Elastika
I was asked to write Lastikman very early last year. I had already thought up a story shortly after then, but it wasn't until early this year was I asked to come up with a complete script. We set out to introduce new character in the story, a character that was strong enough on its own character-wise and powers-wise so it could possibly stand on its own in case we needed to spin it off in the future.
So it was then I came up with the name of Elastika, along with a description of her character, her background and her powers. Some may find the name cheesy, but it was fully intentional. We needed a name that seemed bombastic enough that would not only be easy to remember, but it would also appeal to younger readers.
I do realize that there's a band called Elastika, as Budjette Tan pointed out to me later on, but it I think it would be OK since it's a totally different thing all together.
Arnold Arre took my description of Elastika's character and came up with an awesome rendition, here colored by Edgar Tadeo.
I was progressing leisurely with the writing of the script when Zach Yonzon, Mango Comics Editor told me that we needed to fast track the script so we can release the comic book by December. We just found out that a movie of Lastikman is being made for the Film Festival in December. At the time we didn't know who was going to play Lastikman but we knew it wasn't Vic Sotto. We needed Lastikman to come out when the buzz on the movie is the strongest. This is probably the best free advertisting we can have for the comic book.
But anyhow, by October, we learned much to our shock, that the movie is going to use a female villain named LASTIKA. We collectively went, what the FUCK! A leak? A coincidence? I was pretty aggravated myself for the first 30 minutes, but I thought well, let's just make up another name. They still tried to get the name Elastika copyrighted as a comics character, but in the end, we just decided to let it go. There was no use in bothering with all the fuss and it wasn't really worth making enemies because of this thing.
I already had a new name in mind anyway. It sounds even more bombastic, and everyone seems to like it. So we ended up using that instead. What's the name? Come to the Lastikman launching this Tuesday to find out! he.he.
