Gerry Alanguilan's Blog, page 8

Some of my Influences

One of my biggest influences was Alfredo Alcala, after being blown away upon seeing a 2 page spread from Voltar for the very first time. Almost immediately I latched on to the “insane detail” technique which I’ve now used all my life. That spread appeared in a world encyclopedia of comics at my high school library. The spread, as presented in the book, was a mere 5 or 6 inches across, it was quite small, but it’s a drawing that would largely influence me from then on.

Later on, I discovered Bernie Wrightson‘s Frankenstein and once again, it just blew my mind. Like Voltar, it used that “insane detail” technique and it pretty much cemented how much I loved it. Sure, a lot of this detail is completely unnecessary, as far simpler illustrations could convey the same mood, but I didn’t care. I wanted my lines. I wanted my millions of lines and that was it.

Much later, I would discover Franklin Booth, who as it turns out, influenced both Alfredo Alcala and Bernie Wrightson in that “insane detail” style. In fact, Franklin Booth is the all mighty godfather of the insane detail style. This is perhaps where it all comes down to. Sure one can argue that Booth my have been in turn influenced by the likes of Albrecht Durer, but it is Booth who seems to have perfected the quintessential insane detail style.

Later on, other artists of a similar vein have all contributed to that insane detail pool in my head: Geoff Darrow, Mike Kaluta, Charles Vess and Barry Windsor Smith. These artists… I love them all.

Where/How to Buy Indie Komiks Online

The previous blog entry “The Evolution of the Philippine Indie Comic Book” has elicited a comment from a reader asking where they can buy these comic books online. That’s an absolutely fair question. One common feedback that creators mostly get is that their work isn’t easily accessible. How does one from Davao or Palawan, or Aparri get a copy of Jon Zamar’s “Digmaang Salinlahi” for instance, or Tepai Pascual’s “Maktan”?

Bear in mind that these creators are self publishers. These means they are most likely working out of their own homes. They have no employees, no drivers, no marketing managers, no circulation managers, no nationwide distribution network, much less the millions of pesos needed to make that all possible. They just have their comics which they sell themselves at comic book stores or at conventions.

If you cannot wait for a comics convention to happen in your area, or no comics conventions are planned at all in your area, what are you going to do, short of going to Manila yourself?

That’s easy. You just need to get in touch with the authors directly. All you need is Facebook. That’s right. If you don’t have any Facebook account for whatever reason, do try to get one. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. Just use it to contact these creators. Pretty much ALL of these creators are on Facebook and are easy to get in touch with. And once you get in touch with them, I’m sure they will be very happy to sell their comic books to you directly. Not only will you get to interact with the creators directly, I’m sure they’ll be very happy to sign your copy as well. It’s a win win!

And once you are on Facebook, try to join these groups/pages:

http://www.facebook.com/100AnK

https://www.facebook.com/groups/filipinokomiksreaders/

http://www.facebook.com/komikon.org

That way, you will become aware of the various titles that are available for purchase.

And a tip to all comics pros on Facebook: make it a habit to look at your “Other” Inbox on Facebook. That’s where messages from people who are not on your friends’ list go when they try to get in touch with you.

The Evolution of the Philippine Indie Comic Book

Photo by Gio Paredes

What began as a small movement of self published comics in 1993 has now grown into something people least expected: an ongoing thriving industry that has produced hundreds upon hundreds of individual titles. But make no mistake, while this industry is very small compared to what our old industry was like decades before, an industry that produced millions of komiks in a single month, this new industry has achieved all this without the benefit of big publishers, at least for the most part. Majority of titles produced remain self published by artists, or groups of artists.

A lot of these self published creators started by either having comics printed with their own money (or their parents’ money), or if they didn’t have that kind of capital, they photocopied their comics, stapled the paper together and produced comic books. The photocopied format is still by far the favorite way to produce comics by a lot of indie creators. It is inexpensive, and its easy to produce.

I myself began “WASTED” by photocopying one issue at a time, until all eight issues were finished. Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s “Trese” also began as a photocopied comic book, as did comics like Joanah Tinio-Calingo’s “Cresci Prophecies”, Jon Zamar’s “Digmaang Salinlahi” and Aaron Felizmenio’s “Gwapoman”.

Over the years I’ve noticed a definite evolution of the format. Wasted was compiled into one book by Alamat Comics in 1998, and in recent years, collected editions of previously photocopied comics began to emerge including Tepai Pascual’s “Maktan” and Gio Paredes’ “Kalayaan”. Other creators really pushed the format like what Joanah did with “Cresci Prophecies”, collecting multiple issues in one book, albeit still photocopied, but hard bound. Jon Zamar collected multiple issues and printed, through a printing press, a monster-thick Digmaang Salinlahi book, complete with colored covers. Take note that all this is still self published. I’ve spoken with a few creators to ask about their thoughts on the evolution of the format, including Budjette Tan, who found success with a book publisher for Trese as another avenue through which the local indie has evolved.

Joanah Tinio-Calingo

Can you tell me something about yourself as a comics creator, the comics you have done and the comics you’re currently doing?

I had a general interest in the visual arts when I was I kid, especially animation (I wanted to work at Disney). I grew up watching cartoons, but it never became a habit to buy comic books, except comic books about the cartoons I watch (Garfield, Ghost Busters). There were a few exeptions like Ikabod and Pugad Baboy.

Around third year highschool, I enjoyed writing stories and wrote my first novel (if it can be called a novel). Also around that time, I got introduced to Sailormoon. I’m the type of person who geeks out on her favorite shows, so I collected everything that has to do with the show. One time, I saw anime/manga shop near my school and came across the Sailormoon comic (in Mandarin). It was the first time I saw a full blown comic book that’s in black and white. My general fascination for comics started there, since the comic was totally different from what I was watching at the time (I never saw any character committing suicide in comics before…or stabbing her own lover). It was in black and white, and it still shocked me.

I also got exposed to the comic industry in Japan after reading an article, in a business magazine, about how different genres of Manga tapped different readers (based on what titles were famous at the time).

When I was in college, I took up Visual Communications in UP Fine Arts. There I met people who have the same interest in Manga. That’s when my friends decided to make our own photocopied comic anthology (Philippine Mangga), and each of us were assigned a specific genre. I took Fantasy (my favorite), and from there, I created Cresci Prophecies. But the project didn’t push through, since we were busy studying.

CP was the first comic I ever did. I treated it as a hobby, since I had little confidence to sell it. But I made my friends read it, so I continued making the drafts, and developed the story over the course of 4 years. Around 1998, I met the members of Point Zero (including Melvin Calingo and Michael David) in an animation class. From there, I joined their group (who was already releasing their photocopied comics since 1996), and mustered up the courage to release CP #1, and sell it during our college week. From the same animation class, I made a chapter of CP into an animated short.

After I graduated, I was offered a comic strip making job in Manila Times. The strip was called D-koi Junkie. It’s about a highschool girl who posed as a crime-fighting heroine (heavilly inspired by Sailormoon), and who also mistook someone else’s powers as hers. The comic strip ran for just 2 months because of budget cuts, and they had to remove all comic strips from the publication.

I also took other comic commisions, including a rice planting manual under a government agency.

Sometime 2000-2001, I met the store owners of Anima-Anime, and they offered me to sell Cresci Prophecies (and D-koi) at their store. My serious comic making days started from there. I gained a small following, and it definitely pushed me to make more comics. I also joined a comic making competition in Ateneo, where I won third.

I got more exposure when C3Con (Culture Crash Comic’s first big event) opened its doors to independent comics sellers for free. There I sold CP (I had 9 issues at the time), and the compiled version of D-koi Junkie strips.

In the following years, I came up with more stories, and some were released as comics. Curtains for Hire #1 was released in 2005, during the first Komikon. I also did several issues of Empress 9 for the Point Zero’s Anthology, Komiks ATBP. And I continued making comics since then. I even taught kids the art of making comics, when I was hired for a series of workhops.

My influences range from independent films and animated shorts, independent komiks (namely Mythology Class and Angel Ace), Art Nouveau and Sandman (and Neil Gaiman’s storytelling and themes), and reading novels (classics, and Sydney Sheldon books). I really had no formal training in making comics or writing for comics, but I learned quite a few tips from Point Zero members, and retained a few graphic design and marketing principles (which I learned in college). I did read books about making comics, and theories behind it when I got a little more serious.

I went through the process of being rejected by photocopy shops, and finding ways to get around their reasons for rejecting my pages (mainly, “it’s too black, or too dark to photocopy”). It led me to developing a shading technique with crayons, which allowed me to photocopy my work. That technique, is now the staple look of CP. I eventually became comfortable with a comic making process that allowed me to regularly release my comics. I learned use acetate sheets for sfx, stick dialogues to original art in the early issues of CP, and use correction fluids to do comic effects, and learned to make my own compilations.

I’m still working on Cresci Prophecies (my main comic project). I’m also co-writing Kanto Inc., with my husband, Melvin Calingo. I still plan to continue Curtains for Hire, along side Kanto Inc.

Cresci Prophecies started out as a photocopied/stapled style comic book. What made you decide to make a hardbound collections of them with colored covers? How has the response been towards those collections?

It took me 12 issues to decide that it’s time to make compilations of Cresci Prophecies. During conventions, I made at least 15 copies of each issue. Imagine how heavy it was for me to carry a big bag of comics, and carry it going up stairs (since the elevators and escalators aren’t moving before store hours, and set-up time is early). I even asked my Mom’s help to carry some of it. It was just exhausting, so I decided to make compilations of the first 8 issues.

Of course, it was also my dream to have CP in book form. I browse volumes of my manga references everyday, and I hoped one day that I could make enough issues to make a thick compilation. Manga voulmes have at least 170 pages each, so I wanted to give the same reading experience to my readers.

Since I was in a University that has a mini-mall, that have shops that can compile thesis books and photocopied pages, I knew it was possible to make my own compiled book.

At first, I wanted to go “manga”, and use soft binding, and then wrap the colored cover around. But Melvin advised against soft- binding since “student-grade” bindings weren’t as good as perfect binding by big publishing houses. The price difference between soft-bound and hard-bound books also wasn’t that big, so I decided to use hard-bound.

At the time, binding shops didn’t include wrapping a printed cover as one of their services, in place of the leatherette one. So I patterned my book after my art books at home, where hard-bound books have a dust-jacket. My comic pages are already in black in white, it would be nice if I could have a colored cover. So I did.

The response was really good. Their first impression (or what my comic friends told me) was that the book looked like it can be sold in bookstores, based on the shiny cover. They really liked it.

At first I thought my current readers wouldn’t buy the compilation, since they already have the singles (and the book is pretty expensive). But they still bought it. It was such a relief for me. It took me several months to work on the book format, and it paid off. Some readers actually like the idea of reading a continous story (yung hindi bitin masyado). So it was a cue for me to continue releasing the comic in volumes. They also like the bonus stuff that comes with the book.

There was also one time that one of my readers used the book to escape a potential hold-up. He used the book to whack the guy in the face, and escaped. His copy has a dent now, but I was was glad my book helped him escape. And it wouldn’t be as effective if it wasn’t hard. :P

Jon Zamar

Can you tell me something about yourself as a comics creator, the comics that you have done, and the comics you’re currently working on?

I mainly work on comic post-production, mostly letters, I also do a bit of coloring and/or tones, sometimes a bit of inking, and sometimes I write and when the opportunity comes or I can’t find anyone else, I try to draw too. I started to self publish (photocopying) my work around the time Culture Crash Comics announced that they were holding an Independent Comics contest for their 1st Convention. I joined that contest with what would become Digmaang Salinlahi as my entry and was fortunate enough to land at 3rd place, good enough to be offered a staff position at their bullpen. I spent 2 years at Culture Crash as a Graphic Designer for their magazine part and doing whatever the other creators need to be done on their comic book titles (mostly flats, or color-work).

Around the time that publication closed down I was lucky enough to be offered to oversee production work for Seven Seas Entertainment, an LA based publisher which hired Filipino illustrators to draw their Manga titles. Several titles I’ve worked on were Ravenskull, Mr. Greaves, and Hollow Fields, titles which all won an award at Japan’s first International Manga Award for their creators. Around this time I also did work for Level Up’s Ragnarok-Online strips with Mark Navarro, Wenz Chua and then Jhomar Soriano which was published every Sunday in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. One of the last titles I’ve worked on before I left was a Speed Racer title done around the time that movie came out.

This was also the time a lot of pop culture conventions were popping out of the woodwork and I was part of an art group that joined a lot of them. I produced a bunch of issues for a comic book anthology with friends entitled Komiks, ATBP which featured shorts and previews. Around this time also I was fortunate to be part of the founding of Komikon, which aimed to put a spotlight on local comics instead of the usual all mixed in kind of event. Fresh: A Sequential Portfolio was the first offset printed book I produced, it was an anthology with contributions from artists that were part of then defunct groups and new friends I met while working for Seven Seas. It was a kind of graduation from the photocopied anthology Komiks Atbp and from then on I would be releasing my other books no longer in photocopied format. Other works I did around that time was do graphic design work for Blitzworx.

In 2008 I joined a local art studio, Digital Art Chefs Creative Media Studios which also offered comic book production services. Titles that I’ve worked on for them were an Indian comicbook adapting the Chakravyuha, FHM’s The Adventure of Erek Shawn, strips for K-Zone, a Coke Manga project and Erik Matti’s Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles comic adaptation. I also did a bunch of comic book related work for other publishers like Groundbreakers with Mangaholix and Sacred Mountain with Bayan Knights.

Right now I’m freelancing and aside from Digmaang Salinlahi, I’m also working on Codename: Bathala. It’s a superhero themed comic book about a differently abled man who came into possession of a technomystical armor that grant him power. Also my new studiomates and I are doing another anthology sort of thing which we will hopefully release in November, it’s entitle Next Issue and it’s formatted to follow the old Saturday morning cartoons genre lineup. I also do most of Komikon’s creatives and publications including our first comic book anthology Sulyap.

I have a copy of your Digmaang Salinlahi collected book and it’s impressive. It is probably the thickest indie I’ve seen so far. How many pages is it? What has led to your decision to collect your comic book in this format? How has the reaction been so far?

The compilation is 388 pages with a lot of pinups and character sheets. As on why I decided to collect everything; I came into a realization that I’ve been doing that title for 10 or maybe more years and I wanted to do something to commemorate that. So far those who faithfully followed my project have no violent reactions to it so I’m glad for that. And thank you for buying a copy.

I noticed you had one hardbound collection made for yourself, which is even more impressive. Do you have any thoughts of making your work available commercially in that format?

I tried it out at a whim and was kicking myself for not using that format in the first place. I’m actually torn, if I was to release the DS compilation in that format it might not be fair to you guys who bought the first editions. It’s still gnawing at me, will find out when the next event rolls in.

Aaron Felizmenio

Can you tell us something about yourself as a comic book creator? What comics have you made and are working on?

I’m Aaron Felizmenio. I started doing independent comicbooks back when I was in college in 2008 with my classmates and I’ve been lovestruck with creating ever since. The first one we did was an anthology titled Obvious Productions Presents: Komiks! It has the first appearance of Gwapoman 2000 which has been recently collected into paperback form.

I’m currently working on the second book of Gwapoman 2000 titled Hari ng BasagTrip and Manila Acounts: 1081 – Good Criminals Wear White with Wan Mañanita, RH Quilantang and Alyssa Mortega.

I’m also doing The Minkowski Space Opera but it is currently on hold for research reasons. It is part of Neverheard Webcomics under Frances Luna III Illustration Firm.

Can you tell us something about the Frances Luna III Illustration Firm? What is it, and what are your objectives/goals?



FL3, as we call it, is a non-profit group of local comic book creators dedicated to publish comicbooks alternatively with the best quality and professional looking output while having fun. The group is working towards making their comic books stand-out and be accepted as they strive to make it worthy to be put on shelves. Creators included are: Paul Michael Ignacio, Kai Castillo, RH Quilantang, Alyssa Mortega, Audrey Gonzalez, Mel Casipit, Wan Mañanita, Tepai Pascual and Paolo Herras.

Your group’s comic book, including your own Gwapoman were released in book format, a step up from the common indie style of photocopy and staples. What was the thinking behind the the decision to come up with book collections of your works?

I think it’s a common dream of most indie creators to have all their works collected into a book but we know, right now, that it’s impossible for us to have our works be published by big publishers so we thought why not do it ourselves? Besides, most people who buy our comicbooks don’t want to wait for the next event/convention for the next chapter of our stories to be released. And we understand that. We collect indies too and we feel the pain of waiting. The production cost is actually cheaper compared to the singles! We have Tepai to thank for it because without her, we wouldn’t know it’s possible.

What has been the reaction to the books so far?

It’s great! The reactions are great! We’ve heard a lot of positive response, look-of-the-book-wise! They tell us that they’re putting the books in their shelves at home along with other top notch books. We feel really grateful and honored! The only recurring problem that they say is that the books are still expensive for their budget. For now, we can’t do anything about it but we’re still trying to look for ways to cheapen the production so they can get the books in a cheaper price too.

Budjette Tan

You, of course, really need no introduction, but still, can you tell us a little something about yourself? What comics have you worked on and what are you working on now?

Hi! I’m Budjette Tan and when I was eight years old my most popular work was COSMIC MAN. It was read by a grand total of three people: my mom, my dad, and my brother. They all gave it two thumbs up.

My first published / self-published work was THE FLYING PHANTOM, which came out in the anthology COMICS 101 in 1994. Through that comic book, I got to meet you (thanks for agreeing to include WASTED in that anthology) and the rest of the guys who would eventually become the founding members of ALAMAT COMICS.

After that, wrote the comic book BATCH 72, which was illustrated by Arnold Arre. (A little trivia about that book: the very first issue was actually inked by Ian Sta. Maria and his block mates from U.P. F.A. The three-issue mini-series was lettered by Kajo Baldisimo.)

That was my last attempt at writing comics, because my work at the ad agency just took up most of my time.

In 2005, I got that fateful text from Kajo, inviting me to make a monthly comic book with him. Even though I thought it was crazy and impossible plan, I dug up an old character, dusted him off, made him into a woman, and we gave birth of Alexandra Trese.

You previously released other comics as standard format offset printed comic books like “Comics 101″. What made you decide to do TRESE first as a photocopied and stapled comic book? How successful was it in that format?

Aside from COMICS 101, I released BATCH 72 in offset/printed format and it was just cost me to much. Had to use up my savings and even borrowed from my very generous and supportive uncles. Offset printing meant you’d get a minimum of 1000 copies, which I tried to distribute all by myself to other comic book stores in the city. That was time consuming as well.

When me and Kajo started TRESE, it was really just for fun. We just to do something for ourselves, something that wasn’t “advertising work”. So, we’d only photocopy 20 or 30 copies. We were lucky enough to find a branch of Copylandia was that was willing to photocopy, collate, and staple the comics. So, we’d only distribute it in one branch of Comic Quest, in Megamall. And sometimes, if I ever go to Quezon City, I’d deliver copies to their SM City branch. Afterwards, when Comic Odyssey opened in Robinsons Galleria, I’d sell copies there and also sold copies in Druid’s Keep.

It was interesting when I’d visit Comic Quest, Megamall and find out that we’d sold out the 20 copies. So, I’d photocopy more copies and would be happy to find out the following week that we sold out again.

What led to you deciding to team up with Visprint to produce printed collections of TRESE in the graphic novel format? Is it easier/better to have a publisher rather than self publishing it?

I learned about Visprint through Carlo Vergara, since they published his ZSAZSA ZATURNNAH graphic novel. It amazed me that there was a local publisher was willing to publish graphic novels!

Visprint also published David Hontiveros’ PENUMBRA series of novellas, which showed me that they were open to publishing horror and dark fantasy stories.

So, I pitched TRESE to them and they accepted it!

The biggest advantage of having a publisher is that you don’t need to shell out any money for the printing and distribution. They take care of all of that and we get royalties from the sales.

They also organize the events that help promote your books.

Do you see yourself pushing it further into colored printed comics?

Of course that’s the big dream, right? To have your comic book published in full color! Not sure if that full-color book is going to be TRESE. Kajo has really envisioned Trese’s world to be in black-and-white. Maybe if we find the right colorist, Kajo will agree to a full-color Trese graphic novel!

Man of Steel Broke My Heart

“Keep an open mind.” That’s the thing I kept repeating to myself for days leading up to the day I watched Man of Steel. I carefully avoided all the spoilers, and from whatever comments made by other people, I tried not to let it affect my own judgment.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

There was a lot to be excited about in this movie. I loved Batman Begins. I liked 300 and Watchmen. So to bring Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder together for one movie, a SUPERMAN movie no less, nearly drove me out of my mind. I was slightly put off by the trailers that showed a darker costume and the absence of the trademark red briefs. I wasn’t sure I liked the hint of where this movie was going. In my mind you could change costumes of any other hero. Change Batman’s costume, no problem. Change Wolverine and the X-men’s costumes, no problem. Change the Avengers’ costumes, no problem. But Superman was a completely different thing. He was more than just a “superhero”. He was an icon, a flag, a symbol. You don’t go around changing flags just to be “cooler”. You don’t change the color of the flag to make it more “realistic”.

But I was ready to forgive that if I felt the story was good. I was ready to forgive a lot of things.

So I watched the movie and I enjoyed a large part of it. The Krypton scenes were amazing. Russell Crowe as Jor-El was an inspired casting choice. He was terrific in the role. I really liked this Lois Lane. (I didn’t like the one from Superman Returns). I had no problem with Lawrence Fishburne as Perry, although he had painfully little to do. Jimmy Olsen was Jenny Olsen? Also no problem. And wow, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent? How time flies! I used to have such a big crush on Diane Lane when she was at Lonesome Dove. The whole thing about Clark roaming the world trying to find himself was very interesting. I liked it. I also really liked the fact that this was no stupid Lois Lane and that she was able to figure out just who Clark was early on.

When fights started I started to get a little disturbed. They were spectacular fights of course. Amazingly spectacular fights. I’m sure the filmmakers thought that us fanboys would go insane, specially those who complained that Superman didn’t punch anything in Superman Returns. I’m sure these punch freaks enjoyed a spectacularly orgasmic time as Superman punched things left and right.

When things started to blow up in Metropolis, the destruction was just punched into turbo. It was spectacle after spectacle of buildings falling all over themselves. The filmmakers probably thought it would be so cool. The problem I have with it is, recent history has taught us that when buildings fall down, there would be usually people in them. People that DIE. I know this is just a film, but nevertheless, it’s impossible not to think just how many people got trapped and crushed inside those buildings.

Remember Superman II? 2013 fans may look at that film and perhaps snicker at the cheesy effects of Superman and Zod fighting. But what that movie had that this movie didn’t is a genuine concern on Superman’s part as to the danger that the regular human beings were being exposed to. Christopher Reeve as Superman implored Zod about the danger their fight is putting the people. This Superman had nothing like that. He had no thought to bring the fight somewhere else, somewhere less populated where there would be minimal danger to people. No, he stayed to fight Zod in the city, and by the end of the movie, there’s a big flat crater surrounded by blocks and blocks of destroyed and pulverized buildings. How many died? Millions perhaps.

One can argue that Superman made the choice to saved the world and that the “few” who died achieving that would be acceptable.

See? Superman as I know him would never have played the numbers game. He would always choose to save everybody. That’s why he’s Superman. He does not make decisions like us. He makes the incredibly difficult decision to always do the right thing. He would have found another way.

That scene towards the end, it was the one that really broke my heart. I felt betrayed, and I felt genuinely hurt. I wanted to leave the cinema right then and there. To me, it was over. They brought Superman down to the gutter. They made him human. They made him make flawed decisions like us. They made him take the easy way out. Superman, the one I grew up loving and respecting, would never kill another being. He just would never. It doesn’t matter if it was on film or in the comics. He just would never do that. That’s the humans’ way. That’s our way. That’s what we do because our limited, flawed and morally damaged selves would always make us choose the easy, more convenient way out.

Superman is supposed to be so much more than that. He was someone who can show us a better way, someone who can show us how to be better human beings. This Superman betrayed all that and it felt like I was stabbed in the heart.

I walked away from the cinema angry, sad, and just deeply disappointed.

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

I wrote my blog entry before I read Mark Waid’s commentary. It’s so weird we feel the same way about a few things.

Tenny Henson, 1931-2013

Browsing Facebook today, I found an obituary marking the passing of one of the great pioneering Filipino komiks illustrators, Tenny (Teny) Henson. The obituary states he died on April 15, 2013 at the age of 82. I feel extraordinarily sad at his passing. I am a huge fan of his work, and I’ve been looking for such a long time to get in touch.

Courtesy of Pert Badillo

I really loved the clean style that Teny employed in his drawings. They looked fine as they were, but something about them screamed to be in color, and I was only too happy to oblige. The panel above comes from “Takaw Ligaw” from Aliwan Komiks, 1964, which I colored digitally.

Below is from “Kahapon at Ngayon sa Antipolo” from Pilipino Komiks, 1957. I scanned the page at a very high resolution, digitally cleaned the image and colored it.

Although Tenny was a popular artist in the Philippines in his own right, he found even more fame drawing for DC and Western Publishing in the late 70′s. Tenny worked on things like Batman, Superman, Plastic Man, and a host of short horror/mystery stories for DC.

In his later years, Tenny worked in animation as a storyboard artist and designer for companies like Filmation, Hannah-Barbera, Warner Brothers, etc.

Here is a gallery of Tenny Henson artwork at my online museum:

TENY HENSON, Filipino Komiks Artist

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

I counted Teny as one of the 8 Forgotten Filipino Komiks Illustrators for 8list:

http://8list.ph/site/articles/8-forgotten-filipino-komiks-masters-15

Arman T. Francisco on Teny Henson

http://arman-komixpage.blogspot.com/2008/12/teny-hensons-cartoons-character.html

Komiks Artist Vergil Espinosa Needs Your Help

Bayan Knights artist Vergil Espinosa was recently hospitalized for kidney failure, which requires expensive dialysis treatment. Vergil’s cousin Etey Buendia is holding a fundraising called “Superhero Run for daVerge” (daVerge is Vergil’s DeviantArt handle) to raise awareness and funds.

From Etey’s Facebook post:

Dear family and friends, please support me in my “Superhero Run for daVerge”…”daVerge” Vergil Espinosa is my cousin and is my Superheroe. He is a comic book artist and is part of a group from different parts of the country (and some based overseas) who does collaboration work to revitalize the local Comics industry. They created Bayan Knights, a fictional superhero team from the Philippines. He is diagnosed w/ Kidney Failure due to arthritis in the knees & elbows and is undergoing dialysis 4 times a day. I am doing a fundraising project for my cousin, daVerge. Per Kilometer logged = $0.25 or P5 (donation)…i’ll post more details on how to send your donations. To see daVerge’s artworks kindly click on the link: http://daverge.deviantart.com/

If anyone wishes to donate to Vergil directly, they can do so by depositing to his account here: BPI Savings acct. name “Vergil Aaron Espinosa” acct.no. 3249007306

Donations can go a long way specially during this difficult period. Kidney failure, however, is a long term thing. When kidneys go bad, it’s permanent. Unlike other organs, it doesn’t regenerate. It’s either you have dialysis for the rest of your life or you have a kidney transplant. Both of which will be very expensive, and donations can only do so much.

If I can give any advice to Vergil and his family is they file for Philhealth, if they haven’t already. If they already have it, then it’s great. Philhealth will pay for half of Vergil’s dialysis treatments in one year, which is kind of a big deal. It will also take care of a sizable chunk of the costs if ever he should want a transplant.

Best of luck, Vergil. You’re a young dude, you can take this no problem. I hope to see you around at the next comics events!

Pol Medina Jr. resigns from the Philippine Daily Inquirer

It is truly the end of an era. After 25 long years at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pugad Baboy and Pol Medina Jr. move out. It is almost overwhelming to comprehend the significance of this culturally and historically. Pugad Baboy, hand in hand with the PDI, brought a unique and often hilarious point of view of current Philippine events. Pugad Baboy did it for so long that it has become a memorable part of our daily lives. People bought PDI just to read Pugad Baboy, and while Pugad Baboy was there, it was always a paper that I personally looked forward to.

That Pugad Baboy was brought down by controversy was puzzling, considering it has weathered much controversy before. With the resignation of Pol from PDI, any lingering hope that I had that Pugad Baboy would continue with the newspaper has now gone in a puff of smoke. It honestly feels quite unsettling. Pugad Baboy was there day in and day out. It was something you counted on, like a rock that would be there no matter what. It symbolized a stability that was comforting amidst all the chaos and noise.

The shock passed quickly though. This is of course, not the end of Pol Medina Jr. nor is it the end of Pugad Baboy. It will find another home somewhere, somehow, and the adventures of Polgas, Mang Dagul, Kules, Tomas, Utoy, Brosia, Bab and company will go on. Wherever they will end up in, I will surely follow.

Mabuhay Ka, Pol Medina Jr., at mabuhay ang Pugad Baboy!

Why Star Trek Matters

Someone added me recently to a Star Trek group in Facebook. It made me realize how much of a Trekkie I am. A Trekkie for much of my life, actually. I dug up this rather long piece I wrote about Star Trek in 2004, expressing my anguish at the cancellation of ENTERPRISE after only 4 seasons. I’m glad it’s still online somewhere, and I’m reposting this here. Remember, I wrote this almost 10 years ago, and I was feeling a little more verbose than usual. If you’re part of the TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) crowd, well, there’s nothing for you here. Go read some tweets or something.

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

I write and draw comics for a living, and I have to say that it’s a pretty nice job to have. Me and my wife live comfortably in our own spartan way. I get to pay the bills, I get to help out my parents once in a while, and we get to splurge at Pizza Hut once every few months. I’m also an architect and I’m active in our local architect’s organization which brings me all over the Philippines a couple of times every year.

The only reason I’m saying this here is to say that yes, I have a LIFE.

And in my life I allow myself the occasional interest, which may or may not be absolutely necessary for my continued physical existence. Everybody has their own interests they follow, sometimes even obsess over. These are interests that make their life somewhat more fun to live. And in some cases, these interests give their lives meaning.

One of my bigger interests is Star Trek.

I remember being very young, perhaps 7 or 8 back in the mid 70′s, watching an episode of Star Trek in black and white. I remember seeing Captain Kirk chasing a comet. It was probably the most thrilling thing I saw on TV back then. My dad made me go to bed although it was only 8 pm. I felt so frustrated. My first exposure to Star Trek was so brief and yet it was a flash so bright that would last my entire life.

I eventually found Star Trek Fotonovels (comic book adaptations using pictures from the actual episodes), books, magazines and even got to watch a bunch of episodes (in color this time) and motion pictures many years later. I devoured and enjoyed anything that had anything to do with Star Trek that I could find.

I did not think about why I liked the show so much back then. I just knew that I loved it, but it was only after college did I realize just how much it meant and how much of an impact on my life it was having.

I had graduated from architecture and I was working as a construction supervisor where I dealt with my boss Archt. Edgar Lee, painters, carpenters, masons, and building officials. There was no foreman, so I had to fill in that role as well. It was a job that frequently required me to make leadership decisions on the spot. And boy, there were times when situations become so difficult that it really tore me up trying to deal with them. And in those times, I would either read the Bible, where the answer to my problem would usually be on the first page I randomly opened, or I’d think of Captain Kirk, and wonder what he would do in my place.

Captain Kirk’s decisions on the problems he encountered in the stories helped me find solutions to my own problems, and I got through the day okay.

A POSITIVE FUTURE

I began to think about why Star Trek had such a significant part of my life. It was a science fiction show, very much like Star Wars was, like Battlestar Galactica was, like Logan’s Run was… how was Star Trek so different? Mind you, I liked those other movies and TV shows as well, but Star Trek sort of struck much more of a chord within me.

Perhaps it is because Star Trek presents an Earth where there is no racism, no poverty and starvation, no terrorism, an Earth filled with humans united without borders, devoting their time to the pursuit of knowledge, reaching out a hand of friendship towards the rest of the universe. Unrealisitc, perhaps, but it’s a great dream to have, and perhaps that’s just what Star Trek really is. It is a dream of a positive future that we today can strive and work towards. It is Star Trek creator’s Gene Roddenberry’s dream and it has become my dream as well.

When I hear comments that Star Trek needs more “angst”, more dirt and grime, more conflict, and less sterility, sleekness and diplomacy, I feel they miss the point of Star Trek altogether. Star Trek was meant to show man at his best, after centuries of bettering himself. Star Trek is meant to show how man has evolved from his barbaric and unenlightened past. Storytellers complain that it’s difficult to find drama and good stories where people are as near perfect and as civilized as they can be, and it’s an “unrealistic” kind of reality, the fact that it’s science fiction aside. 

I disagree. It only shows a lack of imagination on their part to tell good, effective stories in this kind of reality. Dreams, for the most part, are “unrealistic”, but there is nothing wrong with hoping for such a thing, specially when you know it can lead to nothing but good.

THE NEXT GENERATION

When news came of a new Star Trek featuring a new crew in a different century, I was skeptical. I could not see a “Star Trek” that did not have Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy in it. In fact, I really believed it would not be real Star Trek without them.

But I did check out the comic books and I found them to be interesting. I eventually saw episodes of the first season and a few episodes into it, I was hooked. I’ve come to accept Capt. Picard, Commander Riker, the android Data and the rest of the crew. I not only accepted them, but I enjoyed their stories as much as I did Kirk’s Star Trek stories. This Star Trek had more advanced technology, different characters, different settings, different aliens, but I soon realized it was still Star Trek at heart.

I soon began to look to Capt. Picard as well in the decisions I made in my real life. While Capt. Kirk had his heart on his sleeve, this new Captain rarely let his emotions drive him. His brain and his unrelenting adherence to what is right informed his decisions. And thus I had help from both the heart and the brain, in a much more balanced mix of guidance whenever I needed.

Data was a particular favorite character. Strangely enough, it was him I related to the most even though he was an android. He was such a fascinating character. He had extreme strength, intelligence, and immortality, and yet he would exchange all of it just to be human.

More Star Treks followed. Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and more motion pictures. I was more open this time to new kinds of Star Trek and it was with an open mind did I start watching Deep Space Nine. I didn’t like it at first, but it sort of grew on me, specially during the final season when this series was at it’s finest. I never did get much into Voyager, although I did like a few episodes here and there.

NOT PERFECT

Star Trek is by no means a perfect universe. I quite often rant in front of the TV when a particular situation in the show comes up that I find ridiculous. For instance, why send people down right away into an unexplored planet? How about sending a probe first? That could certainly have saved the lives of a LOT of red shirts. In Star Trek parlance, “red shirts” are those nameless characters played by extras that die through the course of the episode and are quickly forgotten. More often than not, they wear red shirts.

Picard’s Enterprise had families in them because as a Galaxy-class starship, it would be far from home for many years. In their case, 20 years as they explore the far reaches of the galaxy. So why don’t they go much into the far reaches of the galaxy? More often than not we see them flitting from one Federation planet to the other settling disputes, delivering supplies, shuttling delegates, and when they do find themselves in uncharted territory it was most likely not of their own free will. It’s either the Q sent them there, or they had an accident with an engine, or maybe they stumbled upon on a wormhole or two unknowingly. And when they do find themselves there, all they want to do is go back home.

These are valid arguments I think, which a fellow Trekkie would no doubt have answers for. And yet I still watch the show, because there are still universes within it for me to like, appreciate and enjoy.

WHERE NO HUMAN HAS GONE BEFORE

And then there was Star Trek: Enterprise. It’s a series set 100 years before the time of Captain Kirk, and 100 years after Zefram Cochrane discovered warp technology. It a series that would tell the story of how the Star Trek of Kirk and Picard came to be. It is the first star ship named Enterprise with a captain named Jonathan Archer. In Picard’s time it’s already a granted fact that man has evolved to point that much of his prejudices, superstitions and ignorance are no longer there. It would be a great idea to explore the journey man takes to reach that kind of height, to see his struggles, his difficulties and the sacrifices he has to make to get where he is.

A lot of the things said about this series comes from the fans’ wishes to see Star Trek move forward, instead of backward. Where is the thrill in telling the story when we know how it ends?

Well, if we only thought like that, then there would be no documentaries. There would be no period movies. There would be no Titanic, no Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List. There would be no Diary of Anne Frank, Ten Commandments, or Ben Hur. No Das Boot, The Right Stuff, or Gladiator. No Seven Samurai, Ikiru or Shogun. There would be no Roots, no Empire of the Sun, and no Bridge on the River Kwai. All great movies, some based on real events. We know the Titanic sank, and yet it still made for a compelling three hours on film.

The investigation of the past is a worthwhile thing. We know less than we realize and what we don’t know can still astound and thrill us. The past of Star Trek is still a frontier for fans who wants to know the journey mankind took to create a universe that Kirk and Picard can enjoy the kind of existence they have.

I want to know who the first captain and crew of the Enterprise was and how they felt going into deep space for the very first time. I want to know how they communicated with aliens they’ve never met before. I want to know what the people of Earth thought of aliens and how they overcame their fear of them. I want to share in the kind of pioneering adventure they would surely have going where no human has gone before.

The first thing I noticed of course, was the opening theme. I was surprised that they did not use a classical theme like the previous Star Treks, but rather a song… with someone actually singing it! It was something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with at first, but my attention was soon grabbed by the extraordinary graphics. There is something poignant and inspiring at seeing the evolution of man’s pursuit of the unknown, bravely striving forward, ever forward. As for the song, listen the lyrics, will you? As I saw more episodes, I realized the song captured the spirit of the show perfectly, and now, every time I see this opening theme, seeing Chuck Yeager walking triumphantly from another supersonic flight, Alan Shepard nodding and astronauts bravely walking towards the unknown, I never fail to get all choked up. Never in all of my nearly four decades of watching television have I been so moved by an opening theme as this one.

The first two seasons of Enterprise gave me exactly what I had wanted and more. It was with delight and amusement did I react to the Enterprise crew’s struggles with things that Picard and Kirk’s Star Trek took for granted. Things like the crew’s astonishment and excitement at reaching Warp 5, their reluctance to use the transporter (which resulted in a few interesting storytelling twists), launching torpedoes that were actual solid torpedoes (like what you see in submarines) rather than energy balls, and grappling hooks with cables in place of tractor beams. I thought it was fantastic and fascinating!

To anyone who feels that Enterprise is more advanced and modern than Kirk’s Enterprise should look past the surface and look more closely. This is Enterperpise that is more cluttered, more claustrophobic, more mechanical. They still cook with pots and pans, they still use water to bathe in, and they still more or less wear recognizably contemporary clothing when off duty.

ALIENS SPEAK ENGLISH!

In Kirk’s time, nearly every Alien spoke English. That’s probably because the universal translator was in perfect working order. But what about the time when they still didn’t have much of a computerized translator to speak of?

Captain Archer and crew’s first encounters with aliens were met with difficulty because they couldn’t understand what the aliens were saying. It is to Captain Archer’s credit that he got a genius linguist named Hoshi Sato to be his communications officer. Hoshi is not an astronaut, nor has she intended on going to space at all. In fact, she actually hates to be in space and she jumps every time the ship shudders unexpectedly. But Captain Archer knew her talents would help in their adventures ahead.

It’s fascinating to see how Hoshi slowly digests the language as she listens to the aliens speak and in just a few minutes she can manage to carry on a workable dialogue between them. THIS is how a communications officer is supposed to be. It is not someone whose only dialogue is “Hailing Frequencies open, sir!” This is an actual communications officer who truly communicated and saved the ship more than few times because of it.

THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

The Prime Directive is one of the most important laws in the Federation which states that no person who is a member of the Federation will in any way influence, through their presence or technology, the natural evolution and way of life of another planet.

But of course, in the time of Archer, the Federation hasn’t even been formed. Archer, in his innocence and excitement at space exploration, has had to learn the value of such a directive the hard way. 

I react with a little unease at Archer’s willingness to blunder into situations that a much learned Vulcan (T’Pol, his first officer) have advised caution against. His eagerness to get out there and explore and possibly make friends sometimes blinds him to the possible dangers that not only that his crew will face but the new life forms they will get in contact with.

A lot of fans interpret this as arrogance and insensitivity. But one has to take into consideration that this is a journey that Archer, or any such early explorer, has to take and discover for his own. Us fans have already been at the end of that journey with Kirk and Picard, but for Archer, wide eyed and innocent to the ways of the universe, all these things are yet to come.

And learn his lessons he does. One can see much evolution in the character of Archer from the eager and innocent explorer of the first season to the weathered, angry and somewhat cynical Archer at the beginning of the 4th season. A loyal fan is there to see this evolution happen, and yet one is still startled at how much Archer has changed in 4th season’s “Home” where he gets a chance to spend some time with another captain, who is set to leave on her own starship soon. Still wide eyed and excited, Captain Erika Hernandez is pretty much who Archer was before he left earth many years before.

On a related note, fans have objected to the idea of a female captain during this era, based on the remarks of Dr. Janice Lester where she says, “Your world of starship captains doesn’t admit women.” in the last episode of the Original Series. Fans, are you so ready to believe the word of a seriously mentally disturbed woman who lies consistently throughout the episode and tried many times to kill Capt. Kirk? Isn’t it more plausible that it is more consistent with Gene Roddenberry’s universe of equality that women captains will not really be extraordinary but rather commonplace?

A lot of the objections of the fans against Enterprise stem from “seeming” inconsistencies like this (which can easily be explained anyway this being science fiction after all).

THE LITTLE MOMENTS

All of the main characters left a very lasting impression on me. My favorite character has to be Trip Tucker, the ship’s engineer. He has a casual, easygoing manner that I most identify with. In fact, all of the characters, except for maybe T’Pol the Vulcan, have a casual, easygoing and comfortable manner about them that I find very appealing. This is a crew that seems more closer to my life than any of the Star Trek casts that came before. It is perhaps they are more closer to my time that the actors are allowed to be more contemporary in their manner of acting. 

But I think I can attribute that to their talent as actors as well. Unlike previous casts, there is NOT a bad actor in this group. Although I believe The Next Generation had the best actor in all of the Star Treks in the person of Patrick Stewart who played Captain Picard, Star Trek: Enterprise is probably the best acting ensemble in all of Star Trek. Every single one of them, including the recurring characters and extras act extremely well.

And it is to the shows’ writers’ credit that they wrote a preponderance of character driven episodes that showcased that talent. It is these episodes that have been called “boring” by action starved fans, and yet it is these same episodes that resonate the most with me. I got to know these characters more than I did any of the previous characters in other shows. The writers pepper the episodes with seemingly unimportant details and yet as a whole they paint a picture of a crew that are probably the most human of them all.

“Shuttlepod One” is an episode set mostly inside a shuttlepod in space, where the two occupants, Trip Tucker and Armory Officer Malcolm Reed believe that the Enterprise had exploded and they need to find a way to survive. Trip does all he can to try and find a way to solve their problem, while Malcolm spends his time writing farewell letters to his family and loved ones, believing that they are doomed to die. Then they get rescued in the end. Nothing much by way of story happened, and yet it is one of the most entertaining Star Trek shows I’ve ever watched. Every bit of characterization spewed out by a despondent Malcolm and a cranky and frustrated Trip I enjoyed tremendously and I came away forever loving these characters by the end.

“Breaking the Ice” showcased two wonderful moments for me. One is where Archer and crew answer questions from school children, like how astronauts would in our own time, to be transmitted back to earth. Questions range from “What do you eat?” to “When you flush your toilet, where does it go?” It’s truly a nice moment, and something that’s wholly logical too, and it’s great that the writers had the sensitivity to include something like this in the show.

In the same episode, Malcolm and Helmsman Travis Mayweather land on a frozen comet and they proceed to make a Vulcan snowman and have a laugh about it. It’s a simple scene, and yet it’s a refreshing kind of way to develop their characters and make them more appealing.

A Vulcan captain tells Archer in this episode, “You’re easily impressed.” Which may well be applicable to me. But not really. I’m actually quite picky about what I chose to watch and I’m far less impressed with what’s on TV today than I was before. I guess I’m just more sensitive to what Enterprise is trying to accomplish, and I try not to fuss about inconsequential details.

“Silent Enemy” tells the story of just how unprepared the Enterprise was in dealing with hostile forces. Archer struggles with the decision of going home to get more weapons or stay and deal with this enemy on their own. It’s a terrific story on its own, but what made the show special was the running subplot of the entire crew trying to find out what Malcolm’s favorite food was so they could prepare an appropriate gift for him on his birthday. It’s a poignant moment when Malcolm receives his gift and wonders in amazement how they found out what he really wanted.

The first two seasons are peppered with great low key moments like these which for me brought the show much closer to my heart than any of the other Star Trek shows. I would prefer their characters to be developed under these conditions rather than a running gunfight with a renegade Tholian warship. Although I do admit that a running gunfight with a Tholian warship would be nice once in a while. 

THOSE LYING VULCANS!

A lot of fans complain that there are just too many inconsistencies that ruin the show for them. And apparently, one of the major inconsistencies would be that of the Vulcans. Vulcans of Enterprise are condescending, conniving, lying bastards, and not at all like the Vulcans of Kirk’s time who are known for their truthfulness, intelligence and spirituality, embracing the edict of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

Any casual Star Trek fan knows that Vulcans don’t lie. I know it, and any Star Trek fan who reads this article know it. It’s practically a household fact, very much like how everybody knows Kirk’s ship is also called Enterprise.

Does anyone seriously think that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, who have worked on Star Trek for so many years would not know this fact? Of course they do! To think otherwise would be ridiculous.

So why are the Vulcans of Enterprise such despicable liars? There’s an easy answer to this question. The writers are telling us a STORY. It is a running subplot which begins in “Broken Bow” and culminates with “The Forge”, “Awakening”, and “Kir’Shara” of the 4th season. This is not “damage control” as some fans seem to think it is, but a story takes 4 seasons to tell. It’s a pretty major inconsistency that deserves to be explained as long as it needs to be. And it’s a pretty satisfying conclusion that ties up every Vulcan inconsistency there ever was on Enterprise.

Another fan who followed the show loyally for many years dropped the show because the warp nacelles on the ship were wrong. I think it’s a pretty shallow reason to stop watching a show, and it does a disservice to the quality of the story telling, character development, production values and every major element that makes a show compelling.

There are admittedly a lot of other inconsistencies but upon further investigation they are all easily explained. I find the reasons of the producers and writers to be credible and it really falls down to the fan if he will believe them or not. It’s disappointing that a lot of fans reject perfectly good explanations, preferring to fixate on these little details, quibble and fret over them, depriving themselves the opportunity to enjoy perfectly good, well made and well written shows.

SWALLOWED BY THE DARK SIDE

I feared for the fate of the show and by the 2nd season it was apparent that the show wasn’t getting as much support as it deserved. The third season was perhaps a misguided attempt to win back the attention of fans who stopped watching the show by upping the action, throwing in more destruction, more phasers and torpedoes, millions of deaths and cranking up the angst. The last episode of Season 2 and the whole of Season 3 were very dark. The producers thought that perhaps this is what the fans wanted and it turns out it wasn’t. This is perhaps their only real fatal mistake. To devote an entire season to tell one story, cliffhanger after cliffhanger, was an interesting idea, and it did get exciting plenty of times, but I missed the little moments that made the show special to me. Character development was subverted by large explosions and flashing phasers.

I blame the fans and the producers for Season 3. I blame the fans for failing to see the kind of show that the producers wanted to make and the kind of stories they wanted to tell in Season 1 and 2. I blame the producers for mistakenly believing blood, mind numbing action and loud explosions for an entire year were what the fans wanted. 

By the time Season 4 rolled in and really good episodes started to appear, then it was far too late.

Seeing “Terra Prime” and “These are The Voyages…” back to back was very emotional for me. I dreaded for weeks the time when I’d finally see the end of Enterprise. I had been watching Season 1 again via the DVD set, and I knew it truly was something remarkable. I felt really sad and I thought it such a shame that something like this could not continue.

I held my breath and finally the last 2 hours of the show rolled slowly in front of me.

For the first time in all my life watching a television show I cried. I felt my heart breaking when the ships of Captain Picard, Captain Kirk and Captain Archer flew across my screen and disappeared into the depths of space. I despaired not only because one of my most favorite characters died, but because like Trip, the life of a perfectly good series was cut way before its time. I felt like a significant part of my life was ending, that a connection I’m realizing had much substance in the workings of my everyday life is being severed. It was very devastating. It still is, as it’s only been less than a week since the show ended.

It’s very disappointing that not enough of us appreciated the show as much as we did to save Enterprise. It’s very disappointing a lot of people, including the executives who held the fate of the show in their hands, failed to realize just what they had. Star Trek is more than just a show on television. It has given a lot of people “a life”, something that critics contend that die hard fans of this show doesn’t have. I can hear those people muttering the same thing now as they read this, although I doubt they’d have read this far.

OUR FINAL FRONTIER

Star Trek has inspired people to become astronauts, engineers, doctors, inventors, scientists, astronomers, and explorers. Prominent people worldwide have counted Star Trek as inspirations in their own lives, even though their careers have taken them in directions that may or may not have anything to do with Star Trek. Dignitaries have visited the Star Trek set… people like former US President Ronald Reagan and famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who even appeared as himself on the show. Real astronauts came on as extras in the final episode of Enterprise, as a tribute to the show that inspired them to be pursue the exploration of space as their careers. If one looks at NASA’s official site right now you would see Scott Bakula (as Captain Archer) hosting Nasa’s Return to Flight in several videos.

The first Space Shuttle was named “Enterprise” and the launch was graced by the presence of many Star Trek actors.

Technologies that were speculated on the show are slowly becoming reality. Communicators as they appeared in Picard’s Enterprise are now being used in hospitals as a quick and efficient way of locating staff, nurses and doctors.

In a San Francisco Chronicle article called “Trek Tech”, Bernadette Tansey writes: 

“And in 2004, many of the high-tech instruments simulated on the “Star Trek” set are a reality, used to treat patients in hospitals and clinics around the world. 

Rather than undergo exploratory surgery, many patients now rest on tables similar to the Enterprise’s sickbay bed while an automated scanner delivers diagnostic images of the body’s interior. 

Blade-free “surgery” is possible with equipment like the CyberKnife, developed at Stanford University. And devices like McCoy’s needle-free “hypospray” injections are now commonplace vaccination tools.”

In fact, something as improbable transporter technology is on the way to being made a reality. In a 2002 report from CNN, it reported:

“…Australian university researchers in quantum optics say they have “teleported” a message in a laser beam using the same technology principles that enabled Scotty to beam up Captain Kirk. ”

The impact of this show is far deeper, and far more significant than people realize. People are using this show as something to point the way in which technology will develop. I may accept people not liking the show, but it cannot be denied that Star Trek has made possible a lot of good things for us. It has evolved to more than just a television show, and it is something that you just don’t cancel like just any other thing on TV. 

Star Trek has become something we need, whether we realize it or not, whether we want it or not. In a television landscape full of cynicism, pessimism, darkness and insensitivity, we need a show like Star Trek that gives us hope. Hope that our lives will become better one day. Hope that in our future world, everything will be OK.

Our future may not exactly resemble that of the future that Star Trek shows us, but its vision of a positive future for mankind, Klingons and Borgs notwithstanding, is a dream worth pursuing.

Gerry Alanguilan

San Pablo City

Philippines 

2004

Pol Medina Jr. Fired from Philippine Daily Inquirer for Controversial Pugad Baboy Strip (UPDATED!)

This is the Pugad Baboy strip that got Pol Medina fired from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Click for Larger Image

I use the term “fired” because it is the same term that Pol Medina himself uses to describe his situation in Facebook in this post. Whether he is truly fired or simply suspended, remains to be seen. But as this article indicates, Pugad Baboy will be off the PDI starting Friday.

(UPDATE!) Pol has confirmed that he is simply suspended, pending investigation.

Based on a letter posted by a commenter on Pol’s post on Facebook, PDI apparently received a threat of lawsuit from Sr. Mary Thomas Prado, OSB, President of St. Scholastica, which was the subject of the strip. It appears PDI folded under the pressure, and cancelled the strip.

There are many issues at play here and I will address every one of them.

The first issue is that of PDI editorial and their approval of this strip. Pol Medina Jr. is probably the most popular cartoonist in the Philippines, bar none. He began his stint on PDI with Pugad Baboy in 1988 with his scathing political satire that made people stop and think about current Philippine issues. PDI was probably the best place for this strip because back in the 1980′s PDI was known to be the bravest newspaper daily out there, going head to head against ex-dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

It is my opinion that Pugad Baboy is an excellent comic strip, employing a unique kanto-style comedy that regular Filipinos would easily recognize and relate to. It was funny, it was intelligent, it was brave, and it was at times controversial. I know that I am not alone in the habit of checking out this strip first before even reading the news in this paper. I know that I am not alone in my habit of buying PDI simply because of Pugad Baboy countless times for many years.

As I’ve said, Pugad Baboy has been occasionally controversial, but that who Pol is. He recounts on his Facebook that he wanted to start doing comic strips as early as the 1970′s, but during Marcos’s time, satire could land you in jail. Pol opted to leave the Philippines and work as an OFW in the Middle East, and only went back to do his strips after Marcos was deposed. And Pol just let it rip. This was a new age of freedom, an age when artists could freely express political views. Or so we thought.

Pol has posted many rejected Pugad Baboy strips (rejected by PDI Editors) on his Facebook. It indicates that there is a certain amount of editorial control, and that there are still some strips that PDI feels perhaps the public cannot handle.

But this strip about Lesbianism in Catholic schools was approved by PDI Editorial and was published in the newspaper. Any politically, or religiously charged strip will always gather controversy, and this one was no exception. Pol and PDI have published controversial strips before. This was nothing new. But for some reason, when a protest was raised against this strip, PDI practically said, with their firing of Pol that, “Hey, it wasn’t US, it Was HIM.” And promptly threw Pol under the bus, washing their hands of any responsibility.

What changed? Why is this instance different from the rest? The fact that PDI approved the strip, this means they stand by with what it says, and that they stand by with their cartoonist. To fire Pol and not stand by him is a gutless move from a newspaper that purports to have “Balanced News, FEARLESS VIEWS.” It’s a sentiment that carried them over from the Marcos years, a sentiment they apparently no longer truly believe in. What happened? A change in editorial policy? What? Who knows?

Another issue: Pol hints that this strip was dated March, and that nobody protested then. But after he posted a few anti-Marcos strips, this other strip suddenly got revived and is now the subject of much controversy. Pol calls it “consPIGracy”.

All right, I am not aware of any internal politics within PDI, and probably Pol knows something we don’t. As an outsider, I find it strange that the late President Marcos, his family and supporters would have any power over PDI, specially considering PDI was the most anti-Marcos newspaper back in the day. Has things changed so much in the past few decades? Is there something going on behind the scenes we know nothing about? Time will tell! Right now I can’t even begin to speculate about this issue.

Another issue: Why is St. Scholastica admin protesting?

From the alleged letter St. Scholastica admin sent to PDI, it appears their beef is the allegation that they allow homosexual relationships to occur between their students. For a Catholic school, this is only a natural reaction, since homosexuality, homosexual acts, and gay marriage are frowned upon by the Catholic Church. Any allegation that they allow such things to happen is deeply offensive to their beliefs.

However, that does not change the fact that there are lesbians in an all girl school, and that relationships are bound to form, the same way relationships form with heterosexuals in coed schools. Whether these relationships are approved the admin or not, THEY ARE HAPPENING. And there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Pol simply pointed out the this fact, a fact that many people already know. Threatening PDI and Pol with a lawsuit will not stop lesbians and it will not stop lesbians from forming relationships. To me that reeks of denial, and denial will only make things worse for these students.

I am for gay rights, and I am for gay marriage. To me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with girls having relationships with girls their own age. But I know where these sisters are coming from. But at the same time, what kind of teeth would such a lawsuit have, when Pol was only exposing the truth? Does the truth hurt a little too much? Pol is not to blame here. He is simply pointing out a hypocrisy committed by others.

I sincerely hope that this does not result in an administrative crackdown on lesbian relationships in this school and at other schools. That would be devastating the students involved.

The fact that PDI caved in to ths pressure tells us a lot about PDI and what their position is on certain issues. And I personally find it disappointing.

What can you do?

Send Pol Medina Jr. your words of support at his Facebook.

If you’re on Twitter, tweet to the Philippine Daily Inquirer directly.

You can sign the petition to reinstate Pugad Baboy at the PDI.

Can we really accomplish anything with an online campaign? Who knows? But what I do know is we can’t accomplish anything by staying quiet. I also know that PDI pulled Pugad Baboy because somebody complained. And it would only be their right to complain. This is a democracy after all. But we also have a right to complain when our freedom of expression is trampled upon. We only have to complain LOUDER.

Pol Medina Jr. Fired from Philippine Daily Inquirer for Controversial Pugad Baboy Strip

This is the Pugad Baboy strip that got Pol Medina fired from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Click for Larger Image

I use the term “fired” because it is the same term that Pol Medina himself uses to describe his situation in Facebook in this post. Whether he is truly fired or simply suspended, remains to be seen. But as this article indicates, Pugad Baboy will be off the PDI starting Friday.

Based on a letter posted by a commenter on Pol’s post on Facebook, PDI apparently received a threat of lawsuit from Sr. Mary Thomas Prado, OSB, President of St. Scholastica, which was the subject of the strip. It appears PDI folded under the pressure, and cancelled the strip.

There are many issues at play here and I will address every one of them.

The first issue is that of PDI editorial and their approval of this strip. Pol Medina Jr. is probably the most popular cartoonist in the Philippines, bar none. He began his stint on PDI with Pugad Baboy in 1988 with his scathing political satire that made people stop and think about current Philippine issues. PDI was probably the best place for this strip because back in the 1980′s PDI was known to be the bravest newspaper daily out there, going head to head against ex-dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

It is my opinion that Pugad Baboy is an excellent comic strip, employing a unique kanto-style comedy that regular Filipinos would easily recognize and relate to. It was funny, it was intelligent, it was brave, and it was at times controversial. I know that I am not alone in the habit of checking out this strip first before even reading the news in this paper. I know that I am not alone in my habit of buying PDI simply because of Pugad Baboy countless times for many years.

As I’ve said, Pugad Baboy has been occasionally controversial, but that who Pol is. He recounts on his Facebook that he wanted to start doing comic strips as early as the 1970′s, but during Marcos’s time, satire could land you in jail. Pol opted to leave the Philippines and work as an OFW in the Middle East, and only went back to do his strips after Marcos was deposed. And Pol just let it rip. This was a new age of freedom, an age when artists could freely express political views. Or so we thought.

Pol has posted many rejected Pugad Baboy strips (rejected by PDI Editors) on his Facebook. It indicates that there is a certain amount of editorial control, and that there are still some strips that PDI feels perhaps the public cannot handle.

But this strip about Lesbianism in Catholic schools was approved by PDI Editorial and was published in the newspaper. Any politically, or religiously charged strip will always gather controversy, and this one was no exception. Pol and PDI have published controversial strips before. This was nothing new. But for some reason, when a protest was raised against this strip, PDI practically said, with their firing of Pol that, “Hey, it wasn’t US, it Was HIM.” And promptly threw Pol under the bus, washing their hands of any responsibility.

What changed? Why is this instance different from the rest? The fact that PDI approved the strip, this means they stand by with what it says, and that they stand by with their cartoonist. To fire Pol and not stand by him is a gutless move from a newspaper that purports to have “Balanced News, FEARLESS VIEWS.” It’s a sentiment that carried them over from the Marcos years, a sentiment they apparently no longer truly believe in. What happened? A change in editorial policy? What? Who knows?

Another issue: Pol hints that this strip was dated March, and that nobody protested then. But after he posted a few anti-Marcos strips, this other strip suddenly got revived and is now the subject of much controversy. Pol calls it “consPIGracy”.

All right, I am not aware of any internal politics within PDI, and probably Pol knows something we don’t. As an outsider, I find it strange that the late President Marcos, his family and supporters would have any power over PDI, specially considering PDI was the most anti-Marcos newspaper back in the day. Has things changed so much in the past few decades? Is there something going on behind the scenes we know nothing about? Time will tell! Right now I can’t even begin to speculate about this issue.

Another issue: Why is St. Scholastica admin protesting?

From the alleged letter St. Scholastica admin sent to PDI, it appears their beef is the allegation that they allow homosexual relationships to occur between their students. For a Catholic school, this is only a natural reaction, since homosexuality, homosexual acts, and gay marriage are frowned upon by the Catholic Church. Any allegation that they allow such things to happen is deeply offensive to their beliefs.

However, that does not change the fact that there are lesbians in an all girl school, and that relationships are bound to form, the same way relationships form with heterosexuals in coed schools. Whether these relationships are approved the admin or not, THEY ARE HAPPENING. And there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Pol simply pointed out the this fact, a fact that many people already know. Threatening PDI and Pol with a lawsuit will not stop lesbians and it will not stop lesbians from forming relationships. To me that reeks of denial, and denial will only make things worse for these students.

I am for gay rights, and I am for gay marriage. To me there’s absolutely nothing wrong with girls having relationships with girls their own age. But I know where these sisters are coming from. But at the same time, what kind of teeth would such a lawsuit have, when Pol was only exposing the truth? Does the truth hurt a little too much? Pol is not to blame here. He is simply pointing out a hypocrisy committed by others.

I sincerely hope that this does not result in an administrative crackdown on lesbian relationships in this school and at other schools. That would be devastating the students involved.

The fact that PDI caved in to ths pressure tells us a lot about PDI and what their position is on certain issues. And I personally find it disappointing.

What can you do?

Send Pol Medina Jr. your words of support at his Facebook.

If you’re on Twitter, tweet to the Philippine Daily Inquirer directly.

You can sign the petition to reinstate Pugad Baboy at the PDI.

Can we really accomplish anything with an online campaign? Who knows? But what I do know is we can’t accomplish anything by staying quiet. I also know that PDI pulled Pugad Baboy because somebody complained. And it would only be their right to complain. This is a democracy after all. But we also have a right to complain when our freedom of expression is trampled upon. We only have to complain LOUDER.