When I found out about this local video blog making contest, I knew I just had to join. Video has become quite of an interest for me in addition to comics. It's really just a way of having fun. Whatever it is about, I'm game for that! The contest, it just so happens, is by Coca-Cola Philippines. Having enjoyed a nice relationship with Coke for most of my life, I thought well, promoting it didn't seem much of a problem to me.
Besides, the prizes are nothing to sneeze at. I could always use a new LCD TV (ours is like almost 20 years old!), or a new Digicam. Of course, that's if I win. But I'm not really thinking about that. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't get the right idea and story for it though. Once the idea clicked, I knew I just had to do it because it seemed so much fun, even if the first prize was just a can of Coke.
My thanks to my good old friend Architect Arlan Esmeña for being in the video with me. Some of you might remember him from my old TRUE LOVE video. And for those that may be wondering, yes, Arlan is indeed an active and practicing architect here in San Pablo City. I'd like to think he helps me does these things for the same reasons I do them.
And thanks also to my wife Ilyn, who has always been very supportive... and for holding the camera during certain bits of the video.
Unbelievably, I stupidly injured myself while doing this thing. It's just minor, but there was a bit of bleeding. When it happened, I actually laughed. It was so insane.
The first issue of Wasted came out July of 1994. I photocopied 10 to 15 copies and mailed them off to friends. Somehow, one issue found its way to Budjette Tan, a guy who I’d never met, but who was at the time putting together a comic book with his friends called “Comics 101″. Budjette wrote to me (on paper) and asked if I would allow Wasted to be included in his comic book. To be honest, I didn’t want to. At the time, I was still holding on to Wasted like a private thing, first just for myself, then next shared with a few friends. I wasn’t prepared to share Wasted with a whole lot of strangers.
After a few days of fretting over whether to agree or not, I finally decided to let it go and mailed the original pages of Wasted #1 to Budjette. Turns out Budjette received the pages just in time. The way I understand it, they were on the process of going to press with it when my pages arrived. I thought, oh, to hell with it. Whatever the consequence, I’ll take it. At the time, I was pissed off enough at the world not to care what other people thought.
When Comics 101 came out and a snippet of my art was on the cover, I was really so proud of it. It was such a thrill having my work printed in an independently produced comic book like this. I had been published previously, having a few of my artwork coming out in TERROR and UZI, but Comics 101 was kind of special.
The issue had quite an array of talent. It featured Arnold Arre’s “Age of the Valkyrie”. Even that early, Arnold already showed what a good artist he was. It wasn’t the first time I saw Arnold’s work, though. I met him through Lakan, an earlier comic book group I was involved with. Speaking of Lakan, Comics 101 has the distinction of having the only published pages of the infamous Lakan comic book. Lakan was represented by a few pages, by an artist whose name I’ve actually, rather embarrassingly, forgotten.
This Lakan thing, I’ll talk about this in detail in a future post, with photos and artwork. I feel as if I need to talk about it and write down everything I know about it.
Anyway, Comics 101 also had “The Mission” by J.B. Tapia and Mark Gatela, “The Flying Phantom” by Bow Guerrero and Budjette Tan, “Payaso” by Budjette Tan and Brandie Tan, lettered by Jig Manaloto.
I think the concept of “The Flying Phantom” is a terrific one, and if Budj and Bow have the time, they really need to come out with a much longer story about it.
Disappointed by the quality of my drawing in Wasted #1, I redrew the first four pages sometime later, and it’s those redrawn pages that were used for the first compiled edition of Wasted by Alamat in 1998. Comics 101 is the only place (aside from the old photocopies) that one can find the original 4 pages printed. Ironically, those same 4 pages are some of the very very few original art from Wasted that survive today. Almost all of the original pages of Wasted were destroyed when the offices of Pulp Magazine burned down, which had been preparing to publish a new edition of the comic book.
Even after all this time, I look at this comic book with much pride. It has the rough quality of a group of young guys just starting out, thrilled and enthusiastic about comics. It felt like the beginning of something truly great. And it was. I’d like to think we’re still thrilled and enthusiastic about comics. After all, a lot of us are still here and creating them. I’m here with my comics, Budjette has his Trese, Arnold has his Martial Law Babies and Andong Agimat, and it looks like we’re not going to be quitting anytime soon.
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EXODUS, November 1994
The word about the Exodus guys came to us during what was probably THE very first independent comics-related event… a one day mini comics convention if you will, in front of Platinum Comics one day in 1994. It was the first time ever that the various burgeoning comic book groups met in one place. The word about Exodus was that which came the loudest because we heard that they’ve got some really REALLY good artists.
There was a long table in front of Platinum which one group occupied for an hour before another group took over. A lot of people came. It was nuts… MADNESS…. as I remember it, but a really great day. Locally made “Ashcans” were making the rounds like the one for Aster, which would eventually be published by Entity Comics in the US. I don’t remember seeing the Exodus ashcan or any of the members. I probably did, but I just don’t remember.
I did eventually meet the group but by this time, they were able to go beyond the ashcan phase and had their comic book printed standard sized, and in full color. At the time, I remember going…. wow! The word that had come to us earlier was quite justified. There were some really terrific artists in the group. Their work had a certain polish to it because as far as I know, some of those artists were already professional comic book artists, working for GASI on various komiks titles.
EXODUS COMICS PRESENTS: REVELATION Story Plot: Mike Tan and Exodus Team Script: Mike Tan
Artists: Roy Allan Martinez, Lui Antonio, Gilbert Monsanto, Louie Salvio, Jim Jimenez, Jay Jimenez, and Lando Inolino.
Roy Allan Martinez immediately jumped out to me as a spectacularly good artist. Little did I know that I would one day work with him, and that he would one day become one of our best working artists. I really don’t want to compare (but I will anyway), but among the many artists to come out in my generation (with the exception of Nick Manabat, who is in a league all on his own), I like the work of Roy the best. I didn’t like how his art looked when I inked him on the books we worked on (Wetworks, Grifter, Hazard, Loner). I sort of feel that my inking had tamed his lines somehow. Roy always produced the best artwork when he inks himself.
I wish he would draw more though, because his art and the insane quality of it really needs to be seen more.
I would also eventually become friends with Gilbert, who remains to be one of my closest comics compatriots to this day. Madness, eh, Gilbert? :) Jim and Jay, who I don’t see often, are two of my favorite Alamat people. I have a very funny story about Jim Jimenez and me (a story he is aware of all too well) which I just have to share here one of these days (along with my Russel, Leinil and me story).
This is a flip book, with “Shadow Comics Presents” #1 on one side, and “Scions: Ancestral Legacy” #1 on the other. Covers by Ferres.
Shadow Comics Presents: Midknight was written by Eric Jugueta and Ronald Tan, and illustrated by Ronald Tan. The first time I saw Shadow was in “ashcan” form, the term used back then to mean photocopied mini comics. I bought it from Filbar’s Dapitan back when there was still a Filbar’s behind UST, and when I still lived in a very old house along P. Noval.
I remember reading the mini comic and then laughing my head off. The artwork was very crude, but there was something there. But I just loved the writing. It wasn’t anything earth shattering, but it was very funny.
Scions: Ancestral Legacy was written by Alexander Santos and illustrated by Hilton Lee, backed up by Hex.
This particular issue shows a bit of the history of Alamat Comics in an article which covers one of the several comics conventions that were held during the time, if not at Robinson’s Galleria, then SM Megatrade Hall. This one was on September 30, 1995.
I’m there somewhere in the very first picture. The second picture has I think Gilbert Monsato, and the last one has Budjette Tan, David Hontiveros and Tony Bucu.
Scions is also dedicated to Nick Manabat, and the issue also includes a one page memorial this artist, one of the most talented I’ve ever seen.
Looking over all this, I’m reminded how busy and how vital Alamat Comics was in revitalizing the local comics industry. For a long time I missed those mini comics conventions that we had at Robinson’s. It was terrific seeing all these enthusiastic young guys creating and publishing their own comic books. It was truly a great time.
I missed those conventions, until Artists Den organized their very first Komikon in 2005, and with every successful Komikon each year, that feeling is back again.
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Another thing I should blame my brother for. Late 1994 the mainstream Internet wasn’t even in high gear yet, but my brother was connected online in those primitive Internet days of bulletin boards and there he met Russel Tomas, looking for an artist for his comic book. My brother called me up, we talked about it. He set a date for Russel and I to meet, and one day Russel and I met outside of Filbar’s on the 4th floor of the Robinson’s Galleria.
That got me involved with A.R.C.H.O.N, a comic book Russel was working on with a group of his friends including his brother Jay-Jay, Joseph Fouts, and David Hontiveros. Russel told me that computers will play a big part in creating the comic book. The pages will be scanned and then colored on the computer. During that time it was kind of mind blowing for me to hear stuff like that.
Coloring? On the computer? What? Are you INSANE? Do we even have computers here in the Philippines that can do that?
Of course, that was just me the technophobe that was talking. What did I know? Even I wasn’t into computers yet, and I didn’t know a thing about pixels or megabytes or whatever technobabble that was.
But still, it was rather exciting to be involved in a project like that. And to come out with a full color comic book, 44 pages printed on good paper… it was quite an achievement at the time. (It still is today, actually.)
A.R.C.H.O.N. stands for Assistance Response Contingent and Hazard Overseer Network. It’s a cop story set in the future out in space. Published by Alamat and Mega Magazine Publications in February 1995.
I inked 4 pages of Joseph Fouts’ pencils and also contributed a pinup.
When it came out, it caused quite a stir in the burgeoning local comic book community. Although the artwork came out slightly pixelated, it looked great. I gotta admit, this was probably the time I learned what the words pixel and pixelated meant. I couldn’t fault them for it. It was pioneering work in local comics and I credit them for paving the way for other people to use the computer better in the production of comics.
I thought it amazing that years and years after this first came out, I could still see it being distributed in 7-11s, reaching even here in San Pablo City.
Russel Tomas became a very good friend, and I have a story about him, Leinil Yu and myself, and our nutty little adventure in San Diego during the convention in 1999 which I’ve just got to share one of these days.
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Running along the spine, there is a disclaimer: “Warning: This material is for mature readers”.
Well, duh?
In short, Noel F. Lim is INSANE. There’s really no other word for him. Insane in a sense that he’s at the absolute border of what separates sane and insane and can still function relatively well in society. I always walk away from our encounters rather shaken, somewhat relieved, somewhat entertained, a bit more informed, a lot amazed at witnessing such a unique and remarkable individual actually exists in this world.
Sex Men is a comic book that is a natural manifestation of such an individual, and looking at it, I’m really at a loss for words. It is a pretty old comic book dating back to 1997. I thought I’d start featuring independently produced comic books here in the Philippines dating from the early 90’s as I’ve got boxes and boxes of them. I’m really amazed at the incredible amount of these comics that have accumulated in the last 15 or so years. Whoever said Philippine comics died simply weren’t looking or are just blissfully ignorant. Journalists who would like to think of themselves as knowledgeable enough to write about Philippine comics would do well to do a bit of research before they go off and write articles so bereft of even the most rudimentary information about this topic.
Back to the Sex Men. Well, it’s sick.
All of a sudden, I really can’t think of anything to say about it.
Well, it is about the invasion of an extra terrestrial giant female genitalia walking on two gigantic legs. Good thing the Sex Men are here to save the day: superheroes that are unfettered manifestations of various sexual organs. One fellow has a hard on for a head called Dickhead. Another is called Captain Condom, and others are called Blowj… well, I think I’ve had enough.
Unbelievably, or perhaps not really that surprising, Noel is working on a second issue. God help us.
In a way, I admire Noel’s audacity in coming out with this because the thing was actually printed, and not just photocopied. It’s standard sized with full color cover and glossy paper. Whatever the print run this has had, it can’t be anything lower than 1000 copies or at the very least 500. Noel Lim claims all of that has nearly been sold out.
For him to actually do work on a second issue means that the experience of doing the first was agreeable enough to do a second.
Oh yeah, Noel F. Lim is also adapting and directing the WASTED Movie 2.0. OK, I didn’t base my decision to let Noel do the film based on this comic book. He is, after all, an award winning filmmaker, winning the Grand Jury Prize in the Southeast Asian Young Filmmaking Competition in Tokyo in 1993. He has done a lot of other things since then. The comic book tells me that he is audacious enough that he won’t flinch at the places Wasted needs to go to tell the story. The last news I heard about the movie is that Noel managed to get a considerable amount of money to get the movie made, so that’s great.
Personally, I actually really like Noel. It took a while before I got really used to dealing with him, and I can say without hesitation that despite all outward appearances, he seems like a truly great human being, completely worthy to continue his existence in whatever way he sees fit.
These are two pages I contributed to TOPAK a while back. It's kind of my twisted take on Ripley's Believe It... OR NOT!, but the "facts" presented here are absolute and utter bullshit. I just wanted to say that because a few people actually believed it! :D
One of the studies I've been doing for an album cover. It's elongated because it's supposed to wrap around the CD booklet. Although this study won't be used or further developed, I kind of like it.
I've never really talked about serious matters outside of comics in this blog, but there is a worldwide crisis that even I can't ignore writing about, not when it has concerned me greatly in my personal life.
I'm talking about OIL, and it's seemingly unending price hike in the world market. It's pretty much affected everyone, wherever you may be, whatever social circle you may belong to. Oil is directly tied to fuel and power supply, and in our overwhelmingly industrialized and electronic world, fuel and power are things that we can no longer do without.
In a cross section of an ordinary daily life of an average individual, he would get up in the morning and put on his clothes (washed and ironed by a washing machine and an press iron), eats his breakfast (cooked either by a stove that uses electricity or LPG), goes to work in a bus or car (powered by gas) and works in an office that uses lights, computers, elevators, fans or air-conditioners (powered by electricity), and on his way home he passes by a grocery to buy food, supplies, and other household necessities (produced through machines run by power or gas, delivered by trucks that use gas). At home that night the family watches TV in a house that uses lights, fans, stereos, computers and aircons (all powered by electricity).
What would happen if there is no longer power and fuel?
I've been doing a lot of reading about the subject, and one of the things that greatly concerns me is that this period that we are having now, this is the period that is being considered the peak of oil production. From this time forward, the production of oil will decrease as the supply of it slowly runs out. Of course, this may take a long time, but but there is less oil now than what we have already consumed. Oil is a natural resource that cannot be renewed. Once it's used, it's gone. And once it's all used up, none can be found anymore. How do you create it? You need to wait for billions of years of gnawing gnashing of earth for more to be produced naturally.
What would happen as oil slowly runs out? It would become even more expensive as demand for it increases. Imagine yourself not being able to eat for a day, or a couple of days... three days... it will drive you crazy. It will make you desperate, desperate enough to lose all semblance of human morality and civilization and kill just to survive.
This is certainly something an entire country could do if it has become too dependent on oil and has become hungry for it. This could mean war. War on a scale that we have never seen. This means starvation in the most populated cities where supplies can no longer be delivered. We will end up killing each other just to survive. This could very much spell the end for all of us, the very end of our civilization.
A comic book plot? Not really. This is a very definite possibility.
The headline of Manila Bulletin today is "Gov’t appeals: Conserve fuel, power". Indeed, conservation is a theme that has been more prevalent of late. There are many ads and programs of it on TV and newspapers, more than I've ever seen before. People are now very aware of what is happening and are doing something about it.
Conservation is a good... no, a great thing. I feel that I do my own part by not having any kind of gas powered vehicle at all. I don't drive. When I go to town, I walk. This is not something I would recommend to everyone as I'm sure having vehicles is necessary to certain people. But it works for me.
However, I feel that conservation, no matter how good it is to practice, only prolongs our dependence on a resource that is slowly becoming extinct. I hope that conservation buys us enough time to find alternatives to oil as a source of fuel and power. That is really our only choice. We have to find an alternative before it's too late because it is our very survival that is at stake.
Probably it's time, specially here in the Philippines, to reconsider the nuclear option? It can be dangerous, but it can also work. Just as long as our God damned public officials don't treat it as just another project to make money out of, as long as it's another project that our contractors would skimp on the quality to make more money, and man this nuclear plant with competent people who are made aware of the price of incompetence every single day.
Part of our electricity is already produced without the benefit of fuel, like from geothermal plants, dams and so forth, and I think this is a really good thing. More, I say... more of the same, all over the country, if possible. With less dependence on oil to produce electricity, it would be great to promote the use of electric cars locally.
My imagination has been going crazy thinking of things that I can possibly do as an individual. I've been thinking of attaching a bike to a small turbine that produces electricity for home use. I could use the bike to exercise and boil water at the same time. Ilyn thinks it's ridiculous, believing that solar panels are the way to go. I still don't get how my idea could be ridiculous. Is it? Can such a contraption even produce enough electricity to, say, operate an electric stove?
Whatever the case, as this crisis worsens, I think people's lifestyles would need to change. I'm already studying how to be able to live more simply, and use electricity and gas powered items only when it's absolutely necessary. To have a much more simpler life...that is a goal that I set for myself. I don't see myself having much choice.
This is an unlettered page from "Love Hurts" a short story I contributed to "Liquid City", an anthology of mostly South East Asian comic book creators to be published by Image Comics later this year.
I'm in various places online and I thought I'd list them down here in order of how often I visit them.
VERY OFTEN
http://gerry.alanguilan.com My main blog, which I update several times a week. Some of what I post there I post here in Multiply. But I do post a lot more there than anywhere else. It's a blog that has a history extending way back t0 1997, but I've managed to document and archive only as early as 1998. I visit the blog several times a day to post approve messages/post comments.
http://www.youtube.com/komikero My You Tube channel. I post new videos regularly, sometimes once every few days. I don't know why, but I'm just obsessed with making video blogs, short films, crazy skits, and so forth. I do post videos once in a while here in Multiply, but it's in You Tube where I post all the videos I make.
OFTEN
Of course... Multiply. I visit at least maybe twice a day, specially if there's a comment to my posts or posts I commented on.
http://twitter.com/komikero I post generally an average of 1-3 twitter comments a day via the address bar on my browser. I also visit the twitter site once in a while to read what others are posting.
NOT SO OFTEN
http://myspace.com/komikero I visit probably once every few days, and sometimes only when someone sends me a message or wants to add me. Aside from Multiply, this is really the only networking site that I visit on a somewhat regular basis. A lot of people want to add me to all sorts of networking sites (it seems there's more of them popping up every single day), and really, I can't keep up with all of it. If you're already on my friends list on MySpace, why would you want me to be on my friends list on Facebook? I've been to facebook and left. Not that I didn't like it, but I just don't have the time to monitor a lot of these sites.
It's a been a year, almost to the day, that my dog Eugene, died. I didn't talk about it on this blog because I find it uncomfortable to talk about very personal things here. Much of that personal stuff I keep offline and between family and close friends. But I couldn't help express that grief somehow, and I expressed it through that where I could express it best: comics.
At the time I had been keeping a daily online comic strip depicting true and ordinary things that preoccupy me during the day. Many of those strips had Eugene in it. All of those strips can still be accessed at Webcomicsnation.com, but I've recently decided to reformat and re-organize my online strips into subjects in my site.
Subjects I went into include cellphones, sleep paralysis, PLDT woes, birds and chickens, dreams, friendships and so on. Click below for for Eugene's online comics.
I am participating in a comics anthology called "Liquid City", collecting the comics work of several South East Asian comics creators, to be published by Image Comics in the fall. Having experienced no such thing as a "fall" here in the Philippines, I had no idea what that meant until I learned it's actually anytime between September to December in the US.
I'm pretty excited about it as I'll be in the company of some really awesome artists and I'm scratching my head just what the hell I'm doing there, you know? They've got LAT in there, for goodness sake.
That USED to be page 1 of what I was planning to contribute. It would just be a visual story, no dialogue involved, where this guy drinks this coffee and he takes off into the sky, and proceeds to fly erratically through the city causing all kinds of confusion, pratfalls, and all sorts of hijinks. He then runs out of steam and falls with a huge crash back on his chair and says "Great Coffee!"
Now as people started turning in their stuff for the anthology, the more I felt ashamed and embarrassed by the work that I've done. I've had to re-assess and consider what I should do. I decided to scrap the story altogether and just come up with a new one. It's that new story that I submitted at my deadline yesterday. I worked really hard on it, and I still don't know if it's on par with what the others did, but at least it's better than what I did before.
After all that you'd think I'd take a break, but although I want to, it's time to continue work on Timawa #9! With crazy deadline a few days from now. Allright!
The best talks that I have done are those where I myself come away enlightened, learning even as I share what knowledge and experience that I have. Yesterday's talk at Tagaytay was one such example. I thought the talk itself was allright, and I just made it quite short, less than 20 minutes, I think. It was the forum afterwards that I was looking forward to because answering questions allows me to focus more on a specific topic. It is through these interactions that I get the opportunity to think very hard about my own beliefs and once in a while I'd get an insight that allows me to further mold those beliefs. I'm always continuing to learn, and always I welcome the opportunity to do so, in whatever circumstance.
I accepted the the invitation to give this talk, in spite of a rather pressing deadline, because it was Mr. Hugo Yonzonwho invited me. I've always liked the Mr. and Mrs. Yonzon, because they're the kind of people that one immediately feels comfortable conversing with. They're friendly and hospitable, very intelligent and witty, and most importantly, they have a deep love for comics and remarkable respect for the people who create them.
I have worked for them for a few years, creating Johnny Balbona specially for their Mwahaha! title, as well as writing Lastik-Man for a one shot story drawn by Arnold Arre and colored by Edgar Tadeo. The Yonzons recognized the rights I have to the work I create, and paid me well for my efforts. They're such a joy to interact with, personally and professionally.
Johnny was with us yesterday, and amazingly enough, he completed two of his unique paintings as he listened to me and Jonas talk. Later, he gave the paintings to the Yonzons as a gift.
Seeing Johnny there with the Yonzons was a strange experience. Johnny is, after all, the big inspiration for Johnny Balbona. I know I said the character was dead, but if I ever continue doing it, I'll do it for Mango comics, if they're open to having that happen at some point in the future.
The Komikero meeting yesterday was one of the more relaxing and comfortable ones, with Johnny and Jonas being specially cheerful and fun loving. This is just a preview of an upcoming video, which I hope to edit and upload soon, as soon as I recover from yesterday's bliss.
For instance, if someone in Hong Kong (like the example in the link) puts together a book with artwork lifted from your site without your permission, how would you proceed?
Oft mentioned advice is to always have your work legally copyrighted (although according to copyright law, any work that you create is yours from the moment of it's creation). But to ensure it, you have it copyrighted formally, and as back up, send your work through the post office back to you and don't open it.
But what does that really protect? You are only ensuring that you have the proper legal documentation that a certain piece of artwork belongs to you. It won't stop people from another country stealing your work if they wanted to, even if your artwork is watermarked. By this example, it demonstrates that watermarking does not discourage people from stealing your work at all.
If that happens, what can you do realistically? Your documents will only be useful if you decide to hire a lawyer and mount a lawsuit. Would the ordinary Deviant-Arter or Blogger have the financial means to do such a thing against an offending party living abroad?
You can mount an awareness campaign which includes protests, letter writing etc., against the offending party/publication, which is one way to go. They may be shamed into stopping the publication, but then again, they probably won't. Some people are shameless and cold like that.
What do you all suggest, short of not posting your artwork online at all?
Jonas tagged me. What's all this tagging then? I did a tag thing on You Tube for 5 people and only 1 responded. What? My tag has bad breath? Oh well...
******************* The Rules
Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves. Bloggers tagged need to write on their on blog about their ten things and post the rules. At the end of your blog you need to choose 10 people you`re going to tag and list their names. Don't forget to comment on their site that they`re tagged.
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1. I don't suffer fools gladly. 2. Anyone who tells me "It's Impossible." "It can't be done." "You can't do it." "It's a pipe dream." gets automatically sent to my completely ignore list. 3. I make a fool of myself on You Tube but I don't care. 4. Masungit ako sa telepono. Just ask Jonas. 5. I don't have a cellphone. I used to have one, but I chucked it. And I'm glad. 6. The only reason I would ever want an iPod or any kind of portable mp3 player is so I don't have to listen to these idiotic movies and TV shows I otherwise have no choice but watch/listen to on the bus. 7. Kakarealize ko lang na ayoko nang tinatawaran ang original art ko. Ano ito, saging sa palengke? 8. I don't hate manga. Pero mamamatay muna ako bago mo ako mapadrawing nyan. 9. I love Japanese food and I love watching Japanese movies specially those directed by Akira Kurosawa and anything with Toshiro Mifune. 10. Nagpunta ako ng Jolo at ang babait ng mga Muslim doon. Gusto ka laging pakainin. Ang sarap ng sate. Saan ba makakakuha nun?
KC Cordero informed me yesterday that Sindak had already been released, specially in the provinces and asked me to check out if there were copies in San Pablo. True enough, I saw Sindak in at least two places on the sidewalk on the way to the public market.
Browsing through it, it kind of reminded me of Liwayway but with better production values, better paper and better printing. Like Liwayway, Sindak has a lot of articles, with a large comics section.
Comics contributors include Randy Valiente, KC Cordero, Novo Malgapo, Rommel Estanislao, Ner Pedrina, myself, etc.
Congrats and thanks to KC and the gang and ABS-CBN for taking the chance on a magazine like this. Sana tuloy tuloy na. :)
I already have a story for Sindak #2, and will start working on it soon.
Work on Elmer #4 is underway, although at this very moment, I'm embroiled in finishing a Timawa deadline. I've taken a few suggestions, specially from regular visitor Rod Samonte, and I believe it's helped me a lot in doing the seventh installment of Timawa, out with The Buzz Magasin at the end of next month.
I've written out half of Elmer #4, and laid out the storyline up until the end, and it's definitely going to take up a lot of pages. I had planned both #2 and #3 to be double sized, which didn't pan out, so it's all going to fall into the last issue. I got suggestions to extend Elmer a few more issues, but no, I think I need to finish everything with this issue. The momentum is there and to cut up the story further would affect how the story is told.
There is a bit of news about Elmer as a whole. As some of you already know, I've made a CBR file of Elmer #1 and offered it as a free download. I've even bought ads which appeared at Comicspace and Webcomicsnation for a couple of days just to advertise it. Hopefully, it will raise a bit of interest for the rest of the series.
Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporterfeatured Elmer at his site here, saying "There's nothing like this book on the stands right now." Thanks Tom!
I'm holding my horses here because I don't seriously think it means anything except added exposure for the comics. But I'm grateful nevertheless for Rob Worley for featuring Elmer at the site. Thanks Rob!
Just a quick post to tell anyone interested about our monthly Komikero meetings, which aren't really meetings but a get together of artists here in San Pablo to sketch, paint, take photographs, talk about comics, movies, porn and other cool stuff.
The next meeting will be THIS SUNDAY, March 30, 2008 here in San Pablo City, on the parks surrounding Sampalok Lake. For those who haven't been to our meetings before, consult this photo-map: http://alanguilan.com/sanpablo/map1/ We'll be somewhere in Area B.
Meetings begin 10am, but you won't miss anything if you arrive later than that. Feel free to drop in at anytime during the day, except perhaps when it's already late in the afternoon. If you arrive lunchtime, we might be off eating so don't feel discouraged if you don't see us.
Bring your sketchbooks, art materials, and so forth! New attendees need to bring extra underwear and a towel. I'm not saying why.
Sindak! is a new large format (9"x12") comics magazine published by ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN Publishing is also the publisher of The Buzz Magasin where my Timawa comes out. I'm a contributor to the first issue of Sindak!, contributing two full color pages. I was supposed to do the cover, but when editor KC Cordero put together a mock cover for proposal, I thought the artwork for the mock cover looked great, and that it was good enough for the cover for the comics-magazine's debut issue.
I'm very excited about this magazine because there's a lot of really talented people involved, it's large format, in Tagalog, and in full color. The first issue drops end of March and will be available all over the Philippines.
The comics-magazine will be published once every two months. Hopefully, I'll be able to do six pages for each issue beginning with the #2.
Kudos to editor KC Cordero for pushing this, and for ABS CBN for supporting the project. Philippine comics continues to evolve, and if you told me a year ago that ABS CBN will be one of those helping that happen I wouldn't have believed you.
I no longer have any extra copies of Elmer #1, and I think Comic Quest only has a few issues left in their Megamall store. Since a lot of people are still asking me where to get it, specially abroad, I decided to make a FREE download-able CBR file of ELMER #1.
I hope it could raise a bit of interest for the currently available #2 and #3, as well #4 (the last issue), when it comes out. As with my experience with Wasted, having an online version actually generates interest for a print version. I'm trying to determine if I'm going to go ahead with a reprint of #1 which will accompany the release of #4 in the future.
Please feel free to check it out, and let me know what you think.
I accepted the the invitation to give this talk, in spite of a rather pressing deadline, because it was 
Sindak! is a new large format (9"x12") comics magazine published by ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN Publishing is also the publisher of The Buzz Magasin where my Timawa comes out. I'm a contributor to the first issue of Sindak!, contributing two full color pages. I was supposed to do the cover, but when editor KC Cordero put together a mock cover for proposal, I thought the artwork for the mock cover looked great, and that it was good enough for the cover for the comics-magazine's debut issue.