NOLY PANALIGAN

Noly Panaligan, one of the pioneering comic book illustrators in the Philippines, whose work first appeared in the first serialized Philippine comic book Halakhak, passed away Tuesday, June 22, 2004 of heart disease.

His body lies at MOLAVE CHAPEL of LA FUNERARIA PAZ in MANILA MEMORIAL PARK in SUCAT, PARANAQUE.

Fellow filipino artist is giving him a tribute this Friday June 25 at 4:00 PM.

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After meeting Francisco V. Coching when he was 16, Noly found a hero, who Noly believed to be the best and greatest Filipino Komiks and magazine illustrator, and he eventually became Coching's pupil. Recognizing Noly's talent, Coching gave him a break by recommending him to be one of the artists on Halakhak Komiks in 1946.

Noly eventually created "Payaso", a serial he wrote and drew for Tagalog Klasiks in 1953, which many believe to be Noly's masterpiece. He has worked in American comics for several companies most notably for Warren Publishing where he drew the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.


PAYASO
Tagalog Klasiks #93, January 24, 1953



Sherlock Holmes: The Study in Scarlet
The Rook #13, February 1982
Warren Publishing

Check out Noly Panaligan's cover to Payaso on the Front Page.

Kenkoy Book

Got my copy of "Album ng Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy" ni Tony Velasquez today courtesy of Dennis Villegas. Thanks Dennis for this advanced copy!



Browsing through the book I get the feel for what it must have been like in 1930's Philippines. Spanish terms were still very much in vogue, and the proliferation of English terms and western clothing indicates a growing assimilation of American culture. It's fascinating how all three, Spanish, Filipino and American sensibilities present a picture of what we were like during that time.

While Tony Velasquez would eventually reach maturity as an artist many years later, here we can see an artist struggling and growing in his craft, literally exploding with potential.

The book is like a time capsule that took 70 years before being unearthed to be appreciated by a whole new generation of Filipinos.

TOYCON 2004

The Kenkoy book will be officially launched at the 2004 Toys and Collectibles Convetion this coming Sunday, June 27 at Megamall. The event will be graced by Tony Velasquez's widow Pilar Velasquez.

I will be having a booth there, just beside Dennis Villegas's Philippine Collectibles booth. My booth will be split by the Komikero Artist's Group, as well as my mini exhibit that will formally launch the online version of the Philippine Comics Art Museum. See you all there! I don't know if Leinil is coming, but I'll certainly mention it to him.

The Very First Comic Book In The Philippines
Available Again!


Album Ng Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy
ni Tony Velasquez

Contrary to popular belief, Halakhak Komiks #1 (1946) was not the very first all comics magazine/book that was published in the Philippines. It was "Album Ng Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy" by Tony Velasquez,published in 1934. It was a compilation of Kenkoy strips that previously appeared in Liwayway Magazine.

A pristine original copy of this book recently resurfaced and Filipino komiks collector Dennis Villegas worked immediately to get the book widely available again. Dennis had 1,200 copies printed,95 pages, black and white on thickset quality paper. Each copy will be numbered and will be limited to only 1200 copies.

The book will be officially launched on June 27, 2004 at the 3rd Philippine Toys and Collectibles Convention at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall, Metro Manila. Regular retail price is PHP 130, but for the convetion, there is a special discount price of PHP 100.

After the Toycon, it will be first be made available at Old Manila Bookstore, 4th Floor Megamall, and the Angel Thrift Shop at 17 Marikina Shoe Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao. It will eventually be available at Filbar's, National Bookstore, ComicQuest, and possibly Booksale.

If you wish to order in advance (for Philippine buyers), or just for any info about the book, you can get in touch with Dennis Villegas at his cell: 0921-5312888

Komiks Art Book Update

A gathering of Filipino Komiks artists based in the US was held on May 31, 2004 at the house of Romy Lopez in California. Dell Barras sent us these pics of the gathering. Attendees included Alex Niño, Tec Mañalac, Danny Taverna, Jo Luna, Ernie Guanlao, Danny Tolentino, Madz Sanggalang, J.C. Ponce, Leo Partible and Romy Lopez. Huge thanks to Dell Barras for working on my behalf in getting in touch with these artists for their participation in the comics art book. Thanks sir!




I'm getting in touch with more and more artists word gets around about the site and the projects that are being planned. Some of the artists (and writers) that I've corresponded with recently include Joe Dalde, Ismael Esber, Danny Taverna, Randy Valiente etc.

I knew Ismael and Joe from my days in Terror Komiks where I started out. Ismael sent over a bunch of really amazing artworks, one of which I included here.



Dell also sent over several Nestor Redondo drawings, including the one below which Nestor produced while working for Cailico, a California animation company.



The main page of the site has been updated with a Nestor Redondo artwork from Espesyal Komiks from 1958. Click here for the FRONT PAGE.

Superman: Birthright Collection

Just popping in really quick to share some bit of news:

* Scheduled to arrive in stores in October:

SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT Hardcover
Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, and Dave McCaig
$29.95 US/$45.95 CAN, 304 pages

No news yet about the softcover....

Filbars 2

Here's some pictures I took from the Filbar's Anniversary.


Lots of people!


Me, Leinil Yu (Superman: Birthright), Wilson Tortosa (Tom Raider) and some guy in a REAL loud shirt.


Dennis Crisostomo (Emma Frost inker), Wilson, me


Worm's Eye View of AZ!


Me with Camy Francisco and Mark Cerbo

I won't be posting for a while again as I need to go and lock myself up in a room, tie myself to a chair and table as I try and deal with this huge Superman deadline. It's the last issue and it seems kind of sad that this thing is finally going to be over soon. But it's been great, but it's not over yet. See you guys soon.

:)

Filbar's 25th Anniversary

Yesterday's event was a blast! It's nice to see the guys again, and it was staggering to see so many people supporting the event. It goes to show that comics is still alive and well here in the Philippines.

I took it as an opportunity to take some footage for the Komikero Theater and so here it is!

KOMIKERO THEATER
Now Showing!
Filbar's 25th Anniversay!

CLICK HERE!!
(28 secs full color, filbarsthing.mpg, 2.3MB)

Starring!

Leinil Francis Yu, Wilson Tortosa, Dennis Crisostomo, Edgar Tadeo, Gerry Alanguilan and Andrew E!

TORN

Me and my wife Ilyn are HUGE Lord of the Rings fans. Both of the books and the movies. Consequently, we both frequent the most popular Rings fan site on the net, The One Ring dot Net (TORN). And hey, we both got featured in "TORN Fans And Their ROTK DVD!". Check it out! he.he.
http://www.theonering.net/scrapbook/group/1422/view/13189

Alex Niño
Cover, Tagalog Klasiks Magasin # 427
May 26, 1967

Wraparound covers in Philippine Komiks were commonplace and above example by Philippine and international comics legend Alex Niño is just one in hundreds of such covers. I've yet to trace when it was first used, but it started to become most prevalent in the early 60's, specially with the komiks published by CRAF Publications on such titles like Redondo Komixs, Alcala Fight Komixs, and Craf Klasix.

CRAF comes from initials of 4 comics creators who incorporated to form their own comics company when pioneering company ACE Publications closed down. They are composed of Tony Caravana, Amado Castrillo, Virgilio and Nestor Redondo, Alfredo Alcala and Jim Fernandez.

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By the way, the Filbar's Anniversary thing is tomorrow! See you all there. Just scroll down if you're just tuning in to see the details of the event.

Prophecy Anthology 1

I just received my copy of Prophecy Anthology #1 yesterday and I had no idea how beautiful this book is. And how LARGE. It's twice the size of the standard comic book, it has full color and black and white artwork on 188 thick glossy pages. So it's quite heavy too!

This book contains two stories which I both wrote and drew. It's quite significant for me because although I've been working in US comics for like 10 years now, this is my very first writing credit.

The book also has the work of other Filipinos like Edgar Tadeo, who at the time he did this may well have been still inking X-men, but nowadays he's a colorist who has worked on many Image and Marvel books. He is currently coloring Silver Surfer over another fellow Filipino Lan Medina.

Prophecy Anthology also features the work of Cebu-based Carlo Borromeo in his very first writing credit. This will be a writer to watch out for!

Arriving in the mail at the same time is veteran Filipino Komiks illustrator Tony DeZuniga's art book Concepts: Tony DeZuniga. This portfolio book features full page illustrations that Tony did just this year. And man, the man can still draw and I swear, he's far better now than he ever was. Looking at his work you can easily see there's still an energetic young man at the helm of this veteran's hand. Tony here can run rings around any young upstart and I won't be surprised if he gets lots of offers now that this book is out.

Who says 70's era Filipino Komiks art is all washed up? It's really frustrating when I encounter editors and agents who dismiss this style as something that will never sell today. Tony is but an example that shows this isn't true. Take Rudy Nebres. His style is more evocative of that "70's" Pinoy style than anything else. And yet he was taken by Cross Gen to illustrate a whole double sized issue of Crossgen Chronicles. Granted Crossgen is teetering on the edge, but still, that shows us that Rudy can still hold his own and hold it well.

Why else would Alex Niño be illustating a graphic novel with best selling author Kevin J. Anderson? Why would Kevin and their publisher mess with Alex if him and his style are all washed up?

All this is just perception, and a mistaken perception at that, that a lot of people mindlessly hold on to. A lot of these artists still have a LOT to offer and they can still kick ass if they are given the chance.

Tony's book Concepts: Tony DeZuniga can be bought at Bud Plant's Site.

Classic Komiks Reprints


Francisco V. Coching's Lapu Lapu

Aside from collecting material for the Philippine Komiks Art book and museum, one of the things being planned are reprints of some classic komiks "novels". A regular visitor to this site, Dennis Villegas, has some concrete plans for such reprints, the first being a reprint of what may well be the very first comic book ever published in the Philippines. And no, it's not Halakhak, but a compilation of Kenkoy strips by Tony Velasquez that was printed in 1938, a full 8 years before Halakhak. This is an extremely rare comic book that is currently being reprinted and should be available in the next few months to the general public. This has been done with the permission and full cooperation from Tony Velasquez's widow, who had provided much of the material that will be reprinted.

Dennis has other exciting plans for other properties which I will announce here when the time comes. The opportunity has come my way to be able to do something similar with the works of other creators, and the creator whose work I most want to reprint would be Francisco V. Coching. And of his works, those that immediately jump to me are Lapu Lapu, El Indio and Sabas: Ang Barbaro.

If I do manage to get permission for it (which Dennis assures me won't be too difficult), this is certainly one of things that I want to do. At this point, I would like to hear some suggestions from visitors of this blog about what they would like to see in such a reprint book. Would you like to see it colored? And by colored I mean how they would color it back then if they had the means and the money. What supplements would you like to see? In what format would you like to read it? Do you like it to be translated in English or would you prefer it to remain Tagalog? Let me know. Thanks!