The Legacy of Komiks
"Komiks" is what has come to mean Philippine Comics, but in the context of this article and this site, Komiks will mean any comic book published by ACE Publications, GASI, GSM, PSG, ATLAS, and any other publisher who have published comics in the traditional weekly or bi-weekly anthology format from the 1940's to the early 2000's.
As my earlier article have described, the great tradition of these anthology komiks, which had been so popular for so many decades, has finally died out with the cessation of the publication of Pilipino Komiks, Tagalog Klasiks, Espesyal and Hiwaga after more than six decades.
The reaction to the news has certainly been mixed, although disappointingly sparse. Those that did offer reaction expressed sorrow at the passing of a great tradition, others expressed the need to let go and move forward.
While moving forward is really the only logical and natural course of action, I sense we may have not fully taken stock of the significance of what has occurred. Perhaps many of us still don't grasp the enormity of just what we have lost. To move forward, I believe we need to study and learn what has gone before to empower us to make something better tomorrow. Leaving it all behind and letting go just like that to me seems a little callous, specially if we have yet to take the time to lament our loss, and take the time to examine what went wrong.
I have always stressed the importance or keeping and presenting komiks and komiks art in this site, not because I want us to live in the past, and relive past glories, as some faceless opinion makers seem to assert, but I do it for something more important. And that is to preserve our history and legacy of a rich culture of komiks art, and hopefully give our young artists a sense of identity as Filipinos that would inspire them to create new and original things.
The apathy and indifference which greeted the passing of our komiks, now makes it even more important to preserve all that can be preserved for the benefit of future generations, and out of respect and appreciation for those writers and artists who have given their entire lives to create beauty in words and in art.
Nestor Redondo
Manila Klasiks Cover
Artwork courtesy of Dennis Villegas
I've seen little written about this online, but here is a link that gives a different perspective on the subject.
Where Did Komiks Go?
Mcoy-Remote Control Giant Robot
