23 Responses to “Disappointing”

1. Reno on July 10th, 2009 1:51 pm

   The first time I saw you post this, i knew I had seen it before. I just assumed that I saw that old Tagalog Klasiks cover years ago. After seeing this post, I remembered I saw it in one of Mang Hal’s (Santiago) Leyendecker books.

   Sorry for not recalling it earlier and alerting you about it.

2. Eusebio Yu on July 10th, 2009 8:58 pm

   Gerry,

   You can only worry about things which you can control. What others do is their business. It sucks being made to believe something which is proven false. But the fact remains: these types of practices will continue as sure as the sun will rise. You’re right- there are probably more of this that hasn’t been discovered YET. But you know what they say – it’s only cheating if you get caught.

3. Gerry Alanguilan on July 10th, 2009 9:27 pm

   I’d disagree with that. It’s still cheating even if you don’t get caught. And if a cheater’s conscience doesn’t bother him, then he’s a cold cold bastard.

4. auggie on July 10th, 2009 9:39 pm

   Gerry,

   Yes, but you gotta remember it within the context of the times. In 1956, ACE Publications didn’t have any idea of swipes, copyright infringements, piracy, rip-offs etc. They didn’t have any clues either of political correctnes. It was a very different time.

5. kc cordero on July 11th, 2009 12:04 am

   auggie,
   tama ka, auggie, it was a different time. mahigpit ang roces family sa pagsunod sa mga patakaran sa copyright kahit pa sa pag-aari mismo ng kumpanya ang materials. nasuspinde ako noon dahil gumamit ako ng photo from mod magazine at inilagay ko sa komiks nang hindi nagpaalam. akala ko kasi dahil iisa namang publishing, pwede na.
   ang alam ko noon ay talagang nagpapaalam pa sila sa pinagkukunan ng materials abroad bago gamitin kasi nakikita ko ang mga correspondence.
   pero, oo, puwede ring ginamit nang hindi ipinagpaalam.
   sa case naman ng “the artwork was altered slightly”, kung kinopya sa photograph, manu-mano pa kasi noong time na ‘yun ang color separation. kukunan ng half tone shot sa vertical camera ang image, gagawa ng apat na contacts (separation) at dito maglalagay ng opaque manually ang art director para mapalabas ang cmyk–na kadalasan ay malayong makuha ang tunay na kulay lalo na kung newsprint ang papel.

6. Robby Villabona on July 11th, 2009 12:41 am

   Auggie,

   I find that very hard to believe. If anybody would be aware of copyright law, then it would be a publishing business (just watched on TV this morning that there apparently was a copyright dispute between the producers of Nosferatu and the daughter of Bram Stoker). And wasn’t this the age when a lot of movies were based on comic serials?

   Publishers thrived *because* of such laws, not in spite of it. I’m sure the big companies were aware of them, if only to protect their own output from infringement.

7. Jose Mari Lee on July 11th, 2009 2:22 am

   “It was a very different time”

   And it’s all because of one thing: The Philippines rejected to sign the
   Berne Convention (or Bern Convention, or International Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works).

   The international copyright agreement adopted by an international conference in Bern (Berne) in 1886 and subsequently modified several times (Berlin, 1908; Rome, 1928; Brussels, 1948; Stockholm, 1967; and Paris, 1971). All these years, RP rejected the agreement.

   I know we would sound really jaded for almost being nonchalant by saying “let sleeping dogs lie” but it was unfortunate that we used to live in a country where most of what we see, hear, and do – are copied from somewhere else. The mentality is now too deeply embedded in many of us that when RP finally signed the agreement in the 90s, every artist hope that things will change. But, even as we hit the keyboard now, I still see a lot of song usage on radio, TV and movies still without any permission from the owner of the copyright. You are only allowed to use THREE LINES of a quote from a song, poem, etc., without the author’s permission. Beyond that, you will need a permission. I see full song lyrics used in Youtube and anywhere else without any permission from the copyright owners. Only when the owners balk that the piece will be removed from Youtube. Otherwise, tuloy ang ligaya. This payaso art was posted by Romeo Tanghal somewhere before. Romy is a Leyendecker fan, you know. He’s got tons of collections, and this is not the only Leyendecker used in komiks before. But then again, we have a fantastic answer to anybody from outside RP if they will ridicule us: we were not signatory to the copyright law then, therefore, many people from outside our country also copied our work. Our folksongs were used in Hollywood and other recordings, we never said anything; Mike Velarde’s (not the El Shaddai guy) DAHIL SA IYO was translated into several languages and recorded by well-known singers allover the world and the guy did not receive a cent of royalty; When WARAY-WARAY was recorded by EARTHA KITT and became a smash hit song, Levi Celerio never got anything from it; when the lowly toy YOYO was brought by US GIs to America and became a well-known US toy allover the world, we did not complain saying, hey, you guys. This toy is ours. Pay us billions of dollars from the revenues you made from this toy!

   We may have gotten off in many ways playing songs in radio, juke boxes, etc., and copying art and what-not from US and elsewhere for free – but we also paid the price in a way.

   So, Gerry. Don’t feel too bad about this Leyendecker piece. We have HISTORY to back us up. Now we’ve learned from history, let’s start anew. If we still refuse to listen like the way that komiks vet who posted a copied character from American comics and called it as his own creation, then I would call it incorrigibility and hope to hell that someone burn him for copyright infringement.

8. Kapre on July 11th, 2009 4:18 am

   Maaring mali ako, pero parang traced painting iyong nasa kanan ng nasa kaliwa dahil nag-iba ang maliliit na mga detalya. Hindi kaya ang painting na ito ni Panaligan at saka hindi rin niya kinokopya ang mga gawa ni Leyendecker. Pero hindi natin matiyak, may posibilidad lang na maari rin na gawa ni Panaligan iyong sa kanan.

   Idol ni Alcala si Leyendecker, makikita ninyo ang shading at mga folding ng damit ng mga drawings ni Alcala ay hawig kay Leyendecker. Maaring experimental traced study painting ito ni Alcala, pero wala tayong konkretong batayan dito.

   Maari rin na ni-retouched ng kaunti ang original sa kaliwa at kinunan ng larawan na may filter na kagagawan ng camera department ng Ace Publications.

   Para matiyak na baka nagkakamali tayo ay tanungin ninyo ang malalapit na mga kamag-anak nina Panaligan at Alcala, alam nila ang tungkol dito, at para rin malinis ang mga pangalan ng mga sikat na matatandang artists na ito dahil masama rin ang implikasyon nito sa lahat ng mga pilipino artists. O tanungin ninyo ang editor ng komiks kung saan lumabas ang cover na ito at si Dennis Villegas rin dahil maraming alam ito sa history ng Ace Publications, baka alam nila kung sinong buang ang promotor nito.

   Ayan, sabi nga ni JM, ginising na ninyo ang natutulog na mga aso, baka hindi na ninyo kayang patulugin uli.

9. Ed on July 11th, 2009 12:08 pm

   Ngayon wala ng lusot mga nangongopya dahil sa internet. Dami minsan ng mga art theft sa DA. Pati ba naman si Whilce Portacio ninanakawan pa ng drawing at sabing gawa nila.

   Buti na lang wala pang nagnanakaw ng work ko…kung meron man sana mainform ako. :)

   It is disturbing to see the artwork above…and yes, disappointing na rin. :-[

10. Pinoy Comics USA on July 11th, 2009 9:56 pm

    Gerry, Guys,
    Let’s hold our horses. Maybe we’re putting the cart before the horse here. There’s one other scenario, that I can think of, no matter how far-fetch. Gerry says this is not a swipe (swipe is copying to make it look like yours), and I completely agree, I studied both pictures and they’re exactly the same except for the printing process, which was probably letterpress for Payaso, which is not as good as the Post reproduction. Ace was a respected publication, owned by the Roces family who also owned a respected newspaper, The Manila Times. What if, and it is possible, that they actually got Leyendecker’s permission to use the cover for Payaso? None of the artists involve or any ACE publication artists signed it or claimed it was theirs. Has anybody checked the inside pages to see if somewhere Leyendecker was at least given credit. As I said it is far-fetched, but unless otherwise proven to be stolen, we have to assume this was a legitimate use of the picture.
    Rod

11. auggie on July 11th, 2009 10:58 pm

    JM,

    You are right. Very egregious tayo kung mag- violate ng BERNE CONVENTION. Ewan ko kung nag paalam yung mga producers ng JOHN & MARSHA, at saka isang noon show noon. Mga music ni QUINCY JONES ( producer ng mga monster hits ni Michael Jackson)yung mga ginagamit nilang musical score. Natatandaan ko pa ang title ng isang track ni Quincy, RUBBER DUCKY, alam ko dahil mi vinyl album ako nito noon. Saka isang telenovela, ang ginamit naman na score eh yung ki ENNIO MORRICONE, sa ONCE UPON THE TIME IN THE WEST.

    On the contemporary scene: yung ad ng MICAELA, eh rip -off yun sa foto ni RICHARD AVEDON, kung saan mi pumupulupot na python sa nude na NATASHA KINSKI. Ang ganda ng composition. Yung rip-off version, mi ahas din si Dawn Zulueta, albino na sawa, pero mi underwear siya, at masama ang pulupot ng ahas, pangit tingnan.

12. Gerry Alanguilan on July 12th, 2009 7:10 am

    Hello Rod! The original Leyendecker cover was published in December of 1931. Leyendecker himself passed away in 1951. The cover was used as a Payaso cover in 1953. Admittedly, that doesn’t explain anything, except perhaps the possibility that permission directly from Leyendecker was never gotten. They could have gotten it from the copyright holders of course.

    I have it in my gut that it wasn’t likely for a few reasons.

    1. If they were legitimately using Leyendecker’s cover, they would have indicated it so somewhere. It’s like getting a high profile import in your team. You would want to use that to advertise your product. If for instance Sacred Mountain got permission from Alex Ross to use one of his artworks as the cover to an issue of Bayan Knights, they would have bannered Alex Ross’s name on it.

    2. I have the issue in question, and after inspecting it thoroughly, there is no mention of JC Leyendecker at all in the comic book. There is, however, copyright indicia which says, and I translate, “Any similarity to any person real or imagined is not intended. All the contents of this issue is owned by Tagalog Klasiks, and should never be used without the permission of ACE Publications.”

    3. The fact that Leyendecker’s signature was removed.

    4. The original cover was originally intended as a Christmas cover. To appropriate the image for a different intent, to alter the artwork in any way to portray an existing character, are grounds for me as an artist not to give permission for the use of my work. I’m of the opinion that Leyendecker, had he been alive, would have never given permission for his artwork to be used in this manner.

13. Gerry Alanguilan on July 12th, 2009 7:47 am

    Auggie… “Egregious”, that’s a really funny word to me now. Nothing at all to do with this topic, but if you haven’t seen the British TV series “League of Gentlemen”, I strongly urge you to. They have an “Egregious” skit that’s absolutely hysterical.

14. Gerry Alanguilan on July 12th, 2009 7:50 am

    Rod, there is however, another possibility. ACE publications may have had no idea this was another artist’s work. A local artist might have altered it, and submitted it himself as his own work.

15. Philip Tan on July 12th, 2009 10:10 am

    I wonder how possible it is to track down who was the editor of that book the time it came out? .. then all the guessing will be put to rest… OR maybe the credits can tell you who was the editor.. and if he/she is still around, then things will be easier, yes? : )

16. Jose Mari Lee on July 12th, 2009 11:11 am

    Auggie:

    The Roces magazines, if you look at the old copies of 1950s, 60s & 70s, were full of foreign articles and or photos, which I suspect were just used without permission because there were no credits where the photos came from and some of the articles have no bylines either. Even POGI komiks, for instance, used many articles with photos in them with Caucasian people in them yet no credits whatsoever. English articles were translated into tagalog, and voila! May article na. Naturalmente, dahil wala namang magrereklamo, eh, di everybody happy in da pilipins. Nakakatawa nga, minsan ay may na-publish doon na pinik-up verbatim from Alfred Kinsey of the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

    HHHHHHHHHHH.
    Baka pati si DR. RUTH nakopyahan din, eh.

    In my TV show ALINDOG, our theme song was the music from CARRIE. Nang mag-reklamo ako na mag-compose kami ng original, pinagtawanan ako ng mga executives. “Ayaw mo bang may easy recall na ang theme song ng show?” O, laban ka rito?
    Yung mga spinners natin noong 1970s ay nagpipiyesta sa kagagamit ng mga well-known recordings na walang pahintulot. Iyong Channel 2 noon, ang station ID ay ginamit ang sound ng CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. O, laban ka uli diyan? At ang Atlas at GASI noong 1970s ay biglang nagsa-WARREN. Porke’t nakita ng mga publishers na napakalakas ng circulation ni VAMPIRELLA, aba’y halos lahat ng drawing ay mukha ni VAMPIRELLA. Tuloy, may mga kuwento akong contemporary, nang masaksihan ko ang komiks, PERIOD PIECE bigla ang dating. Paano, yung illustrator, pinagsabihang kopyahin ang costume nina Maroto, Gonzales et al.

    HHHHHHHHHHH.

    Hindi ba’t RIDICULOUS ito?

    Tama ka, what the publishers were doing was an egregious abuse of copyright. I may sound too callous, but this sort of thing doesn’t surprise and/or bother me anymore. The swiping was rampant and it was done whereever, everywhere, and forever.

    It’s very simple. We were not liable in any way since other countries can also steal anything from us (can you imagine that our very own Banaba tree which is a very good source of remedy for Kidney ailments, is now patented by Japan)?
    We have the tree in the Philippines, yet Filipinos can no longer market it because Japan now owns the patent for its medicinal value? This one shocks me, really. It’s so ridiculous it’s shocking. But, then again, this thingy can happen onli in da Pilipins because we allow the foreigners to do it. Maybe you guys should vote for a candidate whose platform was like that of CARLOS GARCIA: “FILIPINO FIRST POLICY.” Masyado nang naaabuso ang mga Filipinos.

    Gerry:

    I think that this Leyendecker art is not an exception. It is indeed part and parcel of the old practice in olden days where somebody, anybody, everybody, and busybody plagiarist would do – like inhaling and/or exhaling. To tell you the truth, I think those guys who did this didn’t even think he was ripping off someone.

    It’s sad, I know. But the only thing we can do about it is: let bygones be bygones. I think the younger generation has the awareness now of what is going on out there. Besides, now that RP has signed the agreement, there will be complaints happening if the artists don’t clean up their acts.

    Maybe this practice will have an end eventually. And by then, we will be able to produce world class songs like the ones attempted by George Canseco, such as MY DAUGHTER (shockingly not available anywhere!); RAIN; or D’amarillo’s ONE DAY. Ironically, EFREN MONTES’ KISS ME, KISS ME, is AVAILABLE! Yung GRAMMY AWARD WINNER ni CANSECO, wala. Yung infantile song, available.
    Hmmm, something’s rotten in Bocaue, Bulacan?

    By then siguro, tayo naman ang magrereklamo dahil tayo naman ang gagayahin ng mga puto maya.

    :)

17. auggie on July 12th, 2009 11:20 am

    Philip,

    That’s a long shot, considering that it was 1953. The editor maybe is long gone. But Gerry is right, the illustrator maybe has passed it of as his own.The editor maybe clueless about Leyendecker.

18. Pinoy Comics USA on July 12th, 2009 11:43 am

    Gerry,
    Shown below is the posting you did 3/22/2005 concerning the Leyendecker/Payaso cover. It seems Noly Panaligan did it, as confirmed by his son, Hero, in an email to you. I’m guessing here that what Hero probably saw was the Leyendecker art being redone with a new background. We know he didn’t do studies of it. No, maybe he did do studies of it, maybe he was copying the painting with every intention of using it for the cover, then in the end decided to use the actual reproduction instead of copying it.
    Rod

    It’s by Noly Panaligan!

    I’ve finally confirmed the artist of the cover to Tagalog Klasiks #109 featured in the March 16 entry below. Noly Panaligan’s son Hero sent an email to confirm that the painting was done by his father, who was the writer and artist of Payaso currently being serialized on the pages of Tagalog Klasiks at the time.

    Hero recalls seeing studies of the above painting in his grandmother’s house in Malibay.

    Posted 3/22/2005 03:01:00 PM by Gerry Alanguilan

19. Jose Mari Lee on July 12th, 2009 1:19 pm

    “It’s by Noly Panaligan!”

    Ouch! Now it’s like a kick in the teeth!
    Kinopya nga.

20. ROMIWORKS® Studios on July 12th, 2009 1:32 pm

    TSK! TSK! kaya di na siguro nilagyan ng signature dahil nga ripped yung artwork sa cover matagal ko nang nakita yang cover ng TSEP pero di ko na naalala itong sa Tagalog Klasiks ang alam kong humanga kay Leyendecker ay itong si alfredo alcala base sa kanyang talambuhay – at mukhang ginamitan pa ng lightbox eksakto ang sukat hehe. BE ORIGINAL!!!

21. Kapre on July 12th, 2009 2:10 pm

    Anak ng kapre, nasabi nga ni JM na “huwag na ninyong gisingin ang natutulog na mga aso.”

    Pero ginising ni Gerry ang aso, pinakawalan naman ni Rod, meron tuloy isang nakagat, pero ang na-RABIES ay ang lahat na mga pinoy na mga dibuhista. Tumigil na kayo, metrocom ini si JM, napapaligiran kayo niya, at baka magalit na ito ng husto at paghahambalosin tuloy kayo ng DOS-POR-DOS, hhhhhhh. Hindi, KUWATRO-POR-KUWATRO pala iyong kay JM.

22. Pinoy Comics USA on July 12th, 2009 11:49 pm

    Kapre, JM, Gerry,
    In the deference to the late Noly Panaligan, yes, we definitely should put this to rest. We’ll never know why he did it, but in fairness, this was a fairly common occurrence in those times: foreign illustrations being used on the pages of local magazines. Maybe he was pressed for a deadline, or maybe he did it as a homage to the the great artist that Leyendecker was, we’ll never know.
    Rod

23. Gerry Alanguilan on July 13th, 2009 12:12 am

    Rod, it’s one of the points that I raised in this blog. It’s been insisted that this issue be put to rest. But realistically, how can we? Like you said, this kind of thing was very rampant before. If ever I’m going to continue with the online museum, every artwork I post there now I’ll be thinking if it was copied from something else. And if it was, SOMEONE out there will see it and find out, and expose it for himself. Already, I have people emailing me scans of things which were the original sources of some artworks already posted.

    We can put this Payaso issue to rest now, but what if tomorrow I post something else, proudly thinking that it was originally Filipino made. And then it turns out it was copied from Frank Frazetta or Alex Raymond? The thing is, I would not know until someone notices it. In the meantime, it’s up there for all to see, and I end up looking foolish and stupid, like I have for years with this Payaso cover.