Gerry Alanguilan's Blog, page 25

Free Pinoy Indies at Free Comic Book Day, Comic Odyssey!

The Philippine Independent komiks community has banded together to create "Indies Maximus", an anthology/sampler comic book to be given away at Free Comic Book Day, May 7, 2011 at Comic Odyssey, Robinson's Galleria! Only 220 copies will be produced so be sure to get there early! Thanks to Sandy Sansolis of Comic Odyssey for helping produce more copies!

Contributors to this comic book include Ernest John Daryll Fiestan, Rommel Estanislao, Rh Quilantang, Johnny Zamar, Paulo Sorne, Ariel Atienza, Norby Ela, Angelo Corleone, Tepai Pascual, Drew Arca, Wall Push, Gerald L Asbucan, Josel Nicolas, Aha Hule Komiks, Andrew Villar, Carlo Jose San Juan, Quipino Dot Tk, Florencio Jusay Jr., Ronald Tan and myself.

Jonas Diego will also be giving away 100 copies of his just released Pocket Comics #1! Pocket Comics is a 48 page FULL COLOR comic book with stories and art by Jonas Diego, Godfrey Escota, Katrina Mae Hao, Laya Isabelle Garcellano-Florendo, and Andre Mischa Cleofe. Oh yeah, this girl named Alodia Gosiengfiao also wrote a short story in here as well.

I'll also be leaving 100 copies of Elmer #4 to Comic Odyssey to give away on the day itself. Unfortunately, I can't reserve you a copy. You're just going to have to go to Comic Odyssey on the day itself.

I'll be there, along with a multitude of other artists including Leinil Francis Yu, Philip Tan, Edgar Tadeo, Carlo Pagulayan, Harvey Tolibao, Mico Suayan, Stephen Segovia, Lui Antonio, Ariel Atienza, Gio Parades, Freely Abrigo, Jon Zamar, Lyndon Gregorio, Macoy, Mel Casipit, Omeng Estanislao, Sherry Baet-Zamar, Tepai Pascual and many more!

Please don't hesitate to approach me and have your stuff signed. I'll sign whatever and however many you bring.

Feel free to talk and ask me anything. Sa online lang naman ako masungit. :)

Latest Update: National Artist Debacle

Things are happening with National Artist issue that exploded in the news and in this blog in 2009. I've been quietly keeping tabs on what is going on, constantly scouring the news for any development. You see, I do this because I meant every damned word I said in this blog and this is an issue I will not let go as long as things keep hanging.

Graphic by Edgar Tadeo.

Click on this link to read the entire story right from the beginning. As it stands, the conferment of the National Artist title to seven individuals, including Carlo J. Caparas for Film and Visual Art was stopped by a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court in 2009.

That's how things stood… until recently.

Joe Lad Santos, former komiks Editor, now both the OIC of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Chariman of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF), is making moves to overturn to the Supreme Court's TRO on the conferment of the National Artist title to those seven individuals.

I only found out about this through a letter that was forwarded to me by Komiks illustrator Nestor Malgapo last night. The letter is an open letter to the Philippine President, from National Artist Virgilio S. Almario questioning the move, as well as the qualifications of Mr. Joe Lad Santos.

27 Abril 2011

Kgg. Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III

Pangulo

Malacañang

Republika ng Filipinas

Mahal na Pangulong Aquino:

Kamakailan lamang ako nakakuha ng kopya ng liham ni G. Jose Laderas Santos sa Punong Mahistrado Kgg. Renato C. Corona, may petsang 27 Enero 2011, at humihiling na ilisin ang TRO na ipinataw ng Korte Suprema laban sa pitong National Artist na nais iproklama ng dating Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo noong 2009. Malaki ang aking pasasalamat at hindi sinunod ng Kataas-taasang Hukuman ang hiling ni G. Santos.

Gayunman, isang magandang pagkakataon ito upang kondenahin ang patuloy na pamumunò ni G. Santos bilang Punong Komisyoner ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) at bilang Acting Chair ng Board of Commissioners, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), mga titulong ginamit niya sa kaniyang liham upang marahil ay "magulat" ang Punong Mahistrado sa kaniyang kalipikasyon. Kailangan ninyong malaman, Mahal na Pangulo, na ginawa ito ni G. Santos nang hindi sinasangguni ang mga board ng KWF at NCCA at isang malinaw na pagsasamantala at abuso sa kaniyang mga opisyal na tungkulin. Malinaw din sa kaniyang kilos ang pagsunod sa kapritso ng kaniyang mga dating patron na sina Gng. Cecile Guidote Alvarez at G. Carlo Caparas, na pinagkakautangan niya ng kaniyang appointment bilang Punong Komisyoner ng KWF sa isang bandá at makikinabang bilang mga DNA (Dagdag National Artist) kapag inalis ang TRO sa kabilang bandá.

Sa kaniyang liham, tahasang sinasalungat ni G. Santos ang paninindigang moral para sa "daang matuwid" ng mga National Artist at mga manunulat at alagad ng sining sa buong bansa na nagrali at humiling sa Korte Suprema noong 2009 para pigilin ang "nilutong" proklamasyon ni dating pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Sa kaniyang liham din ay nakatanghal ang karumal-dumal na katauhan ni G. Santos at isang katwiran upang patalsikin siya sa NCCA at KWF. Hindi siya karapat-dapat mamunò sa kahit aling ahensiya ng bayan. Hindi siya karapat-dapat pagtiwalaan ng mga alagad ng wika at alagad ng kultura ng Filipinas.

Ang kaniyang liham, sa kabilâng dako, ay isa ring magandang pakakataon upang ibaling ninyo ang pansin hinggil sa ganitong problema sa sektor ng kultura sa ating bansa. Bukod sa paglilinis sa mga ahensiyang pangkultura na sinaksakan ng mga kampon ni Gng. Arroyo, tulad ni G. Santos, kailangan ang inyong malinaw na patnubay sa dapat maging papel ng mga naturang ahensiya sa inyong programang pambansa. Sa kaso halimbawa ng mga bagong National Artist, marahil, kailangang atasan na ninyo ang bagong pamunuan ng NCCA at CCP upang repasuhin ang mga kandidato noong 2009 at muling irekomenda sa inyo ang tunay na karapat-dapat maging mga bagong National Artist. Napakainam din po kung bibigyan ninyo ng sapat na panahon ang kulturang pambansa, lalo na dahil ang tinutunggali ninyong korupsiyon ay isang pamanang pangkultura ng nakaraang panahon at malaki ang maitutulong sa inyo ng isang mahusay na kampanyang pangkultura sa pagbuo ng "daang matuwid."

Marami pong salamat sa inyong panahong basahin ito.

Gumagalang at umaasa,

VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO

Pambansang Alagad ng Sining sa Panitikan

I would like to add myself among those who strongly protest this move by the KWF Chairman and NCCA OIC.

Mark Torres Signing at Comic Odyssey + Lunch at Mercato Centrale

Filipino comic book illustrator Mark Torres has quietly been working away at IDW, one of America's biggest independent comic book companies. His latest book is Zombies vs Robots, written by Chris Ryall.

He will be having a signing at Comic Odyssey, Robinson's Galleria Branch this coming Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Comic Odyssey from 1-5pm.

If I may suggest, before going to Comic Odyssey for the signing, why not have lunch at Mercato Centrale? Because you know, MORE comic book artists will be there giving away FREE SKETCHES from 9am to 2pm! Artists include Randy Valiente, Heubert Khan Michael, Ruben Nacion, Komiks Veteran Danny Acuña, and many more!

The Komikero Komiks Podcast

Noticing a lack of audio podcasts on the subject of Philippine Komiks, Johnny Danganan, Jonas Diego and I decided to do what we hope to be are weekly one hour weekly podcasts. Podcasts were difficult for us to do before (we have done several in the past) because we had to meet to do them. Nowadays, all three of us have Skype and we figured we can all do it remotely. Instead of the rambling podcasts we used to do, we hope this one will have a definite structure and programming.

We will feature almost exclusively Philippine made comics since there's hardly any podcasts out there on this subject matter. Sometimes we could probably talk about Marvel and DC stuff that were written, illustrated, or colored by Filipinos, as well.

The podcasts are created solely to promote and talk about Filipino made komiks, and are not meant to offer hard hitting critical analysis of local releases (someone else can probably do that). But we will try to be fair, and offer congratulations or constructive criticism accordingly. To avoid offending anyone, we will simply not talk about komiks we didn't like, and only talk about komiks we did like. But take note that if we don't talk about your comic book, it may be just because we haven't read it yet. Rest assured that if we read it and liked it, we will talk about it.

This will be an all Tagalog podcast.

We begin on May 6, 2011 and every Friday afterwards! Excited! Yeah!

Komiks Dream

Breaking from my usual disaster and catastrophe dreams, I had a particularly lightweight dream last night. I'm only mentioning this because it involved komiks, the first time komiks has ever intruded into my dreams. Komiks and acting. I think it's got to do with the first anniversary of our "Tin-Tin, 15″ Short Film shooting that's got my subconscious thinking about it.

It started with me and Ilyn watching the shooting of this horror film involving a mysterious killer picking off his victims one by one. Komiks collector/historian Dennis Villegas was there, lips red from lipstick. In fact all of them had lipstick. Even me, because now it turns out Ilyn and I were suddenly part of the production. They were investigating something and I was looking on. I told them "Gotta go home and watch Titanic!". I headed out to the door and as I was about to go out I screamed in surprise. The weird little bald killer was there waiting for me and he attacked me.

The director says cut. It turns out he was just testing me out if my little role could work. Now we were going to shoot it for real. But I had to wait and sign some papers first. At first I was disappointed I was gonna die right away. I wanted a bigger role. But thinking more about it I realized that I couldn't commit so much time to it. Seeing that I died right away, my role will be short and I'll just be there for a day. So I eventually said yes.

But for some reason, some production guy told me to come back the following day. At home, a note was waiting for me. I was told there was only room for just me. No role for Ilyn. Immediately I wasn't feeling good about it. They added that they needed a few days to get back to me because they needed to insure me first. They left the script for me to study. I wondered "What script?" All I knew was my dialogue involved some bullshit with the Titanic before getting killed by a weird little bald killer.

Interestingly enough, the "script" came in the form of illustrated komiks. And they were beautifully drawn komiks by an illustrator named "Danny Tolentino". His style had that wonderful classic Pinoy style of drawing, somewhat a cross between Nestor Redondo and Gerry Talaoc. Immediately I wanted to buy the originals, happy that they still created komiks like that today. Strangely, the script didn't have my short role in it. The script featured the introduction of the leading guy who was a cop. Were they planning on giving me this bigger role because that's the only reason for all this hassle. They're not going to make such a fuss for just a short walk on role. I planned on calling them to confirm. If this thing involved me shooting for more than a day, I would decline, then tell them to shove their insurance crap up their asses. After I buy the originals to the artwork of course.

But then I woke up. And now I'm writing this.

I keep thinking about those wonderful pieces of komiks art. I still remember the layout of the pages, the wonderful thick brush lines, the big lettering.

I know for sure that there's a komiks illustrator named "Danny Tolentino", although I don't have any of his stuff at my komiks musuem at the moment. I would like to see if his work actually lives up to the things he drew in my dream.

Stupider

It's both puzzling and frustrating communicating online more and more. I'm getting the impression people just don't read stuff anymore. It's as if they're literally blind to what's written right in front of them.

Over the last day alone, two separate people wrote to me asking a different question each. I answered both questions directly. They both responded with thanks, but proceeded to ask the same questions again. I'm like WTF? Didn't these people READ my response to them? Did they even see or even comprehend the words? The answers to their questions are RIGHT THERE in my response. I know they saw them because they confirmed they got the message.

Complete head scratching moment here.

pfft. Bad day. Don't ask.

The Last Supper by Deo C. Gonzales and Noly Panaligan

To bring the topic back to comics, let me post a short story here written by Deo C. Gonzales, and beautifully illustrated by the great Noly Panaligan (Payaso, Sherlock Holmes), depicting Leonardo Da Vinci's creation of The Last Supper. This story appeared during Holy Week, March 28, 1959, on the pages of Tagalog Klasiks, published by Ace Publications.

Click for larger images.

Noly Panaligan at the Philippine Komiks Art Museum

http://www.alanguilan.com/museum/nolypanaligan.html

Lines are Being Drawn

Ok, this post has nothing to do with comics. I really don't talk about politics or religion in this blog, unless it has something to do with comics. But I would like to make an exception now. If talk of RELIGION puts you off or offends you in any way, please feel free to skip this blog post as I'm not interested in any religious debate. I'm simply putting down what I believe so you guys can have this understanding of who I am.

My wife Ilyn recently wrote an article on her blog about being Catholic with regards to the RH Bill. She does not say whether she is for or against the bill, but she has a lot to say about the Catholic Church's behavior in this whole affair. And you know what? I completely agree with her. It's what I had been thinking about for such a long time and I've been trying to mull over what to say. She went ahead and said everything I wanted to say, and she said it pretty well. If you have time, please go on ahead and visit her blog at the link below.

Ok…I Really Have to Talk About This…

http://paper-basket.blogspot.com/2011/04/ok-i-really-have-to-talk-about-this.html

I think the Catholic Church in the Philippines is finally drawing the line. It's either you're in or you're out. And like Ilyn says, this is not the proper way of reaching out to their flock. It forces us to draw our own lines, and I truly hate it if it comes down to this.

I think the leadership of the Catholic Church in this country has a lot to think about this Holy Week. They need to think of the following words: Understanding. Compassion. LOVE. Their actions of late have been so un-Christian that as a Catholic, I am very disappointed.

Free Comic Book Day 2011

It is just as the title says… FREE COMICS will be given away on Free Comic Book Day, which falls on the first Saturday of every May for the last 10 years! This year it will be on May 7, 2011. This is not simply a local event. This is a coordinated worldwide event happening at most comic book stores around the globe on the same day. Comic Book Publishers such as Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse and many others are publishing specially marked comic books specifically for giving away on this day. This is done to promote comic books, comic book reading and the comic book stores that carry them.

The biggest Free Comic Book Day event in the Philippines is being held by Comic Odyssey, at their Robinson's Galleria Branch in Ortigas/EDSA, Metro Manila. I will be there along with many other artists to sign your comic books. Do you know how HUGE this event is going to be? Check out Comic Odyssey's press release below, and the list of artists participating.

KOMIKERO PUBLISHING will be giving away free copies of ELMER #4!!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 – TENTH ANNIVERSARY

Free Comic Book Day is SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2011 at our ROBINSONS GALLERIA branch. This year is the 10th Anniversary of Free Comic Book Day and we promise…this will be the biggest one yet!

Aside from the yearly FCBD sponsored comics, we will also be giving away thousands and thousands of comics from our own backstock going back 15-20 years.

We will also be holding our annual FCBD sale…OUR BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR!

Save up to 50% OFF all graphic novels, hardcovers, action figures, manga, and more…PLUS all back issues in our bins will be only P50 each!!!

Our confirmed guest artists for this year(so far) are:

CARLO PAGULAYAN – Agents of Atlas, Hulk, Emma Frost, Elektra

ED TADEO – Sigil, X-men, Wolverine, Iron Man

GERRY ALANGUILAN – Elmer, Ultimate Avengers, Wolverine, X-Force

HARVEY TOLIBAO – Psylocke, Silver Surfer, Heroes for Hire

JAY ANACLETO – Marvels Eye of the Camera, Aria, Spawn, Thor

LEINIL YU – Secret Invasion, Ultimate Avengers, X-men, Wolverine, Superman

LUI ANTONIO – Terminator, Savage Tales, Warlord of Mars

MICO SUAYAN – Moon Knight, X-men, Thor, Werewolf By Night

PHILIP TAN – Green Lantern, Outsiders, Spawn, X-men

STEPHEN SEGOVIA – Silver Surfer, Ultimate Avengers, Wolverine

Local Guest Artists

ARIEL ATIENZA – Class, West Side

GIO PAREDES – Kalayaan

FREELY ABRIGO – Kapitan Tog, Kulas

IAN OLYMPIA – Ambition

JON ZAMAR – Digmaang Salinlahi

JOSEL NICOLAS – Windmills: Breakdowns

LYNDON GREGORIO – Beerkada

MACOY – Taal Monster vs Evil Space Paru-paro

MEL CASIPIT – Baboy 1 & 2

NORBY ELA – Gutom

RH QUILANTANG – Goodbye Rubbit

ROMMEL ESTANISLAO – Lipad

SHERRY BAET ZAMAR – Carpool

TEPAI PASCUAL – Maktan 1521

FCBD starts at 10:30 am, artist signing is from 1-4pm.

RAFFLE PRIZES GIVEN OUT THROUGHOUT THE DAY!

FCBD 2011…DON'T YOU DARE MISS IT!!!

For images of the Gold and Silver FCBD sponsored comics for this year, please click on the link below.

Visit http://freecomicbookday.com/comics.asp for more information.

If there are any other stores participating in FCBD 2011 in the Philippines, please let me know in the comments section below and I'll add them here. Thanks!

*************************

Free Comic Book Day is also the first day of the two-day Metro Comic-Con, one of the biggest Philippine comics conventions, happening at the Megatrade Hall of Megamall, just beside Robinson's Galleria. They have a special guest coming in specially for the con, none other than V For Vendetta co-Creator DAVID LLOYD!

Click for Larger Image

I'll be posting more about MCC 2011 as well as FCBD 2011 as the events draw near.

The Third Summer Komikon, April 16, 2011

It's a couple of days late (I had to finish off killing, I mean inking a Superhero), but here it is, my photo blitzkreig of the 3rd Summer Komikon held at the Bayanihan Center in Pasig, Metro Manila, last April 16, 2011. Unfortunately, I didn't get to shoot the video as I was planning, but I did take a lot of photos.

Ariel Atienza

Andrew Villar

The Komikero Artists Group

Robert Magnuson (center) and the Polyhedron Comics Gang

Danny Acuña

Johnny Danganan and Jonas Diego with some awesome Jun Lofamia art.

Jun Lofamia, Rico Rival, and Danny Acuña

Budjette Tan

Paolo Fabregas (who launched The Filipino Heroes League) and Carlo Vergara

Women Cartoonists Panel

Tony and Tina De Zuniga

Johnny Danganan, Heubert Khan Michael and Harvey Tolibao

These artists were at the Komikero table sketching for a cause. Donations go to help fund school supplies for school children in Mindanao. More than 5,000 Pesos was raised! That's awesome guys! Later, Edgar Tadeo came in and donated two original artworks inked by him and pencilled by Whilce Portacio, raising another 6,000 pesos!

Gilbert and Glenda Monsanto. The foundation upon which Bayan Knights stand!

Melvin Calingo, Michael David and Jon Zamar

See? We're all friends here.

With Carlo Vergara and Zara Macandili

More Summer Komikon coverage:

Jonas Diego

Rocket Kapre

Johnny Danganan

Hazel Manzano

Beerkada

Reimaru

Slangards

Budjette Tan

Gio Paredes

Impulse Blogging

Daily Mr. Sao