An Affair to Remember, Julie's POV
This is gonna be one hueg lameass reminiscing about my love affair with Filipino komiks and how much I miss them.
Perhaps it was because I've been reading too many DC superhero comics, that I suddenly remembered when I read Pinoy komiks. Not the graphic novel Trese type, but the P10.00 colored Funny Komiks Ka Selo sells along with the newspapers. It was a tradition - my bros and I would always, always buy them after mass. We even had a rotating strategy on who'll read it first; this Sunday - me, the next - Ram, then - Dave. That was way before I read HP, way way before I started to appreciate Spiderman, and way way way before I got started on manga.
Hikaru... Kunin mo ang aking warrior sword, pfft.
Dear Lord, now that I remember, Ax: Defenders of the Universe may have been my very first fandom, and not HP. Shitshitshit napaka-weaboo ng komiks na yun kasi Hikaru yung pangalan ng bida, aaaaah. I treasured my Christmas special of this, man! Kaze/Belle was my OTP! Bumabalik ang lahat ng memories at napipilitan akong mag-code switch!
There's Tinay Pinay, Kenji Hero Warrior (Pinoy Zenki lol), Planet Opdi Eyps, Tomas en Kulas and Eknok among others! Ah, childhood memories <3 I regret we didn't take care of those komiks then. They've fallen victim to rains and rats, I guess. Thankfully there's the Internet! And some very nice people who try to upload them. Click through the images to get to them :D
LOL Goku and Krillin playing marbles
Others are here at juankomiks. And Project Combatron.
Funny Komiks eventually fell prey to TV, Internet, economy, etc. I can't say it was sorely missed, for by that time, I guess I moved on to other things. HP perhaps. FK just faded away slowly, until the trips after mass were gone and the komiks were too.
Over the years, I've tried to keep up with whatever Filipino komik I see in bookstores. What can I say, old habits die hard. Naturally there were changes towards a manga style, starting from Questor, I think. I wasn't really a fan of that mag, I found it too pricey, and I almost always choose books over them during bookstore trips. But I have a couple and I loved Gokitomo the best. And Nopperabo too.
Gouki/Yuki was my OTP. Back then I was a hardcore hetero shipper :3 Those were the innocent days. Gouki was the 342nd reincarnation of the Cockroach God, and Yuki was deathly allergic to cockroahes, lol. Mark and Akiko(?) were cute too. And seriously, Gokitomo Rangers? Epic.
Then came Culture Crash. Whew, was I a big fan of Pasig. And Cat's Trail. And One Day, Isang Diwa. Oh my gulay, I can remember it clearly. I had a crush on Jedd (ODID) and worshipped Taga-ilog and E.A. Damaso. I only got as far as Issue 3 though. I had problems getting it in the province, I guess. There weren't any other komiks I tried for a long time after that. Not including W.I.T.C.H. bc I think it's Italian?
Cast was the next Pinoy komik I got into. I found it funny and it appealed to my theater-loving high-school self. I was especially drawn to the prequel story with the Lel/Joe unrequited-love dynamic. But I can't find a picture of #1. Anyway, CAST was a bit short-lived too, and it still doesn't have an ending D:
There were the serializations too, kinda like Shonen Jump but with color pages and less less circulation. Mango Jam had 4 stories that were pretty interesting, and everything was made by women. Leaves of Glaz was my favorite, mostly because it had the best art. Twilight's Calling was good too.
Neo Comics tried to publish 2 parallel serializations, Fables and Epics. I confess I never read the Epics stuff, and just settled with the school-life themed Fables branch. They were nice, although 4 issues weren't enough for plot and character development. It was a shame it ended, it had potential. My favorite was Coda Academy, mostly for the art again (Pandora was too ecchi, Sweet Serenity too shojo, Cursed Melody pretty art murky plot, Threads too shounen).
Fast forward to college and Trese. I wouldn't be lying if I said I loved this the best. I bought the volumes, follow Budjette on Twitter, stalk their blog like a... stalker, and drink up the extra stuff they post there like an aswang. Fact is, Trese introduced me to the wonderful world of Philippine Speculative Fiction. I never thought how our rich mythology can be used to create stories. But that's another story for another day. I can't wait for the Summer Komikon and volume 4! Mr. Budjette and Mr. Kajo please sign my copy pretty please--
From the Trese website unf
Another reason I'm excited for the next Komikon is Paolo Fabregas' Filipino Heroes League. It's about Filipino superheroes in a time when they're not needed anymore. This here's a link to the first chapter and a preview of the second. Seems interesting! I'm kinda glad I have to take summer classes this summer.
Sometimes I wish I lived back when Pinoy komiks were in their heyday - around the 70s-80s. I wonder how different people thought about komiks then. Back then komiks were the cheaper alternative entertainment to movies and TV. But nowadays most are priced higher than the average 12-in-1 pirated movie DVD. Perhaps less people read too? And with the advent of the Internet and scanlations of Japanese manga...
Too bad, we had such talented artists. And amazing writers too, if based on spec fiction. Here's to hoping that someday, in one form or the other, we'll get to appreciate them again.
Ohgodit'sfreakingfiveaminthemorningwtfff
Wait I can't believe I got this far without mentioning Manix Abrera and Kikomachine! Eto na lang, I'll give you his latest! Click through for more at the site!
Perhaps it was because I've been reading too many DC superhero comics, that I suddenly remembered when I read Pinoy komiks. Not the graphic novel Trese type, but the P10.00 colored Funny Komiks Ka Selo sells along with the newspapers. It was a tradition - my bros and I would always, always buy them after mass. We even had a rotating strategy on who'll read it first; this Sunday - me, the next - Ram, then - Dave. That was way before I read HP, way way before I started to appreciate Spiderman, and way way way before I got started on manga.
Hikaru... Kunin mo ang aking warrior sword, pfft.
Dear Lord, now that I remember, Ax: Defenders of the Universe may have been my very first fandom, and not HP. Shitshitshit napaka-weaboo ng komiks na yun kasi Hikaru yung pangalan ng bida, aaaaah. I treasured my Christmas special of this, man! Kaze/Belle was my OTP! Bumabalik ang lahat ng memories at napipilitan akong mag-code switch!
There's Tinay Pinay, Kenji Hero Warrior (Pinoy Zenki lol), Planet Opdi Eyps, Tomas en Kulas and Eknok among others! Ah, childhood memories <3 I regret we didn't take care of those komiks then. They've fallen victim to rains and rats, I guess. Thankfully there's the Internet! And some very nice people who try to upload them. Click through the images to get to them :D
LOL Goku and Krillin playing marbles
Others are here at juankomiks. And Project Combatron.
Funny Komiks eventually fell prey to TV, Internet, economy, etc. I can't say it was sorely missed, for by that time, I guess I moved on to other things. HP perhaps. FK just faded away slowly, until the trips after mass were gone and the komiks were too.
Over the years, I've tried to keep up with whatever Filipino komik I see in bookstores. What can I say, old habits die hard. Naturally there were changes towards a manga style, starting from Questor, I think. I wasn't really a fan of that mag, I found it too pricey, and I almost always choose books over them during bookstore trips. But I have a couple and I loved Gokitomo the best. And Nopperabo too.
Gouki/Yuki was my OTP. Back then I was a hardcore hetero shipper :3 Those were the innocent days. Gouki was the 342nd reincarnation of the Cockroach God, and Yuki was deathly allergic to cockroahes, lol. Mark and Akiko(?) were cute too. And seriously, Gokitomo Rangers? Epic.
Then came Culture Crash. Whew, was I a big fan of Pasig. And Cat's Trail. And One Day, Isang Diwa. Oh my gulay, I can remember it clearly. I had a crush on Jedd (ODID) and worshipped Taga-ilog and E.A. Damaso. I only got as far as Issue 3 though. I had problems getting it in the province, I guess. There weren't any other komiks I tried for a long time after that. Not including W.I.T.C.H. bc I think it's Italian?
Cast was the next Pinoy komik I got into. I found it funny and it appealed to my theater-loving high-school self. I was especially drawn to the prequel story with the Lel/Joe unrequited-love dynamic. But I can't find a picture of #1. Anyway, CAST was a bit short-lived too, and it still doesn't have an ending D:
There were the serializations too, kinda like Shonen Jump but with color pages and less less circulation. Mango Jam had 4 stories that were pretty interesting, and everything was made by women. Leaves of Glaz was my favorite, mostly because it had the best art. Twilight's Calling was good too.
Neo Comics tried to publish 2 parallel serializations, Fables and Epics. I confess I never read the Epics stuff, and just settled with the school-life themed Fables branch. They were nice, although 4 issues weren't enough for plot and character development. It was a shame it ended, it had potential. My favorite was Coda Academy, mostly for the art again (Pandora was too ecchi, Sweet Serenity too shojo, Cursed Melody pretty art murky plot, Threads too shounen).
Fast forward to college and Trese. I wouldn't be lying if I said I loved this the best. I bought the volumes, follow Budjette on Twitter, stalk their blog like a... stalker, and drink up the extra stuff they post there like an aswang. Fact is, Trese introduced me to the wonderful world of Philippine Speculative Fiction. I never thought how our rich mythology can be used to create stories. But that's another story for another day. I can't wait for the Summer Komikon and volume 4! Mr. Budjette and Mr. Kajo please sign my copy pretty please--
From the Trese website unf
Another reason I'm excited for the next Komikon is Paolo Fabregas' Filipino Heroes League. It's about Filipino superheroes in a time when they're not needed anymore. This here's a link to the first chapter and a preview of the second. Seems interesting! I'm kinda glad I have to take summer classes this summer.
Sometimes I wish I lived back when Pinoy komiks were in their heyday - around the 70s-80s. I wonder how different people thought about komiks then. Back then komiks were the cheaper alternative entertainment to movies and TV. But nowadays most are priced higher than the average 12-in-1 pirated movie DVD. Perhaps less people read too? And with the advent of the Internet and scanlations of Japanese manga...
Too bad, we had such talented artists. And amazing writers too, if based on spec fiction. Here's to hoping that someday, in one form or the other, we'll get to appreciate them again.
Ohgodit'sfreakingfiveaminthemorningwtfff
Wait I can't believe I got this far without mentioning Manix Abrera and Kikomachine! Eto na lang, I'll give you his latest! Click through for more at the site!