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"