Komikon-Epilogue
What a pretty nice day it was, the Komikon. It's one of those days you feel truly great about comics and feel great about being involved in it. I think we've all formed a really cool community there and although there are a few times we don't all get along, I think that friction, for whatever reason, can really push us to create more and better things.
But now the Komikon is behind us, it's time to move on and get back to work. For my part, it will be a full two weeks of almost nothing but Humanis Rex! Before that though, I have to write a first draft of Elmer #3, which will probably take around 2 to 3 days. I already know what's going to happen, but ideas came to me while I was washing dishes, ideas that solved a lot of things that was bothering me about the story.
There's an inking thing I'm going to be doing for Gilbert's TROPA. It's only one page, so it's OK. And I'm only doing it because Gilbert's a pal, and I'm really happy and proud of his determination to make comics his career. I've talked to KC Cordero of Rising Star about doing something for Filipino Komiks and I think I may have just the thing. Then there's that short story for Liwayway. I'm really excited about that one!
In mid November, I'll continue working on Elmer #3, fleshing out and polishing the script. Hopefully I'll have begun drawing it towards the end of November. I'm looking at a January release. Maybe.
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To all those who met me at the Komikon, please accept my utmost apologies. Why am I apologizing? I'll write a little bit about the Komikon experience from my personal point of view. Please bear in mind I say none of the following as a complaint, as there's nothing about meeting people at the Komikon I can complain about. You were all terrific, and I was well, really just out of my mind. Literally.
I've had little sleep in the last week or so before Komikon, and I was a little dazed but excited to be there. In short, I was sort of... well... high. But not in the medical sense.
In my normal life, there's just me, my wife Ilyn, and our dog Eugene. A couple of times a week I'll probably see my folks. I'd talk to one or two neighbors a couple of times a week, and talk to the old woman at the sari sari store. I get to meet Zara, Jonas, Raipo and the other Komikeros once a month. But for the most part, it's really just me, Ilyn and Eugene. And some chickens roaming outside. You know, such is the life of a comic book artist. It's pretty isolated because there's so much work to be done and it's a job that you can take home so naturally I do it at home.
Once in a while, probably 3 to 4 times a year, there's a big activity where I meet all sorts of people. Other pros, readers, mostly people I'm meeting for the first time or people I've met before at other signings. But those interactions are for the most part brief and there's another face soon after the previous one has moved on. The big trouble with me is that I'm forgetful. A lot of my friends would testify to that. There are some things I can remember clearly, like what I did in the summer of 1983 in Goa, Camarines Sur, but I forget what I did two weeks ago right here in the house.
At signings, I meet a lot, and I mean a LOT of people. And since I'm forgetful, I really have to admit, I won't remember all your names. I'm bound to remember your face if I met you before because I do remember faces a lot more, but I'd probably struggle to remember your name.
This happened to me a lot at Komikon. And I hope that those who had their comics signed didn't get too hurt when I asked them their names when I had already asked them at previous signings. At my worst, there was one guy who had his comics signed earlier in the day, and I forgot his name when he had something else signed later that afternoon. I'm really sorry about that. Is there a pill I can take for this or something?
Another thing I want to apologize for is not being able to talk more to those people who came over to meet me. During events like this, I'm literally pulled into many directions. I'd be talking to one person and there's two others calling me as well. I wish I had three heads, but that probably would have scared the bejeezus out of everybody.
I felt bad that I wasn't able to talk to Karl Comendador a bit more, after he came to meet me at my table. I promise I'd visit him at his table, but I didn't see him any more after that. I also felt bad that I wasn't able to talk to Jun Lofamia more as well. I never had the chance to interview Reno Maniquis for the video coverage, as well a lot more other people I wanted to talk to. I didn't even see people like Joanah Tinio, or Michael David, or Pol Medina? Was he there? I wasn't sure. I heard he was. I guess it only goes to show how crazy it was, and how noisy it was. I really had no idea what was going on in the stage. Syeri had to come up running to tell me I had won the award for Comics Aid for the Comics Museum. WOW! I babbled out a few words and went straight back to signing at my table.
I've had to leave the table once in a while to check out what I could for the Newsarama report, take videos for my video coverage, eat, piss, brush my teeth, and really just take a breather. Even at the CR people would want to talk to me, which was hilarious.
I really must thank Wilmark, Sandy Sansolis, Sir Boboy Yonzon and the other people who bought original art. Leinil was probably shocked when he saw how inexpensively I was selling some of my art, some of them were from Superman: Birthright, Silent Dragon, Batman/Danger Girl, X-Force and Stone. Those were Komikon-only prices of course, and I won't be selling them as inexpensively at any other time. I just wanted to be able to give people the opportunity to own some of these, people who would not have otherwise bought them at Ebay or online agents because they'd be too expensive. I'd probably selling some more pages like this at these prices only to attendees at the next Komikon.
I also must thank all those who dropped by the table and bought Elmers 1 &2. Elmer's my baby and it's such a thrill to see people actually buy it. There are few thrills like it in life. As I've mentioned in the afterword of Elmer #2, even though I never really tailor made Elmer to appeal to a certain audience, never considered any demographic, never censored myself just to make it more accessible, I'm nevertheless glad that people actually buy it and appreciate it.
Thank you very much to everyone who passed by, even to just say hello. Mabuhay kayo lahat!
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Like Ariel Atienza wrote in the Artists Den mailing list, don't wait for the next Komikon to release your comic books. Do them now, get them out there as best you can, get your works read. The output of mini comic book creators, independent publishers and mainstream publishers has been promising. I hope to see more of your comic books, and I hope to see all of you and a lot of new creators, at the next Komikon!
