<![CDATA[The rapid growth of digital platforms has transformed comic production and distribution, enabling Indonesian comic creators to reach diverse audiences through Instagram. This study examines digital comics as a medium of cultural expression by comparing two Indonesian Instagram-based comic accounts with contrasting audience scales: Tahilalats, representing a macro-scale account with approximately six million followers, and Masdimboy, representing a micro-scale account with fewer than one hundred thousand followers. Using qualitative content analysis, this research analyzes three of the most recent posts from each account, focusing on visual aesthetics, narrative strategies, thematic choices, and the appropriation of platform affordances. The findings reveal that both creators utilize Indonesian cultural references, everyday humor, and local social commentary as core modes of expression, yet differ in their visual complexity, narrative depth, and degree of platform optimization. Tahilalats demonstrates a more polished and strategically crafted approach aligned with a large and diverse audience, while Masdimboy retains a more intimate and spontaneous creative identity suited to a smaller, niche community. This study contributes to the growing scholarship on digital comics in Southeast Asia, offering insights into how audience scale shapes, yet does not determine, the authenticity and cultural specificity of comic expression on social media.]]>
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