avatar, where he is first drawn quite tall and thin, until he is later rendered as a short pudgy man.
- Asian Buckteeth: Several of his characters sport such teeth.
- Author Avatar: Often draws himself with very characteristic bushy hair.
- Beehive Hairdo: One of Lat's recurring characters is a woman with such a hairdo and cat-eye glasses.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Lat's dad is described as a funny man who will sometimes act goofy to amuse his children. However, he has standards and is more than willing to show his son that stealing is wrong.
- Bilingual Dialogue: The dialogue in his comics will jump from English to Malay at the drop of a hat.
- Bowdlerize: In the first editions of Kampung Boy, when Lat shows his father the tin he gathered, the dad gives him a slap strong enough that it pushes him down the stairs. In newer editions, the dad instead more comically chases him throughout the village.
- Creator Provincialism: His comics are Malaysian and made for Malaysians, after all.
- Disgusting Public Toilet: A couple of gags are about the problems of Malaysian public toilets: a health inspector visits one and has to be taken by an ambulance after getting intoxicated, and a horror movie simply titled Malaysian Public Toilet is released in theaters.
- Earworm: A mall cop keeps hearing the Chinese New Year song Gong Xi Gong Xi on the speakers during his duty. When he finally goes to sleep at night, the song keeps popping up in his mind and he wakes up singing it in spite of himself.
- The '80s: Most of the comics in his anthology books date from the 80s, and show Malaysian society as it was then (still is, in some parts).
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: (Former Director-General of Museums) Shahrum bin Yub tries to eat corncobs alongside Mahathir, but his dentures get stuck in the cob, surprising Dr. M.
- Gag Lips: (Former Minister of Information) Mohamed Rahmat is notably depicted with big long dark lips.
- Gag Nose: Lat's rendition of former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad has a comically large nose. Generally speaking, Lat has a distinctive way of drawing noses, often making them look like "3" with an extra curve.
- The Generation Gap: A middle-aged woman is surprised at seeing the news of The Beatles reuniting. Her teenage daughter has no idea who they are.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Normah, the "hottest girl in Ipoh", who has all the boys turning their heads at her in Town Boy.
- The Hilarity of Hats: One gag has an owner complain that a clothing ad poster shows a White Western man and how that doesn't go with Malaysian culture/society. So, his employee paints a songkok (traditional Malay black felt cap) on the ad man.
- Let's Meet the Meat: In one cartoon about a chicken meat crisis, we are introduced to the different characters of the industry. The farmer, the consumer... and the chicken itself who holds a sign saying "Better eat fish!".
- Man in a Kilt: Or rather, men in sarong, traditional long plaid skirts typically worn indoors. Several Malays are seen wearing it without any big deal made of it. A few gags are centered on sarongs: an arrested smuggler has to put his hands up but his sarong is dropping, and a tall white Westerner looking awkward wearing a sarong.
- Moral Guardians: They are sometimes satirized here and there.
- Pain-Powered Leap: A boy is shown trying to jump on the seat of a bicycle... but the seat crushes goes through its support pole, and the pain of the sudden emerging pole propulses the boy in the air.
- Reused Character Design: Has a set cast of characters who he tends to reuse for different roles, including a fat glasses-wearing Indian-Malaysian man with a squiggly mouth and a beehive-hair woman with cat-eye glasses.
- Running Gag:
- (Former Minister of Works) Samy Vellu installing a lot of toll gates. A lot, a LOT of toll gates. Whether it be in a park, in the deep sea or even on the moon.
- A husband painfully trying to fix his car on the road, while his wife reads trivial news to him from a newspaper.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: One comic has a Henpecked Husband try to divorce his big fat nasty wife so he could marry a younger and prettier woman. She has a breakdown and tries to go at them, while another woman decides to help the wife, saying her husband will be back "on his knees". The husband has had enough and decides to call his wife out... and he finds out she has gotten in shape, becoming slimmer, wears more flattering clothes and has turned more attractive.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Several couples have a short, flimsy glasses-wearing man with a wife who is taller and fatter than him.
