Inbetweendays

Clutter Cutter

The Komikon held last November 19, 2011 was my first. (The comic convention I attended a few months back was the Metro Con and I thought they were the same). I am always willing to shell out cash for local stuff, most especially indie, non-superhero books because I personally feel there should be more of them. I bought my share of comics and here were my choice picks: 

Tabi Po was a scary introduction. I liked the how the illustrations of Elias had a “Malakas”-style introduction in reference to an ancient philippine myth about the creation of man. His hunger/thirst/obsession reminds me of Dexter and Scorpio Nights that, although the book itself is categorized under “horror”, something tells me that the aswang references are only skin-deep. Scaring you is merely the first step.

Windmills is an introspective play on memory and post-rationalization. It’s as if the book was pieced together as the creator himself was piecing together events that had just happened and fusing them with how he thinks those events should have happened. A re-creation and creation of a memory as a form of survival. Or something like that.

Puso Negro was brutal. I think the violent and snarky nature of the lead character felt more dangerous than most of the super-villains I saw in all the other comics. I just wish that I got to know more about the lead character to understand the brutality of the comic. I also liked the infusion of art-deco into the cover and the chapter introductions. Clearly, there was a conscious decision to design the comic book apart from just illustrating the content.

High Society made me like steam-punk after Wild, Wild, West. That, plus combining it with Philippine aswangs/ mythological creatures AND Philippine history during the Spanish colonization really gave the comic more weight than I hoped it would. I felt that this was a great way to inspire patriotism without showing it in your face.


Stories was a jump for me because I usually don’t like autobiographical comics that talk about making comics. But if you strip away the Far Side comparisons and the author’s italicized commentaries about what his illustrations, there is a hidden edge that can be and should be exposed. It’s as if the commentaries are safe buttons that explains the illustration: a commentary on the author’s commentary. I say, put us in danger’s way. The strips are already great. And it’s the best way for readers to see the world from your point of view. 

Ang Maskot was crisp and clean. A man uses his own frustrations to bring happiness to others, which eventually sets himself free from his own problems. Also: the parts without dialogue are quite magical.

Operasyon was my favorite. The creator makes the statement “mga hayop tayong lahat” very clear in my opinion: a fable to take to heart during these media-saturated and “I-was-left-with-no-other-choice” kinds of times. (Thanks to Josel Nicolas for telling me that a short film was already made based on Operasyon. It’s entitled Gatilyo and it’s over here. )

The Komikon In General. I sat alongside my fellow Visprint creators to see how well Girl Trouble and Dumot would do (knowing that they were not comic books and that this was a comic convention), and I was glad to see some people actually purchased them (after giving it weird looks) along with the shirts and stickers I brought. 

I spent most of the time cracking jokes with Paolo Fabregas (Filipino Heroes League) and Karen Francisco (Naermyth) as we brainstormed about putting up ManixCon: an exclusive Kikomachine Comic Convention, or admitting to everyone who asked us that yes, we were Bob Ong. 

Our publisher told us that this was by far one of the most successful conventions to date. Trese, Kikomachine and FHL got nominated and won some Komikon awards, and it was good to see that a lot of people came to support the indie pubs who also were in full force.

Independent comics are important because they are unique, personal points of view that when collected form a grassroots-level interpretation of the Filipino story in these hyper-globalized times. I can only hope that next year will be better. 

P.S. I hope the bag thieves get genital eczema right when they least expect it.