11 Responses to “Dante Perez’s The Cursed, The Inkwell Awards”

1. Reno on February 21st, 2008 9:46 am

   Compass Comics’ titles were, I think, ahead of their time. I remember buying this and their other title (I forgot what it was called) and being really impressed with the amount of experimentation going on. It certainly didn’t look like your usual local komiks at that time. Even their “superheroes” were macabre, like that bat-woman at the upper left corner (forgot her name, too) and the other one called Berdugo, I think. If memory serves me right, they even predated Chaos! Comics in the US with this concept of “horror heroes” by a few years.

2. Reno on February 21st, 2008 9:56 am

   Another interesting tidbit about Compass Comics is that they also had a TV commercial for their komiks. I don’t know if any other local comic company has done the same.

3. Rod Samonte on February 22nd, 2008 11:01 am

   Gerry,
   Wow, The Cursed is awesome, powerful comics.
   “Inkers are the whipping boys and girls of comics.” I find this statement quite accurate, for one it’s tough not to be able to have an identity. Ideally pencillers want their styles to stand out not the inkers. That’s why I think many pencillers didn’t like Alfredo Alcala’s inking as whatever he touches looks like his style. Well, except for John Buscema, who I understand, pencils loosely. It must have been a treat to see his loose pencils turned into masterpieces by Alcala’s exquisite linework. Ernie Chan also inked Conan for 20 years and he did well. Nestor Redondo was a horrible inker. His worst works was when he had to ink over somebody. It looked like he just wanted to get it over with. In fact many Pinoy illustrators influenced by Redondo didn’t ink well either as they tend to do brush work looking like Redondo’s, thus the identity of the penciller is lost. Two of the best inkers in American comics right now I think are Richard Friend and Sandra Hope, or at least two whose originals I’ve seen. Friend inked Whilce Portacio’s Batman and Whilce’s style is never compromised. Sandra Hope, also, who inks Humberto Ramos for X-Men and also J. Campbell-Scott. I talked to her and she says she can’t draw figures. She just traces the penciller’s work and she does a great job. She had pages and pages of original X-Men on the table for sale, they were gorgeous, well-inked and I couldn’t find any whitened-out spots where she made a mistake. That is precision inking.
   Rod

4. kc cordero on February 23rd, 2008 9:36 am

   reno,
   compass comics was published then by abs-cbn, thus the tv pluggings.

5. auggie on February 23rd, 2008 10:09 am

   Rod,

   Naalala mo pa ba si Rolly Buenafe ? he was an excellent inker, pero pag kanya ang drowing mi mga diperensya ang anatomy. Kung minsan parang namamaga ang mga kamay. Buhay pa kaya siya ? ala Redondo din ito…..yung ARRGH KOMIKS, pala grupo nila Madz Castrillo at Nonoy Marcelo yun, pero short-lived din. Nakausap ko sa Albay si Dante Perez, painting na talaga ang inaasikaso niya ngayon, maraming exhibits, Abstract expressionism. Cerebral artist itong si Dante, at dating political/editorial cartoonist sa SINGAPORE STRAITS TIMES. Pumunta ako sa bahay nila, sa Daraga, malapit sa airport. Ipinakita niya sa akin ang collection niya ng music CDs, very extensive ! puro orig, galing Singapore. Classic Rock, Fusion, Jazz, prog rock, New Wave… impressed ako.

6. Rod Samonte on February 23rd, 2008 12:40 pm

   Auggie,
   I’d like to see Dante’s abstract work. Malapit na nga sa abstract yung komiks niya. My brother-in-law Felipe Cabrera also worked for years as the political cartoonist too for Singapore Straits Times. He quit a long time ago after saving a lot of money, and went back to Manila. Baka si Dante ang pumalit nung umalis siya. Rolly Buenafe does not ring a bell.
   Rod

7. Reno on February 23rd, 2008 4:40 pm

   Rod, John Buscema actually HATED it when Alcala was inking him!

   From an interview with Roy Thomas in Twomorrows.com:

   RT: At least, even though you weren’t wild about some of those Conan inkers, you at least understood that we had to put somebody on them. Alfredo Alcala, for instance, did a lot of noodling. It was popular. And I still hear people say, “Oh boy, that Ernie Chua,” who was also Ernie Chan-”That Buscema/Chan stuff was great!” That and the stuff with Tony DeZuniga and with Alfredo.
   BUSCEMA: I remember the first time Alcala inked my Conan. I went up to Marvel and ran into one of the editors-Len Wein, or who’s the other guy-Marv Wolfman-in the hallway, and he said, [excitedly] “Oh, you’ve got to see it, John. It’s beautiful.” Alcala was a good artist, but he destroyed my drawing. He would make these girls-now, I draw a pretty good-looking broad-

   RT: You certainly do.
   BUSCEMA: And he would put these eyelashes from 1930.

   Here’s the full article…

   http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/13buscema.html

8. auggie on February 23rd, 2008 5:18 pm

   Felipe Cabrera ? ano ito ni Ram Cabrera ? graduate din sa UST na naging Instructor ko at naging boss ko pa sa IRRI. Naala mo siya ? kamukha ni Hank Marvin ng THE SHADOWS, mi horn-rimmed glasses din, at matikas magdamit, Atenistang-Atenista. Si Ram garnered several gold medal awards sa US, sa graphic design sa mga publications niyang ginawa sa IRRI, Los Banos ( Ford-Rockefeller run) pero neverheared sa Pilipinas. Nalimutan mo na siguro si Rolly Buenafe, mga contemporary ito ni Joel Magpayo at Moises Agualada….

9. Rod Samonte on February 24th, 2008 2:19 am

   Reno,
   Thanks for the link to that Roy Thomas and John Buscema interview. Hindi ko alam na yumao na pala si Buscema. I was actually just guessing, but it looks like he hated everybody who was inking his work. He says it’s not his and didn’t even keep comics that he didn’t ink. He also hates comics, boy what a statement from the artist who was responsible for the look of Marvel in the 60′s and 70′s. Well, at least the editors and the writers in the U.S comic industry liked Alcala’s work, enough to have given him so much work. It’s rumored that Alcala was making like $5000 a week doing what he did.

   Auggie,
   I don’t think Ram is related.
   Rod

   Rod

10. auggie on February 24th, 2008 10:57 am

    Rod,

    Actually, mas gusto ko si John Severin/Marie Severin kesa ki Buscema. Yung mga early KULL THE CONQUEROR, eh yung Severins ang gumawa. Yung early works ni Joe Kubert sa THE VIKING PRINCE sa DC eh mas gusto ko pa rin ki Buscema, o kaya yung SILENT KNIGHT ni FRAZETTA…. o kaya yung KEVIN THE BOLD sa Sunday Funnies ng Manila Times noon…..

    Kilala mo si Ram Cabrera ?

11. greg s. sales, jr. on August 15th, 2008 5:15 am

    Hi!
    I have been tracking down Ram Cabrera who was my classmate at UST Fine Arts Advertising, class ’61. I wonder if he’s the same Ram Cabrera mentioned above.
    He was my class buddy then and I lost track of him after graduation when I left for the States. He used to live at Washington St. in Sampaloc. If he’s the same person I am referring to it would please me a lot if you contact me.
    Many thanks,
    Greg Sales, Jr.