Summer Komikon 2014 Reads

KAYAW by Magay, et. al.

This indie publication that categorizes itself as war epic is deeply centered into the heart of the Kalinga pride--that being unscathed by the Spanish, American, and Japanese regimes. Being part of the Austronesian race (but unlike their southern brothers --the Visayan Pintados that went the low profile), Igorot and Kalinga tribesfolk settle their conflicts through brutal headhunts with much public display. The introductory story is far from gruesome though (or maybe not just yet) but the sublime contrast and similarity to the Yakuza tattoo art is noteworthy. I know, it will connect heavily to the future with Lt. Masamune in tow.

Rating: 4 cuts of lengua out of 5

RODSKI PATOTSKI by Alanguilan & Arre

Since Lastikman and Darna Lives, the tandem of Gerry Alanguilan and Arnold Arre is always a good read. That territorial dispute would have been better if they put a Chinese and not Japanese Armada to express the current climate in the West Philippine Sea. The weapon's encryption algorithm would have been better if entrusted to Dr Dalawangpuso. All in all, it remains a great read not to be taken seriously.

Rating: 4 scoops of pistachio ice cream

KIKOMACHINE X by Manix Abrera

I thought I was buying a vintage Metallica or Pearl Jam vinyl when I saw this one. Of course, this is the 10th Kikomachine book by one of the current names in local comics. Glow-in-the-dark ang cover. Sakto lang ang lalim.  Parang Sunken Garden na bumababa ng 8 cm kada taon. Hwoooh.

Rating: 3.5 fathoms deep

Click here for my review of Mervin Malonzo's TABI PO #1. 

All images belonged to the copyright authors.

Gerry Alanguilan's ELMER

I'm pobably the last person to read this book in a nation that used to love comics in its golden decade of the 80's. Considering that we're now in the digital era of reading stories in a tablet PC or a gadget like Kindle, one doesn't need to look that far in history when evolution of man and science became highly relevant. You might even say evolution is actually, always relevant and certain  whenever a new model of gadget is released, or a new hybrid machine is ready for tune-up, or a new novel is available for download, and so on and so forth. Evolution is always relevant and I couldn't agree more.

This book is about that kind of evolution. What if chickens suddenly acquire the linguistic, psychological, and spiritual aspects of man? That would be crazy, right? Would they fight for equal rights with humans, or special rights like an endangered species? And this is basically the main reason why I would consider this book thought-provoking in the sense that it keeps you thinking on the plausibility: what-ifs and how-woulds along the storyline even after you finished reading it. And as a by-product, it never fails to amuse the reader also. It wont stop you in thinking (with a dose of laughter) about how can a rooster make a woman happy in bed, or what will happen if the avian species Gallus Domesticus overtakes the primate species Homo Sapiens Sapiens in the food chain. That would be a challenging and fun idea to think about. This book is plenty of these kinds of thoughts and it might be the reason why it stood out among the batch of quality stories recognized in 2011 for award nominations in the US, Japan, and Europe. Because the main character here is a chicken.

I only wished that Gerry published Elmer with a colored edition because the beauty of an avian is best represented by colors. A peacock for example, is not complete without its irridescent blue, green, yellow, and brown tiny feather tips, just like a parrot without its ivory feathers and colorful blotches like an amalgam of paint on a canvas. The same with chickens. The main difference between a hen and a rooster is in their size and plumage--the rooster is bigger, and more colorful than the hen.

I wished the book to be more visual since I find it not easy to differentiate a mother chicken to a father rooster with just black and white rendering, as we all know that the human eye has that tendency to look at chickens as chickens and generalize that if something has a beak, a comb, and a plumage its probably a chicken. Once you draw many of them by just varying the comb and wattle without distinctive color or maybe shades of gray, your eyes will just see a group of chicken and there's no clear distinction. You need to look closer at those characters to see who they really is. The point is, I want to see a fighting rooster here deadly and nasty with its blood-red feathers ready to pounce on anyone who stands on its way. That would be a very cool picture.

A fight to death is always nasty, beautiful (and perhaps inhuman) like this one

"Fighting Cocks" oil on canvas by Mario Zampedroni 

Anyway, Gerry himself admitted that he saw some warts in the book and whether its about the grammar or illustration, this still remains part of the overall beauty of the graphic novel. A graphic novel is made by a human hand, not robots. And even robots can make an error too.

Reading this also reminds me of the sentimentality of his first book WASTED especially that letter-from-the-departed panels. And yeah, it feels very much like a Gerry Alanguilan book since it's not complete without the libido and onanism scenes---the reason that it's intended for mature readership. If you've already read his previous works like WASTED and Where Bold Stars Go to Die you know what I'm talking about.

I have been hyping this book by partially reading it in the past but now that I finally saw, dissected, and experienced it from cover to cover, my view is still the same. It's a good and unique book proudly made, in the Philippines. This book deserved to be nominated in the 2011 Eisner Awards.



Genre: Historical Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
Rating: 4 sizzling plates of 'adobong texas sa gata'

The 3rd San Pablo Comics Festival

For the young at heart who's proud of being Pinoy and loves Comics.

Gerry Alanguilan Wins

Gerry hits the Jackpot for winning the Quai des Bulles - Quest France 2011 Best Comic Book of the Year Award. ELMER is proudly, Philippine made. Ihanda na ang kulawo! Bogchi na.

Lucky Bird

"Elmer is the story of a family of chickens struggling to survive in a hostile environment. A true family drama in a world where an entire class of people are ostracized by the dominant class, and where all live in a state of mutual distrust. Both funny and moving, Gerry Alanguilan crafted with candor from beginning to end an inspiring parable that masquerades as chronic delusional story. He originally self-published Elmer between 2006 and 2008 in the Philippines. Elmer is the first Philippine graphic novel translated into French."*

*--loose translation from the Quai des Bulles 2011 blog.
http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/3845
http://quaidesbulles2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-selection-ouest-france-quai-des_6333.html

ELMER: Re-Launching!

Komiks Writing is also Art

In July 2009, Carlo J Caparas was inducted as National Artist in Visual Arts on merits of his film and literary works. Some insiders thought CJC never deserved the award. For others (including GMA---PGMA at the time), his works were enough to earn it. If you're still not familiar with CJC and his works, see them here (as comics writer and film maker) and judge for yourself.

My point here is not about CJC's controversial induction as a National Artist or his questionable "artistic" merits, but about the narrow and outdated definition of an "artist" and the politics surrounding these award giving bodies. The issue here are two: the need to define clearly what is an artist and second, what is the rightful party to vote for a person to become a national artist.

Based on the NCCA guidelines Gerry Alanguilan is right in showing that CJC is not qualified by being just a comic writer—somebody who writes the script since in that guidelines, it's clear that a comics/graphic novel writer is still not considered an artist. But this definition got my attention like I was stung by a wasp. This narrow definition of an “artist” will also categorize Mars Ravelo and Budjette Tan not artists but just "komiks writers." I cannot imagine Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, or somebody in the comic industry close to these writer’s status not as artists. It’s ridiculous! Just as I thought that the world of art can be divided into two major categories; the visual and the written form, the guideline isolates the comics writer like a mere tabloid writer nowhere to be found in the art world. If they can see "comic book writers" as "writers" then the NCCA should put graphic novels under the Literature category instead. But alas, comics is still not accepted as an art form here in the Philippines. Tell that to a Japanese, French, or American reader and they will surely say that it's absurd.

An artist must be defined first before giving somebody an award, and I believe the NCCA should already know this by now. If not, then that explains the current ruckus. They better know the merit of an artist first and how the artist's work influence the public. Does an artist's work inspires the Filipino and uplift his national identity or not? If NCCA cannot answer this, then the award-giving activities are meaningless. As for the governing party, I think it should be the National Artists themselves who must unite together to endorse and vote for that person who deserves the similar stature, who belonged in their group. The President of the Philippines is out of the picture, as well as any politicking and PR mongering. Sad but true, any award giving body is never free from politics—even the Nobel Peace Prize is tainted by politics throughout its rich and colorful history. Since it cant be prevented, they should do it with a limit at least.

 Our government must provide a proper action for these issues to finally settle the stalemate. There's a need to define the guidelines of NCCA and clarify the grey areas. It's been two years! Nakakalungkot isipin na maging national artist ang isa samantalang meron namang iba dyan na mas hinahangaan at nirerespeto pero sa hindi lang sila nakikigulo sa pamumulitika, hindi na sila naging priority. Francisco Coching is still not a National Artist, but his works were already printed and honored in our postage stamps! Does it mean that the Philippine Postal Corporation knows better than the NCCA? Only in the Philippines!

 But no matter what happens after this, you artists and writers must continue to develop your craft. With or without this s#itty awards, genuine readers know how bad or good your work is.

TWO of my FAVORITE
COMIC BOOK WRITERS

(This post is originally based on my comment to Gerry's post in his Komikero site.)

Better Late Than Never

A week a go, I voted for the best Web Comic for this year's Komikon Reader's Choice Awards. With a remorse, I already gave my nod to other web comic. But recently after viewing this one by Gerry Alanguilan and Arnold Arre I think they deserved to win it too. The art is good, and the story is just WOW! In less than 10 minutes I was caught off-guard, and left dreaming about Her.

BAD GUYS PULVERIZED INTO ATOMS

...AND DARNA EMERGES!

Images ©Arnold Arre and Gerry Alanguilan
Read the Web Comic here.

Genre: Web Comic, Fan Fiction 
Rating: 4 pulverized street bastards

Between Limbo and Libido

There is a place for everyone of us.

Even for the departed Porn Stars.

In this graphic fiction released last year by the creative tandem of Gerry Alanguilan and Arlan Esmeña (both from San Pablo City), the spirits of the departed Bold Stars of the 80's Bomba and ST films frolic in a fantasy land serving as their sanctuary. No matter how tragic, sad, or stupid those beloved stars' lives may have ended, the object of every man's carnal lust/love reside somewhere in a paradise-like realm of the sublime. And they live there as long as they exist in every man's wet dreams.

Feminists may say that this is a clear expression of man's chauvinistic behaviour by treating the woman (or the body of a woman) as an object, but the story itself (the life of a lonely man infatuated by the memory of a beautiful woman) shows that men do not completely lust for women. We just simply love them. It's only that this form of expression for this kind of "love" (given that it's not destructive) is different for every individual. And for the story's protagonist, that expression is less Platonic and highly Utilitarian.

From a classic western definition, they say that there are three kinds of Love-- Eros, Amor, and Agape. In this book, it's obvious that Dan's kind of love for Anna is not Amor nor Agape. Still, it's perfectly human.

Men love watching at the naked female body. We also love porn. But still, we love women more even if sometimes we find ourselves hopeless, being victimized by them. Like a gravitational attraction, we are constantly captured by their irresistible beauty, and forever haunted by their memory.

And because of that, the departed "loved ones" will always be remembered.


Rating: 4 centerfolds out of 5
Genre: Modern Fiction/Fantasy