Events: Halloween Pick A Treat

Black Ink Comics and Precious Pages are going to hold some big events for the remaining days of October until November 2014.

Comics: Overrated

Illustration and Story by: hazardous-bastard

Ink Jinks Comics
(1/5 ★☆☆☆☆)

It's the cover of this comic that prompted me into buying it. Add in my desire to try out other artists' works that are showcased during Komikon.

Frankly speaking the story of Overrated is messy. The only clear thing that I can grasp is that a group of friends met up at the bar where Daniel Roberto, usually referred to as Dan, works as a barista. They came to meet up after 1 year of David's death.

I found the other dialogues to be confusing as some text bubbles aren't clearly placed as to who said it. For the illustrations, I would say it also needs improvement. At some point, one would wonder why Dan is the only one with the black hair. I think some pages weren't fully utilized since some large blank spaces can be seen in some areas. It is also recommended that the artist personally draw some of the images used. It just doesn't look good after it has been photocopied.

Overall, I got disappointed with this comic. Neither the story nor the illustration had at least been strong enough to tell the story. I really do hope for improvements with the future works from this artist.

More of the creator's works can be seen at:

http://www.hazardous-bastard.deviantart.com

More of Ink Jinks Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Ink Jinks Comics"

Twitter: @inkjinks

http://www.inkjinks.deviantart.com

Events: The Philippine Literary Festival 2014

Just found this out at National Book Store's facebook page. It is a 3 day event that celebrates literature here in the Philippines. This event will be held at Raffles Makati from October 23 to 25, 2014. No entrance fee is needed. Local and international authors are going to be present as well. Some local comic creators are going too. Just like Manix Abrera who will launch his latest comic book "14" Silent Comics.

Comics: Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles (A Comic Book Adaptation of the Movie)

Story & Character Creation by: Erik Matti and Ronald Stephen Y. Monteverde

Script by: Erik Matti

Additional Scenes and Dialogues by: Michiko Yamamoto and Jade Castro

Illustrated by: Art Chefs

Edited by: Budjette Tan

Reality Entertainment, Inc.

Agosto Dos Pictures, Inc.
(2/5 ★★☆☆☆)

This is probably the highlight of my Summer Komikon 2012. The promotion of Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles movie and the launch of its comic book adaptation.

Basically this comic book is a shorter version of the movie. It is about the story of Makoy and Sonia, who is nearing her due date. She went back to her hometown that is close to a group of aswangs. As the couple sort out their relationship problem, their lives, most especially of their unborn baby, is threatened due to an aswang accidentally brought home. The creature has disguised itself as a pig. Thus, it has easily entered Sonia's house. After a great battle, the story ends with a flower as a birthday gift given by Makoy to Sonia while the sun rises.

This comic book was the first one given to us as a teaser before the movie was released. The dialogues were great and the illustrations superb in this comic book. It can be seen as an entertaining aswang story that doesn't deviate much from the plots of earlier aswang movies. However, the story mainly boasts more of the visual effects that is incorporated in the movie where this comic book was adapted from.

At some parts, we can see the product placements such as Lipps Candy and Boy Bawang. Both of them were neatly placed in the story. An amusing weapon shown is the improvised blowgun used by Abel. Instead of arrows laced with poison, he uses Boy Bawang that served as bullets against the aswang.

The thing that I really love about this comic book is that it's fully colored. That is a rare treat that could be gotten. Since most of the local comics produced have its contents in black and white.

Aside from the story, this comic book includes many other things. Some of those are story boards, set designs and interviews with Peter Collias and Dave Yu.

The only downside for me is the way it was handled by the one in charge of the layout. One of my pet peeves is regarding the poor layout a comic book is given. Most of it is not seen in the story. It is mostly observed in the behind the set information that this comic book contains. Big disappointment for that part.

Personally, I think that this comic book basically gives away much of the story of the movie. If asked if it should be in one's shelf, I would say it is only good if you collect aswang related comics or locally fully colored ones.

More of Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles can be seen at:
http://www.theaswangchronicles.com

Events: Experiencing the 35th Manila International Book Fair

The Manila International Book Fair or MIBF, is going to be an annual go-to-event for me. This year, it was held once again at SM Mall of Asia's SMX Convention Center.

My free ticket came from Adarna House. So far it was only that publisher who had a printable free entrance for the event. Although the tickets are really cheap which even has a student and senior discount, it is still worth printing. Mostly it will save you time from falling in line just to buy the entrance ticket.

There are a lot of interesting things that I found in MIBF 2014. One of those is PSICOM selling DC comics for 20% off on their booth.

In Rex Publishing House, they had set up their booth to hold a mini book museum. In here one can see the smallest book in the world. It was said to have been purchased at the Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany in October 2012. The title of the book is "The Lord's Prayer". Nearby is the smallest diary and the smallest calendar. They were purchased in Frankfurt, Germany in February 2012 with the calendar dated for the year 1914.

A new addition to the booths this year is Komikon. This is another nice move from these guys who continue to promote our own local comics and share this love for comics to others.

The book that I was really surprised to see was the legendary Soul Book from Bookmark, Inc.'s booth. It was really pure luck as I happen to catch a tweet from Paolo Chikiamco (@anitero), one of the creators of Mythspace comics and editor for Studio Salimbal and Rocket Kapre.

It has been a good time because after I had bought a copy there were only 2 copies left. Later, after a few minutes of browsing the MIBF, the remaining copies of Soul Book was already gone. That book is really hard to find. Hope you guys also got yours.

These are the other stuffs that I had enjoyed seeing during the last day of MIBF 2014.

Tons of copies of the Deluxe Edition of Vol 1 of Y: The Last Man in Hardcover at the FullyBooked booth

 Nice covers of some classic books at the National Book Store booth

A rare complete collection of Marvel Zombies in Hardcover at the National Book Store booth

The Metro Serye mostly illustrated by Manix Abrera at the UST Publishing booth

It was really a nice day for MIBF. It got me so many good bargain books. Don't forget that super rare book. MIBF should be on the must-go-to-event for a book lover. Especially those in search of rare and old books.

Here are the things that I got from the 35th Manila International Book Fair

• Metro Serye No. 2
• University of Santo Tomas Publishing House
• Noli Me Tangere
• Bookmark, Inc.
• Williams Manual of Obstetrics: Pregnancy Complications
• C&E Publishing, Inc.
• The Soul Book Volume 1
• Bookmark, Inc.
• Harrison's Manual of Medicine, 18th ed.
• C&E Publishing, Inc.
• The Best of Pugad Baboy #1
• New Day Publishers
• Metro Serye No. 3
• University of Santo Tomas Publishing House
• Lourd De Veyra's Little Book of Speeches
• Summit Media
• Basic Radiology, 2nd ed.
• C&E Publishing, Inc.
• Williams Obstetrics, 24th ed.
• C&E Publishing, Inc.
• The Revenge of Seven
• National Book Store
• The Magic Circle
• Anvil Publishing
• The Tales of Beedle The Bard
• National Book Store
• Doctor To The Barriors
• New Day Publishers
• Metro Serye No. 4
• University of Santo Tomas Publishing House

Comics: Ang Sumpa ~ Kabanata 2: Unang Bahagi: Ang Silid

Created by: Andoyman

Story Assist by: Super Gi

Rated: T+ / Teenage 13+

Genre: Detective / Mystery / Suspense

Andoyman Komiks
(5/5 ★★★★★)

"Natagpuang patay ang Pangulo ng Pilipinas

Bago 'to lumabas sa balita, mayroong mga

Napansin si Arman Darte (NBI) sa silid ng

Pangulo na magbibigay sa kanya ng duda kung

Nagpakamatay nga ba ito."

I was thinking of making the review for chapter 2 of Andoyman's Ang Sumpa once the second part is released. But I changed my mind and decided to make a review of part 1.

The first part of the second chapter starts us with a nice storytelling of a childhood incident that happened between President Enrique Ortega and Arman. Enrique had almost fallen off a cliff if it wasn't for Arman who helped him out of danger. Surely, this incident will never be forgotten by anyone who underwent any type of near death experience. This part ended with Arman thinking that the President's death might not have been due to a suicide at all. Murder was the primary cause that was playing on his mind.

This is one of the many interesting stories that can be found in Komikon.

The art and story are good. The only troublesome part is that its a bit of a struggle to wait for the next Komikon in hopes of getting the next part or chapter of the story. As a reader, the story aspires and gives us that feeling of knowing everything and later on being left in shock as the answers to our questions were just in front of our eyes from the very begining.

One of the best features of this comic is the cover and the two page spread that features the title of the comic. In the two page spread, the title divides the page horizontally. The illustrations portray Arman on the left and President Enriquez on the right. Above the title, a scene regarding their childhood is shown. However, below the title, the present situation is the one illustrated. This two page spread is really a nice concept.

Andoyman's work in Ang Sumpa might be the local detective counterpart of Trese. Instead of dealing with the paranormal, this comic will give us a view on how strong the mind is in solving cases by having a keen observation. So far, this is a must buy in every Komikon.

They can be seen at:

Andoyman

Facebook Page: "Andoyman"

http://www.andoyman.wordpress.com

Super Gi

http://www.jgifederizo.wordpress.com

Comics: Mang Jose: Ang Superhero-ng Naniningil! (Preview)

Story by: Gabriel Chee Kee

Pencil by: Ace Enriquez

Inks by: Allan Burdeos with Carina Altomonte

Alamat Comics

As the Ber months start, Winter Komikon 2014 will just be around the corner as an early Christmas gift to most comic lovers.

Having that in mind, a nice flashback to some of my previous purchases led me into discovering once again a comic preview from Alamat Comics.

The preview of Mang Jose: Ang Superhero-ng Naniningil! contains a short teaser of the story and some sketches. It also features a nice pin-up sketch by Raymund Bermudez.

The story looks promising. The only problem is that this preview copy that I have is around 2 years old. I just wonder if this story will finally be released in the upcoming Komikon.

Comics: Tonio Tikbalang ~ Volume 1

BIC0069
Illustration and Story by: Jake Vicente

Black Ink Comics
(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

"Naniniwala ka ba sa mga enkanto,

tikbalang, kapre, sirena, duwende,

at iba pang mga lamang-lupa?

Paano kung totoo sila?

Paano kung namumuhay

sila sa ating mundo?

Paano kung ang inaaway at

inaasar natin sa eskuwelahan

ay isa palang enkanto na

nagpapanggap lang na tao?

Ano sa tingin mo ang mga

problemang hinaharap ng mga

enkanto na nagpapanggap na tao

at ano ang dahilan kung bakit

ginagawa nila ito?"

Tonio Tikbalang is a new series from Black Ink Comics. Created by Jake Vicente who is also an artist for Ink Jinks, we are given a story that revolves around the life of the offsprings of supernatural creatures that are part of our Philippine folklore. This volume contains 3 chapters. They are titled; "Hiwaga ng Kasaysayan", "Bigat ng Kamay, Tibay ng Loob" and "May Kaibigan Ka".

The main character of the story is Antonio "Tonio" who is a tikbalang. His bestfriend is Kanto a kapre, whom he usually hangs out with in their school. The other characters are Karissa "Issa" and Alyanna "Anya".

The first story is mainly about history. The pages of life that we should always look back from time to time in order to help us deal with our current problems. Crazy and funny lines were said by the characters in this chapter. It is seen mostly on page 10 wherein Tonio's father explains why tikbalangs should not fall in love with a human.

The second story deals mostly on fighting. It teaches us that fighting is wrong. If anyone challenges us into a duel, one should keep in mind that there is always a more nobler way to deal with it.

The third story is a nice closure for this volume as it shows that every man or creature is always in need of a company. One way to break off one's loneliness is to change your status from being unapproachable and replace it into being a friendly face to others.

This is a nice deviation from Jake Vicente's usually rated OT stories. I can say that despite the humor that has two interpretations on page 10, this could actually be a nice material to teach values to a kid. Each story combined with the nice and light atmosphered illustrations makes this book worth buying. Add in the humor that the creator has written. It gives the right formula if your looking for a nice relaxing story.

More of the creator's works can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Estranger"

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

Twitter: @BlackInkComics