Rocket Kapre – Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction

As part of the Art Access promotion, the Rothledge/Taylor and Francis Group will be giving free online access to their complete range of visual arts journals throughout February 2011. Of particular interest to Rocket Kapre readers would be the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics – you can browse the articles from the journal’s first two issues (there have only been two so far) online, or download the articles as PDFs. Here are a few articles that look interesting, just based off the titles:

• From fan appropriation to industry re-appropriation: the sexual identity of comic superheroes
• ‘A fistful of dead roses…’. Comics as cultural resistance: Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta
• The absence of black supervillains in mainstream comics
• Producing comics culture: a sociological approach to the study of comics
• Comicology: comic books as culture in India
• Graphic novels and comics in libraries and archives. Essays on readers, research, history and cataloging, edited by Robert G. Weiner
• Teaching graphic novels: practical strategies for the secondary ELA classroom, by Kate Monnin

Can’t really put it any better than Gerry does: “Save your money! Buy comics at Sputnik on January 29, 2011! Let me vandalize your stuff! You know you want to!” The event is at Sputnik at Cubao X and will be held this Saturday, January 29, from 9PM-2AM.

The Metro Comic Con is taking place this weekend (August 21-22) at the Megatrade Hall 2 of SM Megamall. Here’s some information and a few links to get everyone ready for the event.

• Schedule of Activities – Saturday seems to have most of the panels (Game Developers, Kartunistas, Veterans) plus the Lifetime Achievement Awards, while the other contests/announcements of winners are on Sunday, along with the voice acting panel. Cosplay is encouraged for both days, but the cosplay contest is on Sunday.
• Guest Artists - There’s also a breakdown of which artists will be available for sketches and signing here.

As far as what komiks will be available/groups will be present at the convention, here’s a partial list, with links.

NON-INDIE TABLES/ EXHIBITORS:

• Bayan Knights Group – List of New Releases: Codename: Bathala #1/2 ; Gwapoman #1 variant and #2; Ang Astiging Boy Ipis #2; Ang Morion #3; Unos Mundos #4; Pag-Asa#4; Sanduguan #7; Kalayaan # 10
• Komikon Table: Will host, amongst others, Point Zero (Kubori Kikiam, Digmaang Salinlahi, Pasig: Epilogue, Cresci Prophecies: Book of Arcen Vol. 1 and 2) and Macoy Tang (School Run, Ang Maskot – I reviewed the latter here.)
• Gerry Alanguilan will be there on Saturday with copies of “Umlauts and Atom Bombs” and “Where Bold Stars Go To Die“.
• Given that he’s one of the organizers, it’s a fair bet that Heubert Khan Michael (Unstoppable) will have a booth as well. Chances are also pretty high that the guest artists like Manix Abrera and Elbert Or will have books for sale as well.
• “A special preview editon of TRESE: Cadena de Amor” will be available at the Metro Comic Con” – from Budjette Tan’s twitter feed
• NEW: Budjette has a list of titles available at the Visprint booth that will be available at the Metro Comic Con: TRESE: CADENA DE AMOR, SONGS OF THE LEWENRI, BATHALA APOKALYPSIS #1

INDIE PARTICIPANTS:

1. Carlo Jose San Juan MD (Callous)
2. Freely Abrigo (Kulas; Kapitan Tog – here’s my review of issue 1)
3. Gio Paredes (Kalayaan)
4. Lady Storykeeper (Realm of Dreams; Dragon Kid – here’s my review of issue 1)
5. Meganon Comics (MAKTAN 1521)
6. Omeng Estanislao (Lipad)
7. Silent Sanctum Manga
8. Atomic Underground
9. Jerrico Barrios (Estrella)
10. Scratch Comics (Zombies in Manila – here’s my review of Issues 1 and 2)
11. Studio KAKOMIKS (Here’s my review of Supervillains, one of their offerings.)
12. Carlo Valenzuela
13. Kai Castillo (Patintero)
14. Greepo Comics Group (Curfew) (Here’s a feature on Gerald “Majic” Asbucan by Macoy Tang)
15. Ghetto Libretto Group
16. CORE Studios (No Parking Comics, Magiting – Raipo reviews both of these at his blog)
17. Decaf Club (Butter Sweet)
18. Kickbackers Group (Prageh Manga Anthology)
19. iNorth (Here’s my review of issues 1-3 of Samurai Scribe, one of the works of the group.)
20. Hazel Manzano (Callwork; Dra. Yap – Raipio has a review of the latter on his blog.)
21. Yo Bo! Komiks
22. MadGear Project
23. Wan Mananita (Ang Morion, Unos Mundos)
24. Rhoseller Quilantang (Goodbye Rubbit, Manila Man)
25. Project Chimera

Mervin Malonzo (Tabi Po) and DJ Legaspi (Baro Investigations) will also be roaming the Metro Comic Con giving away these stickers (in pink) to help promote the Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium.

Here’s the Horror Panel (featuring Budjette Tan (Trese), David Hontiveros (Penumbra novellas, Pelicula), Bart (G. M.) Coronel (Tragic Theater)) from the “Literature From Shakespeare to Bob Ong: Bridging the Divide Between the Popular And the Canonical” conference, held at the UST on August 18, 2010. (The Q and A will be uploaded in another post)

The first question, which I didn’t capture on video, is “What are you most afraid of?”

Part 2 and 3 under the cut.

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Yesterday, I trooped down to UST to attend the second day of the  “Literature From Shakespeare to Bob Ong: Bridging the Divide Between the Popular And the Canonical” conference, by Visprint in collaboration with the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters: Dept. of Literature, Thomasian Writers Guild, The Literary Society and The Varsitarian. Many of the speakers were horror writers from Visprint’s stable, so it was a good opportunity to check the pulse of the genre here in the country, or at least to get the opinions of some of those at its vanguard. Komiks (in general, not horror komiks) were also represented, with Manix Abrera walking the audience through several of his strips.

I took a few videos of the talks and Question and Answer segments, and I’ll use this post as a hub as I slowly (yes I have slow a slow connection) upload the different videos. I’ll upload the talks first, and then lump the open forum segments in the last post. Siege Malvar, Alan Navarra, Nida Ramirez, and Eros Atalia were also on hand for some insightful talks, but my coverage here will focus on the komiks/spec fic content, although I’ll try to sneak in some videos of the others.

(Note that some of the links below are NSFW – many of these people specialize in horror, remember? ^_~)

Video 1: Horror Panel, featuring Budjette Tan (Trese), David Hontiveros (Penumbra novellas, Pelicula), Bart (G. M.) Coronel (Tragic Theater)

Video 2: Karl de Mesa (Damaged People, News of the Shaman)

Video 3: Manix Abrera (Kikomachine, 12)

Do you like comics? Do you like steampunk? Do you like alternate history? Do you like mythological creatures? Well, you might be interested in my upcoming comic book project with the ridiculously talented Hannah Buena, to be published this year by Espresso Comics. It’s called “Kataastaasan” and here’s a little something to whet your appetites:

The Center for East Asian Languages is holding a seminar entitled “Komix101: Required Comic Book Reading for the Summer” that will tackle recommended comic books and graphic novels, for those looking for something to read this summer. Your guide on this little tour will be none other than Budjette Tan, co-creator of Trese and comics/komiks aficionado.

• Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010
• Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
• Location: U-View Theater, Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street
• This seminar is for free.

On May 15, a similar seminar will be held covering anime and manga, to be run by Raymond Sison, also from 2-4, at the same venue.

Over at indie komplex, Mervin Malonzo has announced that his new webcomic, “Tabi Po” has officially launched as of today, with the first six pages having been posted online. Now, this komik is not for minors, nor for people who have weak stomachs (so you can tell it’s also NSFW), but if you don’t fall under either of those categories, the art alone makes it worth a visit, as you can see from the teaser page below (with the NSFW bits cut out).

“Tabi Po” will feature, in Malonzo’s words, “mga tauhang tiyak na iyong kagigiliwan – mga aswang, maligno, lamang-lupa at iba pang kagiliw-giliw na mga nilalang” so I’m sure it will interest readers of Rocket Kapre. From the looks of it, the posting schedule appears to be once a week, every Monday, so check back after voting next Monday for some new pages. Good to see more Filipino artists putting out webcomics, which I think are a great way to build an audience.

No, I don’t mean at the press conference–you can head over to Azrael’s for some coverage–but during the event itself, where he commented about each of the winning entries (in the main contest, not the people’s choice). Again, I wasn’t there for the film category, but here’s what he said about the winners for prose and comics (because you can never have enough reminders that Neil Gaiman called your story “glorious” ^_^):

Prose

(Bibliophile Stalker has sound files of Neil’s commentary on the prose winners here.)

Cherry Clubbing by Kenneth Yu: “… the voice is really really good, and its really, seriously nasty. It’s the only story that I’ve ever read in which half way through sort of the first page I thought ‘Oh I got it. He’s a pedophile!’ And then I realize no, no, no… it’s so much worse than that. But it’s a beautiful little story… the way the story is told is as important as the content. It’s very good, very, very imaginative.”

Remembrance by Dean Alfar: “…it’s a story about death, and what we take with us when we die. Beautifully written, haunting, managing at exactly the same time to be both incredibly depressing and incredibly uplifting. The combination of these two things at once is what made it as a story for me.”

Filipina: The Super Maid by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento: “…as those people who voted for it would know… it’s funny and it’s angry… nice, solid, futuristic science fiction that is fundamentally a satire of things going on today. And it’s great. A lovely piece of work.”

A Kind of Flotsam by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano: “Every now and then you think that you’ve seen it all, and a staple of science fiction is telepathy… What’s glorious about A Kind of Flotsam is that it’s the story of a the life of someone either blessed or cursed with telepathy. And she says something new. It’s really very, very beautiful, very, very moving, and I think at the end… there’s a moment which for me, I thought was glorious: that what unites us in the end is connection, the ability to hold out, to reach out, and eventually touch. Beautifully done, and very, very much a deserving first place winner.”

Comics

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Another year, another (non-summer) Komikon. It was great fun, as always, and holding it at the Megatrade Hall at SM Megamall made it easier to circulate from booth to booth, despite the fact that there were probably more people at yesterday’s event than at the Summer Komikon at UP.

I’m happy I finally had a reason to introduce myself to Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (Trese), as well as Mervin Ignacio and Ian Sta. Maria (Skyworld) (Here’s an old review of Trese 1 and Skyworld 1 over at Komiks…). There were a lot of other Filipino creators present–both as participants at the con, and as fans–but as most of them were swamped with customers and admirers (or, as was the case with Gerry Alanguilan, frequently at center stage), I wasn’t able to meet as many as I would have liked; after all, it seemed kind of boorish to engage artists in fannish Q&As when they could be making sales–in other words, we need more panels guys!

However, I was–finally–able to meet Dado de Guzman (the fantastic young artist who designed the logo and banners for Rocket Kapre) as well as his fellow artist Maya, both of whom are part of the Artspice art group.

Sadly I wasn’t able to watch the Komikon awards, nor the Q&A with Budjette and Kajo (if anyone was able to attend and had any impressions–hints as to Book 4 maybe–please let us know in the comments). I was able to nab most of the komiks on my list however, so coupled with the time spent in an atmosphere of creativity and appreciation, it was a day well spent. The next big con is the Mangaholix  M3Con right? See you guys there ^_^

More Komikon pictures after the cut, but here are a few links to other posts on Komikon 2009, by fans and creators. If you know of any I’ve missed, or have posted one yourself which I did not include here, please let me know in the comments:

• Psychocow
• Edgar Tadeo
• Callwork
• Gerry Alanguilan
• Jiggy Cruz
• Jonas Diego

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