Larry Alcala's TIPIN: Yur Peborit Tin Edyer

Larry Alcala's Tipin
Yur Peborit Tin Edyer
Hiwaga Komiks #341
March 12, 1965

Komikero Meet November 2005

Komikero Meet

The Komikero group met for its usual last Sunday of the month gathering today. The Komikero group, initially called the Laguna Artists Group, is composed of artists, not necessarily from comics, but from any field of art.

One doesn't even have to be a professional artist, but all you need is a healthy interest in art, a sense of humor, and willing to take a dive in the water.


Regular meeting place of the group is along the banks of Sampalok Lake in San Pablo City. To be a member of the group, all you really need is to join us in our meetings here. The group was initially formed for Laguna artists, but it's open for anyone, anywhere, as long as they are willing to join us here for at least one of our meetings.


Ang mga pinaka-maaga as usual. Raipo and Me!


Komikero Raipo, Rene, and Mylene. From Cabuyao, Cavite and San Pablo City respectively.


Komikero Jonas (Sto. Tomas/Makati), Mara and Zara (San Pablo)


Newest member Jake from Sta. Mesa on the far right.




Favorite Komikero food. Grilled coagulated blood dipped in spiced vinegar. MMM!


Grilled coagulated chicken blood. On a stick! I'm not kidding!

Being mostly artists from differerent fields, we take this opportunity to go back to the basics by engaging in drawing from life. Whether we draw comics, paint, take photographs, teach, study, we take this opportunity to sharpen our observation and drawing skills by drawing anything on the lake that catches our fancy. People, trees, birds, the lake itself, the far mountains... anything. As long as it's something that's there.



Sketch of some grass I did beside the lake.

Check the beautiful painting Rene made here:
http://www.renriquez.com/wordpress/wp-trackback.php?p=274

Around the Net, November 2005

There's a pretty good interview with Filipino comics illustrator/animator Dell Barras conducted by Randy Valiente at his blog:

Dell Barras Interview Part 1
http://usapang-komiks.blogspot.com/2005/11/dell-barras-interview-part-1.html

"I started as an inker. I inked with my Filipino style of inking which they approved. Those days, they liked the styles of Filipinos because of the greats like Nestor and Nebres are already there. We didn’t have time to adjust because of the deadlines. Just ink it as you get the job."

Dell Barras Interview Part 2
http://usapang-komiks.blogspot.com/2005/11/dell-barras-interview-part-2.html

"I still prefer doing my art on raw paper. Mas masarap maramdaman ang pahid ng brush o pen sa cartolina just like old times. Malaki rin ang naging effect ng mga makabagong technology sa mga artist, noon at ngayon. Ang ibang mga kasabayan ko dito e ayaw mag-aral ng computer. I told them na we should go with the trend or be left behind. But I still do my storyboards and artwork on paper. Walang makapapalit niyan."

Floro Dery Interview
http://www.geocities.com/extraordinarypinoy/FloroDeryInterview.html

"Comics is a difficult profession. It involves a lot of practice, experience, and persistence. Only artists with talent can become comics illustrators. If you are a comics illustrator it is easier to become a cartoonist, designer, painter, storyboard artists, etc."

Here are some sites of other Philippine comics creators, old and new, I found on the web.

Amado (Madz) Sanggalang
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/abs0/index.html
He worked as an illustrator for D.C. and Marvel comics. He was a former assistant to Alex Nino from 1975-1990. In 1991 he worked with Neal Adams and Alfredo Alcala as an inker on Conan. He also worked with Tony Zuniga, Nestor Redondo, and Dell Barras.

Vic J. Poblete's Devil Car
http://devilcarkomix.blogspot.com/
Official blog of comics writer Vic Poblete, with special regard to his classic creation Devil Car, illustrated by such greats as Lan Medina and Karl Comendador.

Manuel Rey Isip

Fighting Filipinos Update!



Long time visitors to this site will remember this poster I uploaded in April of this year, and I wondered who had painted it.

I don't remember exactly how it went, but someone emailed me with an idea of who it was and suggested I get in touch with Jordin Isip, a relative of the artist in question. I got in touch with him and today he gave his confirmation.

"Yes my grandfather painted that poster. If you look closely you can see his very stylized signature "Isip" right above the "The". His full name is Manuel Rey Isip. He passed away over 15 years ago."



Thanks Jordin! Mystery solved!

Jordin is a remarkable artist in his own right, whose work appears in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Time, Atlantic Monthly, etc. You can see his work on his site below.
http://www.jordinisip.com/

BAROK by Bert R. Sarile

BAROK
by Bert R. Sarile


Someone asked me if I had any Barok strips in my collection and I had to unfortunately say that I didn't. I had some strips by Bert Sarile from the 60's, but I didn't have any Barok, which I think came later. Undoubtedly, Barok is the most popular character created by Sarile, a comedy strip starring a pre-historic caveman carrying a large club. Barok was made into a movie starring Chiquito in 1977.

So it was such a thrill to stumble into a Barok compilation at National Book Store last week, published by Pacyno Publishing Co. It's black and white, digest size, 130 pages... and amazingly, at only 35 pesos!



Copyright information dates this as 2004 so it's a new publication and should still be readily available at all branches of National. I found it along with all the locally published humor books like Pugad Baboy, Congressman Kalog, Pupung, etc.

Pacyno also published "On Da Record", a compilation of comedy strips also by Bert Sarile, b&w, 130 pages, and also for 35 pesos.

Is Bert Sarile still around, anyone know?

Humanis Rex! 9

Humanis Rex #9
Panel from the ninth installement. Rodel Esguerra roams the streets of 24th century Manila.

Gamer's Rights

A Game Developers' Bill of Rights
(Inspired by the Bill of Rights for Comics Creators)

If this isn't a snowball gathering mass as it rolls down a slope, I don't know what is. It's only somewhat related to comics, but it's heartening to see artists from other mediums assert their rights over their creations.

Directly inspired by Scott McClouds's The Creator's Bill of Rights specially for comics creators, A Game Developer's Bill of Rights has been formulated, one of the the most important proviso of which being:

1. The right to full ownership of what we fully create.

Although it is still an "on going discussion, a provocation that draws attention to a set of important issues and challenges facing our industry", it is a significant step towards the upliftment of artists in culture and in history.

Read the full story here.
A Game Developer's Bill of Rights
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051121/zimmerman_01.shtml

Thanks to Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon for the link and for the mention of this blog on his site.

Pilipino Komiks Blog by Dennis Villegas

Dennis Villegas' Pilipino Komiks

I encourage anyone who has an interest in Philippine komiks to visit the blog of comics historian and collector Dennis Villegas, probably one of the most historically fascinating sites on this subject today.


Damy Velasquez
GASI Editor in Chief, 1963-1972

This photo is courtesy of Dennis, who shares in his current entry a pictorial tour of how comics are made in the country during the 60's. It's a fascinating peek into a time in our komiks history when comics was still a larger part in the lives of ordinary Filipinos.

Visit Dennis Villegas's blog here.
http://pilipinokomiks.blogspot.com/

Browse around and you'll be able to see scans of some rare artwork such as Kulafu by Francisco Reyes, Bulalakaw by Francisco V. Coching, and a scan of the cover of the first true comic book published in the Philippines, "Album ng Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy" by Tony Velasquez and Romualdo Ramos, published in 1934.

Copyright To Creators: Seven Seas

Seven Seas: Copyright to Creators

Publisher's Weekly: Seven Seas Rewriters it's Manga Pacts
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6283525.html

Excerpts:

"In a gesture that will have some comics publishers scratching their heads, Seven Seas Entertaiment, a small U.S. manga publishing house specializing in original English language manga, has ripped-up contracts that specified joint copyright ownership with the manga artists, and offered the creators new deals with full ownership."

DeAngelis began reading the online debates arguing the pros and cons of these contracts. "I started to reflect on it and feel downright guilty," he said. He explained that previous Seven Seas titles had been generated in-house with DeAngelis (who has also written several Seven Seas titles himself) finding artists and writers for new projects. "For properties that were already written and illustrated without any input from Seven Seas, how could I justify asking for partial ownership?," he said. "So, I contacted the creators and told them I wanted to redo the agreements in their favor and give them 100% ownership."

*********************

I think this is great news, and it goes to show that the tide is slowly but surely turning to the benefit of comic book creators worldwide.

Quite by coincidence, this very topic was the subject of rather intense discussion on the comments section of this blog, on the entry "The Significance of Republic Act No. 8293 to Philippine Comic Book Creators" dated November 8.

In the discussion, publisher Seven Seas was mentioned by one of the Filipino creators working for them. The news report of the contract re-writing at Seven Seas came out on November 14th, where Seven Seas founder Jason DeAngelis was reported to come to his decision after reading online debates about their contracts.

Though it's tempting to say that this blog had anything to do with it, it's more likely the debate had been going on much more intensely elsewhere. And I think THAT is what needs to be remembered about this. That *someone*, *somewhere* had the courage to talk about it and express dissatisfaction over it. What if that person decided to just stay quiet, shrug his shoulders and say, "Well, that's how they do things, who am I to say any different?"

Sometimes, all you need is to just talk about it. Some of these publishers just might not realize what they are doing is exploitative. Believe it or not, sometimes some of them are as clueless to the law as creators are.

In other cases, all it takes for a creator to do is to ask, as nicely as possible, about what is rightfully theirs. That's ALL it is. There's no need for lawyers or an advanced knowledge in economics. The worst they can do is deny it to you. But what if they say yes?

This is the difference when one works in comics. Things can become possible that's not possible or would take much more difficulty to accomplish in other fields.

I have to go back and reiterate one of the quotes from this story, from Jason DeAngelis, the founder of Seven Seas himself: "For properties that were already written and illustrated without any input from Seven Seas, how could I justify asking for partial ownership?"

Now that is something remarkable for a publisher to say, specially in comics. It's something truly revolutionary, and for that sir, you have my utmost respect. It is a statement that is respectful to creators, and it's a statement that is in accordance with what is lawful.

If your publisher cannot say the same thing, that should make you really think.

Ruben "Rubeny" Yandoc

Ruben "Rubeny" N. Yandoc
Tagalog Klasiks #67
January 26, 1952

Cover for the story "Kwento Ni Lola Basiang: Matuwid na Hatol" written by Severino Reyes and illustrated by Ruben N. Yandoc.

This issue also includes "Nicomedes" by Angel Ad Santos, illustrated by Nestor Redondo, "Ang Reporter" by Alfredo Alcala, "Gorio at Tekla" by Mars Ravelo, and "Ang Bangkero" by Eduardo Reyes and illustrated by Ramos.