Novels: His First, Her Last: The Incredible True Story of an American Lost in the Philippines

Story by: Jonathan Sturak

Pendan Publishing
(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

A story based on the actual experiences by the writer on the Filipino culture, traditions and even some of the problems that the country have. It gives another perspective to a life in the Philippines through the eyes of a tourist.

Jason Stefanik, the main character of the story, deals with the strange culture the Philippines has to offer. Such example to that is the Filipino's habit of saying "nosebleed" if they converse with too much English. Then there's also the beauty that the Filipino's have in their genes that most of its citizens appears to be younger looking. This was observed among a group of nurses or nursing students that were mistaken for a group of high school students. The novel also takes into account the negative side of the country. Such as the health care system, especially since I'm assuming that he might have been admitted in a government hospital that is poorly funded. There's also the justice system, in which for a crime of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, multiple physical injuries, and damage to property the maximum penalty that can be carried out is six months in jail. Although I'm not much versed in the accuracy of the penalty that can be imposed on such crimes, in my opinion it is a bit light especially since the incident resulted in the death of an individual. The main character, as the story progresses, becomes a bit more likable especially since his image started out to be a mother's boy who complained practically about anything and rushes on the time he can finally get back to America. It is from that image that he transforms into a very determined and loving boyfriend that will do everything to look for his love one, no matter what happens. He does this despite the current condition his body is after the accident.

The novel provides some good tips on how to be a "smart" tourist in the Philippines and at the same it also illustrates some of the tourist attractions that can be on your to see list, such as Intramuros. It also gives a few "must know" for a tourist new to the culture that the country has. The story of Jason's adventure is an interesting insight and narration of the experiences that the author had. Amidst the bad experience that he had due to the accident, Sturak still manages to come up with a story that talks about love and hope despite the tragedy that takes place in a country rich with heritage.

The writer can be seen at:

www.sturak.com

Comics: Ten Grand ~ Issue 3: Dark And Terrible Things

Story by: J. Michael Straczynski

Illustrated by: Ben Templesmith

Rated: M / Mature

Joe's Comics

Image Comics
(5/5 ★★★★★)

The story continues after Debbie's death due to her act of jumping off a building. This act was made after a demon possessed her. This event also led to Joe's death as he tried to save her. The only difference soon after was that he came back alive but Debbie didn't.

In this issue, Joe finds Sarah, Debbie's sister, unfortunately on the same county morgue. An interesting object, which he calls as a soul-stone is shortly introduced that has the capacity to talk with a dead body's residual soul. However, amidst this tool, it only left him a dead end. Thus, clues for this case were closing one after the other. The story of how Joe and Laura had met was told in this issue. It was told that they had met after Joe incurred an accident while doing his job as a button man. The issue ends with Laura being pulled out of the place that both of them considered to be heaven due to the safety it gives to both her and Joe. After being unconscious for some time, Laura then awakens in front of the person, who is responsible for her death, in a place Joe last expects her to be in.

The art and story continues to be impressive. There's just a typographical error on the 2nd page on the part wherein it narrates the previous events that occurred in the 2nd issue of Ten Grand. This 3rd issue was well told most especially by Templesmith in his illustrations, wherein the emotions of the characters can already tell the story without many lines needed. My favorite panel in this issue would be the part wherein there are three illustrations of Joe and Laura in a single page. In the middle, which is also the largest scene, shows them to be at the beach. The lower left scene shows them having a meal while on the other side shows them to be in a car. This illustration of love is a good page made by Templesmith. This issue continues to show a story of love beyond death, amidst the presence of angels and demons. It still is one sweet love story.

"Love is the only thing worth dying for. I should know, I've done it plenty of times." - Joe Fitzgerald

More of Ten Grand can be seen at:

Joe's Comics: www.studiojms.com

Image Comics, Inc.: www.imagecomics.com

Comics: Tibok ng Utak ~ Blg. 1: Mercedes sa Kalawakan!

Story by: Mercedes Cabral

Illustrated by: Manix Abrera

National Book Development Board
(5/5 ★★★★★)

This is a free comic given away to the first 100 individuals who lined up in the NBDB (National Book Development Board) booth last Winter Komikon 2013. The signing for this freebie caused a blockage of around 3 booths, if I remembered it correctly, due to the long line it created. It took me around 2 hours before I finally got my turn and have it signed by it's creators.

The story starts with the character of Mercedes being stuck out in outer space. It gives a little bit of humor by making reference to the 2013 movie Gravity and using her character's body as a spaceship after finding a planet nearby. She then lands on it by using her belly. As the story continues, the character shares on how dreams are created. It gives the very origin on where some of the best literature came from, which is through dreams. This story, which was written by Mercedes, is somehow near to how Manix, the illustrator, creates Kikomachine Komix. That is no mater how bizarre and strange the story goes, it certainly holds an important message.

This freebie generally aims to capture the interest of the attendees of Komikon to also go and attend ReaderCon. It also shows the primary function and vision of the NBDB on encouraging people to read more. This is a nice and free treat that I got from the NBDB. Hope you were also among the lucky 100 individuals who also got this from the 2013 Winter Komikon.

Events: Winners of the 2013 Filipino Readers' Choice Awards

I wasn't able to attend the Filipino ReaderCon 2013 that was held last December 7, 2013 at the Rizal Library, Ateneo De Manila University.

Well just to give an update regarding my previous posts on the 2013 Filipino Readers' Choice Awards (FRCA). These are the winners that were announced for each category.

Children's Picture Book

Mga Saranggola sa Tag-ulan (Kites in the Rain)

by Eugene Evasco (Story) and Bernadette Solina-Wolf (LG&M Corporation)

Chick Lit

That Kind of Guy

by Mina V. Esguerra (Summit Books)

Novel in English

Woman in a Frame

by Raissa Rivera Falgui (Flipside Publishing)

Novel in Filipino

Territorio de los Hombres Batch 6: Marcial Ortega

by Vanessa (Precious Pages Corporation)

Comics / Graphic Novels

Trese 5: Midnight Tribunal

by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (Visprint)

Short Story Anthology

Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang (Volume 2)

by Severino O. Reyes, Christine S. Bellen, Rebecca T. Anonuevo and Felix Mago Miguel (Tahanan Books)

Essay Anthology

Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years

by Susan F. Quimpo and Nathan Gilbert Quimpo (Anvil)

Poetry

Lita: Poems on Women

by the Cavite Young Writers Association (Balangay Books)

Congratulations to all the winners and most especially to the fans of each literature who showed support in nominating and voting for their favorite books.

Events: Winter Komikon 2013

The much awaited 2nd komikon, which are reffered by some as the Winter Komikon, happened last November 16, 2013 at the Bayanihan Center, Pasig City. This komikon occurs annually during the month of either October or November. It is also the second chance that one could attend yearly if you happened to miss the annual Summer Komikon.

Komikon is currently on its 9th year and is still counting. It was good to see that the event catalog made for this komikon was of the same concept as with the event catalog last Indieket 2013. It holds a blank cover which is free to be played around and made personalized by the attendees by having it sketched or doodled by their favorite artist/s. For the contents of the event catalog, I guess there were some non-essential things on the floor plan page such as the letters under the Komikon Booths that are supposed to be a legend for its location on the map. I guess it could just have been replaced with an asterisk instead.

The other freebies you can get upon entering the lobby is a Bone Sourcebook of Image Comics, an event flier for PICCA (Philippine International Creative Content & Arts) Fest 5 that occurs on MK Tan Hall, and this nice art that I presume was made either by the students or teachers from CIIT (Cosmopoint International Institute of Technology) for advertising.

Clockwise from upper right:
[1] the poster from CIIT, [2] the Bone Comic
[3] the PICCA Fest 5 Event Flier, [4] aonther flier from CIIT.
In the middle is the look of the ticket for this year's Winter Komikon 2013

Every komikon that I attend is memorable and special. The highlight for this event is the free comic, which was produced by the NBDB (National Book Development Board), that is being given to the first 100 in their booth. It is written by Mercedes Cabral and illustrated by Manix Abrera which ended up having Tibok ng Utak Blg. 1. As usual since Manix is involve with this literature, a long line emerged and it took me 2 hours before he got to sign my comic and the event catalog.

 

The next thing that highlighted this event was my close and personal encounter with Eliza Victoria, writer of Project 17 and A Bottle of Storm Clouds are just some of her works. I failed to find her during Aklatan 2013, wherein she launched Project 17. Thus, I wasn't able to bring the books to have them signed this komikon. Well there are still some goodies that I got from her which included Metro Serye No. 1 in which the illustration was done by Manix.

Eliza Victoria's Unseen Moon on the left and Metro Serye No. 1 on the right.

These are the free calling cards with great designs at the back that I got from Eliza Victoria

Another lucky thing that I was able to get was Batch 72 of Alamat Comics. I was lucky enough to be able to get this from Sir. Gerry Alanguilan's table. It was rather funny as they said that it was just being sold on their table and they were just tasked to be the distributor eventhough the artists and writer are also on the event although they are stationed on a different area.

So far that goes for my day in komikon. The rest of the memories from this komikon would be from the new stash of comics that I had purchased on that day.

Here are the things that I got from Winter Komikon 2013:

• Batch 72 (Issues No. 1, 2 and 3)
• Alamat Comics
• Benjo #1 Bilangguan
• Edgar Daryll Cumigad and Jose Paolo De Torres
• Spanton Productions
• Kubori Kikiam Omnibus
• Adult Humor
• Michael David, Melvin Calingo
• Point Zero
• Unseen Moon
• Eliza Victoria
• Zombinoy (Issues No. 1 and 2)
• Pelikomiks Studios
• Sixty Six (Chapter 2)
• Russel Molina and Ian Sta. Maria
• Metro Serye (Issue No. 1)
• Eliza Victoria and Manix Abrera
• WIP [Work In Progress] (Issue No. 1)
• Hub Pacheco and Ted Pavon
• Higante (Episode 1)
•  Geonard Yleana
• Pelikomiks Studios
• Maktan 1521 (Volume No. 1)
• Tepai Pascual
• Meganon Comics
• One Beer Too Many
• Slice of Life
• hazardous-bastard
• Inkjinks
• Overated
• Slice of Life
• hazardous-bastard
• Inkjinks
• Mythspace: Liftoff (Issues No. 1, 2, and 3)
• Action / Space Opera
• Koi Carreon / Paolo Chikiamco
• Rocket Kapre
• Mythspace: Uncommon Ground
• Noir / Science Fiction
• Mico Dimagiba / Paolo Chikiamco
• Rocket Kapre

Comics: Afterlife with Archie ~ Issue 1

Story by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Illustrated by: Francesco Francavilla

Rated: Teen+ , Violence and Mature Content
Archie Comics
(5/5 ★★★★★)

(2nd Printing Cover by Francesco Francavilla)

"This Is How The End Of The World Begins..,

All hell breaks loose when a fateful

accident sets a series of events in motion

that will threaten the town of Riverdale like

never before!  When the dead begin to rise,

craving human flesh, it's up to Archie,

Betty & Veronica to fight for their lives

against the zombie hordes led by their

former pal, Jughead..."

Archie combined with zombies? Sounds crazy right. But that very idea is what caught my attention in making a reservation for this comic in Comic Odyssey. The cover that I got so far is the 2nd printing variant by Francesco Francavilla.

This is an interesting comic. It mixes a lot of things to the Archie universe. So far we have seen zombies, then there's the special appearance of Sabrina, the teenage witch, along with her aunts and Salem. There's also these two characters from Archie's high school wherein they compare notes and make some references to some Hollywood Horror Movies. These alone can give anyone interest into getting a copy of this. I don't want to spoil anymore things regarding the story after mentioning some characters that had crossed over to the Archie universe. So I'll just say that in this issue, we start by having a dead Hotdog, Jughead's dog, and end by having a Jughead zombie or as they call him 'Jugdead'. Aside from the story, the art was good. Although you might wonder why the characters aren't drawn the same way they are usually seen. Well there are two simple reasons that I can think of regarding that. (1) The artist here is different from the one who usually draws the normal Archie comics, and (2) this is an Archie comic that tackles the horror genre seriously. So I had been expecting that this would be the kind of art that this comic would end up to be.

Overall, I recommend to those avid fans of Archie comics, or those glued to anything zombie related or better yet to those who likes both. It is nice for those intrigued by zombies crossing over the plains of known comic universe such as this.

More of Afterlife with Archie can be seen at:

www.afterlifewitharchie.com

Comics: Sixty Six ~ Chapter 2

Story by: Russel Molina

Illustrated by: Ian Sta. Maria
(5/5 ★★★★★)

"Si Celestino Cabal.

Kabebertdey niya lang.

Mayroon siyang nakuhang regalo

na ngayo'y unti-unti niyang binubuksan.

Sabi nga ng mga matatanda,

huli man daw at magaling,

naihahabol din.

Kaya 'wag kang mag-alala,
tatanda ka rin."

The story continues after Mang Tino saves his wife after nearly being run over by a truck. During this incident, an unimaginable thing happened and he was able to stop the truck with his new found super powers. He tested up to what extent he can now do by lifting up heavy objects such as a cement mixer and playing around with a wrecking iron ball. There were a lot of funny moments here as the main character checked the extent of his new found superhuman powers. One of those was wherein a scene shows Mang Tino throwing a basketball high up into the air up to the extent that it was even seen by two pilots of an airplane. There's also a scene with Soling, the helper in Mang Tino's residence that was referred to as Kurdapya in the 1st chapter of the comic, wherein she narrates a lot of famous lines from Filipino movies. Some historical events in Philippine history was also noted here such as the bombing that took place in Plaza Miranda which could be a reference to the August 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing which killed 9 people and left 100 injured. But I guess despite all of that, the story in the end will be about a 66 year old man with superhuman powers showing his love to his wife that is having bouts of memory loss due to old age. The origin of why a senior citizen had developed superpowers on his 66th birthday would still be a question that we would be looking forward to be answered in the future.

I must say that the art, the story, and even the quality of the paper used was really worth it in deciding to continue on following this comic. The cover art was nice and it showed a scene in this comic wherein Mang Tino tries out flying. The writer and the artist, if you at least know Skyworld, would already have given you an impression that this will come out to be a great series. The elements of superpowers, humor, pinoy culture, and love is evident in the story. It is recommended to get a copy especially since it is available at some local comic book stores such as Comic Odyssey and Filbar's.

More of Sixty Six can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Sixty Six"

They can be contacted at / seen on:

Russel Molina

rusmolina@yahoo.com

Ian Sta. Maria

iamiansm@yahoo.com

iantoy.deviantart.com

Comics: Black Ink Comics' Shortcuts ~ Manga: Some Sweat, Some Love / A Decade of Waiting / The Tree of Happy Leaves

BIC0012

(4/5 ★★★★☆)

The copy that I got was from the first printing so most of my complains would be regarding the layout that was done to this comic book. Because for me it was poorly done due to parts of the texts and illustrations that can't be seen.

This Black Ink Shortcuts contains stories which were drawn in the manga style of art. In this compilation, it features three stories about love which are titled, "Some Sweat, Some Love", "A Decade of Waiting", and "The Tree of Happy Leaves". The cover art features the three stories that are included in this compilation.

Some Sweat, Some Love

Story by: Nald Tabuzo

Illustrated by: Jeff Nice

Black Ink Comics

"It starts when they meet in a gym.

Misty wants to loose weight for Kim.

Adron wants to look brawny for Jigs.

Friendship starts and love happens.

But does physical appearance really matters?"

This is a nice short story. It talks of love that should not be dictated by society. Such as society's opinion of only those who are beautiful should end up together. This story talks of that subject matter. It shows that love should not be contained to the figure of a person. Because love happens to people of all shapes and sizes. We should not be dictated by society on who we should love and force ourselves to change in order to be of a good match to that person. The story was well written, although I found a grammatical error on the short synopsis that was written on the back cover of the book. The illustration was nice that really went along with the story. There's just a funny thing that I noticed on the art on the lower left panel of page 9. In the scene, the screen of the mobile phone shows PJMA 3G. I don't know if a name of that network exists or near to those initials exits. I just found it really funny. The only downside that I could say for this part is the layout that was done which hinder readers to be able to read the texts and see the illustrations more clearly. But in general, the story is a good one.

A Decade of Waiting

Story by: Herbs Navasca

Illustrated by: Enjelia Villanueva

Black Ink Comics

"We live in such a small world.

It is possible that we have crossed paths before...

We just didn't have the chance to truly meet.

But if you had the chance to know me,

I'm sure you'd fall for me."

Among the three stories in this compilation, I would say that this would be my favorite. It talks of the soul mate kind of love. It says that we might have already seen or encounter face to face our soul mate. We just didn't really notice them. But if you can only look back, you might notice that they had been your seatmate in a bus or even the person in front of you in the grocery. As I quote from page 23, "We have seen each other. You just weren't looking." The art was nice and i really liked the cover art, the one that can be seen in the book, was nice. The only downside was the layout that had been done, in which the art and text near the spine of the book can't be seen.

The Tree of Happy Leaves

Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Jayron Zapanta

Black Ink Comics

"Annika loves Eiji dearly.

But Eiji has been forever ignoring her.

Then a dry, golden leaf falls on Annika's head.

Annika knows a thing or two about leaves.

"Finally," she smiles, "I can make Eiji fall for me...""

This is a cute story. It talks of a legend regarding a magical tree that bears golden leaves. It was said that during a full moon, the leaves were said to become magical. You would just take home one of the leaves that would fall. Then by writing the name of your beloved on it, the leaf would wield its power and grant anyone's wish about love. Its one of those stories that you would usually encounter in the movies. The story was nice as well with the illustration that accompanied it. The only downside, which is the same with the other two stories, was the poor layout that had been done.

This compilation holds nice love stories. I don't know if the authors had conspired on one thing but, for the stories "Some Sweat, Some Love" and "The Tree of Happy Leaves", I saw that they had some hunger for lasagna. Maybe they were eating lasagna while they were writing the story, but it was a reappearing object in the course of the two stories. The only downside was the layout that had been done. This prevents us from seeing the rest of the texts and illustrations that are near the spine of the book. Things like that would really take a toll in a reader's likeness of a book, whether it may be a graphic novel, comics or just an ordinary novel book. If it was seen that the layout for printing was not really checked by the one in charge of it before it gets printed, the reader then would sometimes think if he is holding a literature that is of poor quality, even though it was really great. I haven't purchased a new comic from Black Ink Comics for some time but I'm presuming that the next time I get one of those new titles that they are releasing, we could be guaranteed of the improvements it would have due to changes in the layout.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

Comics: Purifying Element ~ Hunt 1: Dark Lady 1

Illustration and Story by: Jake Vicente

Rated: OT / Older Teen Ages 16 +

Ink Jinks Comics
(4/5 ★★★★☆)

"The streets was never been safe. Cars, buses and trucks hail in the morning. But at night, comes the hunter of the dark, the Aswang.

A creature that feeds on the flesh and sips the blood of it's victims.

Now with the creature wrecking havoc in town, it's up to Sean Razor and Kevin Wolf to stop the creature of darkness."

The strange title caught my attention which eventually led me into buying this comic. Although the cover art might not be that attractive, its title will get the attention and make a reader wonder what the story of this comic might be. Even though the cover art of the comic already gives a hint of the subject matter and what we should be expecting from the story.

The art of the comic is good. However, there are still some things that needs to be improved on such as getting the right proportions for the face of the characters at the different angles being focused. There's also the minor detail of being consistent in drawing the characters that must be carried out all throughout the comic. This is seen through the character of the owner of the bar "Tourniquet". I just noticed that in the lower leftmost panel of page 6, the character is drawn without any facial hair that is contrary to the ones drawn on pages 6 and 7. In the editing of the comic's text, I guess there were minor errors that might have escaped the eyes of the creator. These are seen in the synopsis written at the back cover of the comic, wherein few grammatical errors can be seen.

The story starts and ends with a victim of a creature famous in Filipino folklore due to its habit of eating an individual's internal organs, the Aswang. The story revolves around Kevin and Sean, who are now musicians after leaving their dark history of previously being involved in credit card fraud. After seeing the remains of a man with his guts ripped out of his body, they had an idea of what is happening in the town. They had thought of the creature to be an aswang, in which they say it usually nests in the north but somewhat has found its way into living into town and preying upon its citizens. From there, they conjured up a plan on how they would be able to capture the said creature.

In this first issue, there's just a small detail that I can't grasp. That's if Sean and Kevin are experienced in doing this "Aswang Hunting" or are they going to do it for the first time after seeing the remains of a victim it has preyed upon. In their conversations in a diner, it is a bit vague if they only know the normal whereabouts and biology of an aswang or they also had a first hand experience and dealt with it in the past. In general, this comic looks a bit interesting, I just wonder how the story would go in the next issue.

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

Facebook Page: "Estranger"

www.tyrfryt.deviantart.com

More of Ink Jinks Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Ink Jinks Comics"

www.inkjinks.deviantart.com

Comics: Ten Grand ~ Issue 2 (Cover Review)

Cover A: Ben Templesmith

Cover B: Bill Sienkiewicz

(Cover A on the left, Cover B on the right)

Story by: J. Michael Straczynski

Illustrated by: Ben Templesmith

Rated: M / Mature

Joe's Comics

Image Comics

I finally got the other cover for the 2nd issue of Ten Grand. For the 2nd issue, the two different covers were made by Ben Templesmith and Bill Sienkiewicz. The first cover that I was able to purchase was Cover B, which I had used to make the review for the 2nd issue of this comic. It took several weeks before I finally stumbled upon Cover A.

I'll first go over to the 1st cover. In here, the art looks to have been made mostly by pencil. In here, it showed the scene wherein Joe dies and has been given that precious 5 minutes with his love one, Laura. The artist has indeed managed to capture that scene depicting that precious moment, which is a nice event from this issue to be used as the cover. The only downside for me with this cover is the same concerns that I had with the irregular proportions that the artist did to Laura, which I also mentioned on the review of the 1st issue of this comic. It seems strange for me to see Laura, as drawn by Templesmith, to have large hands, which in this case is seen thru the large right hand. I guess it would have been a bit better if the hands were smaller in size. Just the right size or should I say the norm for a woman at the very least, since that is what I had been picturing since it was said over and over in the 1st issue that Laura was really beautiful.

On the other hand, Cover B's art appears to have been made thru the use of watercolors. In here, the scene is a combination of the three characters of the story. It is composed of the angel, whom Joe simply calls as Angel; Laura who appears to be in heaven; and Joe in which he is seen to be holding a gun.

In comparison among the two, I'd say that I prefer cover A more than cover B. It is because of the scene that it highlights for this issue of the comic. It shows the very root of the story despite a plot which involves angels and demons. It shows the unending and undying love of Joe to Laura, in which it is to be regarded literally in this story.

"Love is the only thing worth dying for. I should know. I've done it plenty of times." - Joe Fitzgerald

More of Ten Grand can be seen at:

Joe's Comics: www.studiojms.com

Image Comics, Inc.: www.imagecomics.com