Zona Cero (about, insights, and behind the scenes)
“Hanggang kailan tayo makikipaglaban sa lupang tinubuan?”
Matapos ang ikatlong pagtatangka upang sakupin ng Intramuros ang isla Manuvu sa pamamagitan ng mga Aserong Soldado, napagdesisyunan ni Governador Heneral Carlos Emilio na buhayin ang pinakapremyadong hukbo sa mundo—ang mga Hidalgo, at sumailalim sa madugong pagsasanay upang mapagtagumpayan ang misyong mapasakanila ang isla.
Isa sa mga bagong Hidalgo ay si Coronel Antonio Malik na anak ng alcalde ng Intramuros. Sa gitna ng labanan sa pagitan ng mga Hidalgo at mga Manuvan ay umusbong ang kahindikhindik na plano ng mga Illustrado para tapusin ang laban. Dahil dito napaisip si Antonio kung sino ba ang tama at kanino ba talaga dapat pumanig. (blurb)
Genre/ Category: Comics, Graphic novel, action, steampunk, alternate history, drama, comedy
P229/ $4.99
Here’s a new graphic novel I did. For now it’s available as an ebook at Buqo Reader (an app you install on your tablet / smartphone and serves as a Digital Boostore and ebook reader).
The story is set in 1982 where a country named Intramuros was colonizing other countries that were advantageous to the advancement of their country. A primitive country named Manuvu had been attempted many times before, but despite the technology of the Intramurosans they strangely never won from this tribe. Finally, the Governor General of Intramuros decides to train a new breed of “Hidalgos,” an elite-class group of soldiers, one of which is a young man named Antonio Malik.
“How many times? How many lives will be gone? Until when do we have to fight for our country?”
Due to his impulsive behavior, he gets tangled up with a horrendous plan by his superiors. He ends up seeing the pain of both the Manuvans and his own countrymen.
Why I wrote this book:
Even I am wondering why I wrote a book that has this kind of content (LOL). It was a story i came up with only last November (so technically, I worked on the project for half a year since its conceptualization). I thought of a stand-alone story that would introduce Anton as the protagonist at the same time prelude the graphic novel series I have been working on for the longest time. In the series, Anton had been out of the loop for three years and sent to war with a tribe and so this was where the story of the Manuvans was developed.
T/L: “But you have today and you can do something today.”
As the goal of the series (Incognito, soon) is to mirror the realities we all face both as individuals and as a nation, I thought that it would be culturally relevant to come up with a story for the one-shot (prelude) that reflects the plight of the current-day Lumads as well as reflect how God, during the time of Joshua or David, intervened and won the battles on their behalf. Not only that, I believe the characters of the story “Zona Cero” reflects the heartaches and sentiments of its would-be readers as well. I am not very particular with this, but I think you will find yourself in the pages of the story as well. I will let the story do its job. For now, my prayer is that at the end of the reading, the reader will take home something essential for himself, then act on it.
Behind the scenes:
As I said earlier, it took me half-a year to finish this. And I did this without the commitment of a publisher. I just thought that maybe I have to finish it first, by faith, and then see where it goes. Thanks to God’s provision for artist-quality watercolors, I decided to make this novel a full-color one.
Hand written script:
The first time I laid my hands on a Gansai Tambi (watercolor set) last December, I did Zona Cero’s cover:
Zona Cero is a combination of traditional (watercolor) and digital methods.
We also initially made Zona Cero public at the recently concluded Summer Komikon and gave away digital samplers (you can view it via Buqo here: bit.ly/1UMsoE9) and it was actually encouraging to know that a lot of people are actually interested with Zona Cero, discouraged in fact, because we didn’t have a book on hand for them to buy and take home. I guess this is the down part of not having a physical product.
One of the attendees of Komikon highly appreciated the art of Zona Cero and said that this full-color novel is in fact a “labor of love,” not to mention, the tedious researching BEFORE scripting it.
I thanked her for that. I actually didn’t mind the effort. I just loved and enjoyed what I did. I’m hoping it will pay off eventually.
For now Zona Cero is available as an ebook. I am currently pushing for it to be printed and placed in bookstores too. For now too, I don’t know if any of you are reading my blog or have read Zona Cero. Please, if you have, let me know your thoughts about the material. For now too, Zona Cero is indeed a labor of love, done without the promise of “return of Investment”. As Jeff Goins said, “Do what you love even (or especially) when nobody is looking.” In case too that you re interested to read it BUT do not understand the language, let me now so that I can make and English version available soon.
Head on to Buqo to experience Zona Cero: Zona Cero Full
