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May

5

The Need for Serious Criticism 2

Filed Under Comics Artists, Creating Comics, Filipino Artists, My Art, My Comics, Philippine Comics | 5 Comments

My first article on the need for serious criticism in local komiks sparked a torrent of discussion not only on this blog but on several other places online. It’s made me consider a lot of the things I’ve said in reaction to the comments. What came out of it is a second article in the form of an interview with Paolo Chikiamco of the Philippine Online Chronicles.

Here are exerpts:

“Now there are no longer any comic book companies. This means an editor is now bypassed when comics are self published. And the industry we have now is a largely self published one. So what we have now is a large comics industry run by many creators who are publishing comics, the quality of which have not gone under any sort of editorial scrutiny. What does this mean? This means a lot of crappy and substandard work will see publication.”

“A 7 year old kid cannot absolutely know how to create comics from the get go. That’s impossible. He has to be taught. He has to be guided. His work has to be critiqued.”

“Personally, I find them (Anonymous persons) without any sort of credibility because their concealment of identity puts their honesty in question right from the start. ”

“Doing comics for fun is all right, but even then, you are creating these things because you want people to read them, and no matter what your intentions, people are going to react. Once a particular work is out there, anyone can chime in and say what they think. You might not think it’s fun anymore when some blog calls your comic book crap. Even if you’re having fun, it’s always best to know what you’re doing and do your best.”

Interview Part 1
Interview Part 2

Thanks Paolo and POC!

Comments

5 Responses to “The Need for Serious Criticism 2”

  1. Leinil yu on May 6th, 2010 7:40 pm

    I do not mind people flooding the local comics market with comics they self publish, regardless of quality the way anyone should be able to sell their videoke recordings.

    well ok, sarcasm turned off, remember the book published years ago that I was bitching about, ger? Even “edited” books can still include substandard work.

  2. AJ Bernardo on June 5th, 2010 1:07 am

    Reopening the can of worms ser? BTW, I don’t think the links are working anymore

  3. Gerry Alanguilan on June 8th, 2010 10:53 am

    AJ…the links are still working.

  4. Michael on June 8th, 2010 12:42 pm

    Here’s an observation…

    Looking at other comic book groups doing their thing to build up a comic book market through community marketing,

    I realize that this approach is quite effective for short-term viral expansion because everybody in the same ship compromises everything in order to have more people jump on the boat…as long as an entry is palatable then add it to the soup…

    Got a super-hero character? Join the club!

    Got a supervillain character? Join the club!

    Even Alamat, I think started off as a mutual-admiration society.

    Eventually, the ship is filled with friends of friends of friends…but is this really a viable way of building a market? Is anybody old enough to remember The Ultraverse from Malibu in the 90s?

    Eventually the ship will sink because of the weight of the dross…all the compromises add up for a very flabby universe of spandex dudes hitting other spandex dudes and not even the best artists drawing the books can save it from oblivion…when the dust settles, the only buyers of the books will be friends of friends of friends. Will that prove to be enough to sustain the books?

    Does one compromise by laying off critical assessment of a comic book’s viablity in favor of a more immediate market expansion?

    Does this work in the same way a church expands it’s denomination via recruitment of friends of friends to tithe and prop up the church?

    Critical assessment should also include consolidation of the working universe where the hodge-podge of characters and their baggage will co-exist.

    I guess in the end, it boils down to a business decision.

    Like showbiz, everyone wants a spot of the limelight…so this need can be turned on its head to create temporary market expansion.

    But you can also gun for a better situation by allowing your own story and character to grab readers on its own merit…and distinguish your product by exploring stories and formats that others overlook.

    Over the years, I realize that Alamat has eventually been very choosy about which projects can carry it’s logo, and the imprint has produced quality comics in recent years…particularly Skyworld.

    Wonder how long it’ll take for other creators to figure out how important it is to make a critical assessment of their content before taking the plunge.

  5. Michael on July 2nd, 2010 2:21 pm

    Just checked out Flor’s blog.

    Lot’s of nice illustrations.

    I give it to the old fart, he CAN draw as well as the best of them, even better than some of the esteemed icons of Pinoy Comics….maybe that’s why he is extremely PROUD of himself.

    UNFORTUNATELY, the old man CAN’T TEACH technique to save his life…

    Sure he covers the basics but How-to-draw books do it better and without the HOT AIR and unwarranted boasting.

    Most of the claims he makes of secret techniques he supposedly achieved long before they became the norm among comic book artists are bogus and not really anything new…and better teachers can describe technique and process more clearly.

    He has a fondness for mumbo jumbo and technical terms that are just his inflated ego’s naming of some basic ideas any smart artist can glean from an illustration.

    And he can’t draw Sci-Fi to save his butt too…check out his mecha…all 70′s themed.

    He is proficient at drawing American styled cartoons that are organic and have animated gestures and is good at exaggeration.

    But the old fart is no match for kids in Dev Art who can draw mecha and manga really well…

    Sayang din…meron sanang maipapamahagi sa ibang artist kaso nauna yung yabang kesa yung malasakit na magturo at mag linaw ng mga ideya at proseso.