More than a memoir of finding hope in the darkest hours, Buku Kuku-Ku is a book about finding meaning in life, and in death. Through poetry and illustration, this graphic novel explores the feelings of longing and loss that Cipta Croft-Cusworth experienced when his father passed away in 1997. From the day his father died, Cipta began to draw, obsessively, creating a new world in response to the tumultuous times in which he was enveloped, a world centred around the quest for the missing crown of Emanon in a land named Dasuatika, where a prince embarks on a journey to find his long-lost father.

In Dasuatika live several characters who embody different aspects of the author’s personality. Each character faces their own difficulties and their own calling to the quest to find salvation. Buku Kuku-Ku is a story about a crucial phase in the author’s journey, a time when he had to find a way to save the characters he created in order to save himself.