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Jun

16

I Am a Packrat

Filed Under Philippine Comics | 12 Comments

There are many things I don’t throw away. Bus tickets, receipts, movie ticket halves, expired stored value LRT and MRT cards, letters, notes, and a lot of other really odd things. The same is true with my computer, and the many various files I manage to stack up through the years. In my hard drive right now are files extending way back to my first computer back in 1997.

This photo of the Mr. Belvedere cast is the oldest picture in my computer, which carries a date of October 22, 1997. The show was on cable at the time, and I really liked watching it. I did a small fan site for it back then, which resulted in me meeting, at least online, most of the cast. I would have liked to meet Mr. Belvedere himself, that would have been cool, but he passed on before I had a chance to.

I don’t remember how I got this Superman illustration by Rudy Nebres. I think someone sent it to me. This file is dated July 31, 2000. At the back of my mind I felt I had to keep whatever artwork by Filipinos. This is only one of the many scans that I’ve managed to accumulate.

This an attempt at the cover for Taxman #1 for Comics Conspiracy. The published cover can be seen here. Published in 2000, I do believe it’s the very first cover I ever did. I would eventually draw an entire comic book for the company in 2002, entitled “Ochlocrat”. The writer, Doug Miers, who passed on a few years ago, was one of the best people I met in comics.

A rather sick, but admit it, hilarious cartoon. My first instinct was to delete it the first time I received it in the mail, but I couldn’t. And now I’m here inflicting the cartoon on all of you. he.he.

I had to take a few seconds to figure out what the heck I was doing with this one. Then I remembered that it’s well, obviously me. I was bored one night, probably out of my mind from deadlines, and I thought I’d scan my face on my scanner. Well, there you go.

Me and Rafael Kayanan at Times Square in New York City in 1999. New York was fantastic. It strangely felt like home because it exuded the same kind of vibe that Manila does, trash on the street and potholes on asphalt and everything.

More packrat stuff again one of these day!

Comments

12 Responses to “I Am a Packrat”

  1. Ed on June 17th, 2008 12:37 am

    Ganda ng Superman, ah! Magaling yung brush strokes. :D

  2. Rod Samonte on June 17th, 2008 4:57 am

    Gerry,
    That’s an amazing Superman by Nebres. Nebres is the master of the brush. Never seen it before. Sometimes he may tend to overdo it, but this one looks just right. The action and perspective looks good. Glad you’re back to comics.
    Rod

  3. auggie on June 17th, 2008 11:24 am

    Rod,

    No doubt, Nebres is the brush King, but oftentimes, na o-overdo niya, naninilim tuloy, and as a result, poor ang contrast. Alien sa kanya ang credo ni Mies Van de Rohe, na LESS IS MORE. Pero magaling talaga si Rudy, a cross between Redondo and Coching.

  4. Rod Samonte on June 17th, 2008 9:14 pm

    Auggie, Gerry,
    I’ve often wondered: What if Coching illustrated Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spiderman and other American Super Heroes? Hehehe. Of course we know what Alcala did with Spiderman, nilaspag niya, hehehe. How come Redondo was never given a chance to draw Superman, although he was with DC? Actually wala yatang Pinoy na gumawa ng Super Heroes sa DC, teka, I think Alcala and Nino did Batman.
    Rod

  5. Gerry Alanguilan on June 17th, 2008 9:29 pm

    Hello Rod! I did hear Coching almost did Tarzan, pero di ko confirmed what the reason was why that didn’t happen.

    I think Tony De Zuniga and Ernie Chan both had the chance to draw superheroes, specially Batman, and in the case of Ernie Chan, JLA. ER Cruz drew The Shadow for a few issues.

    I think the editorial at the time had an idea of what look superheroes should have, and the Filipino artists didn’t fit into it. So they were assigned to mostly horror, war, fantasy and western genres, which they excelled at.

  6. auggie on June 17th, 2008 11:17 pm

    Rod,

    Sa DC wala, pero sa Marvel strip meron. Si Anak Ng Kapre, a.k.a. Flor Dery, did Spiderman for ten years and was being reproduced on 600 newspapers worldwide. I think Rudy Nebres did the BLUE BEETLE, but it’s not on DC, Marvel, or Image. I forgot the outfit.

  7. Rod Samonte on June 18th, 2008 3:45 am

    Gerry,
    I was thinking more of power-laden Super Heroes like Superman or the X-Men. Coching did do a Tarzan look alike, Dumagit. That’s close enough to Tarzan I think. Remember your father-in-law also did Korak, similar to Tarzan. But it would be something else had Coching done Superman. I’m sure it would have all the bench-mark of his action-packed figures. Something similar to what Garcia-Lopez eventually did for Superman but in the Coching style of inking. While Garcia-Lopez was an excellent penciller, his inking was weak. Another thought: what if Emil Rodriguez did Superman. Wow, his muscle-bound figures and exaggerated layouts would be a perfect fit. Just thoughts of whimsy.
    Rod

  8. auggie on June 18th, 2008 8:31 am

    Rod,

    Coching did a local Tarzan clone in HAGIBIS, I think .But in terms of extreme exagerration, RUBEN YANDOC, definitely would have given SUPERMAN, a new make-over.

  9. Gerry Alanguilan on June 18th, 2008 9:28 am

    Hello Rod, Auggie!

    It really is tantalizing to imagine what guys like Coching and Redondo would have done had they been given free rein to work on the superheroes.

    At the time, I think it just might not have been possible. This is no criticism of the Filipino artists of course, as I think they would have drawn them incredibly well, and even much better.

    The problem was, the companies kept a tight control over the look of their characters, and in the 60′s and 70′s, the company pretty much dictated this look. At Marvel, you had to draw like Jack Kirby, John Buscema or John Romita, or at least very close to their style.

    At DC, it was Curt Swan and variations of it.

    It’s actually more possible to introduce different styles of art to superheroes today as the control over the look of the characters isn’t as strict as it was back then. Unfortunately, Coching and Redondo etc., are no longer around to try.

  10. Rafael Kayanan on June 19th, 2008 7:40 am

    Thanks for posting that old pic of your visit Gerry! That was me forty plus pounds ago…heh… so it is a good reminder of how hard it was to get back in shape!

  11. Rafael Kayanan on June 19th, 2008 7:44 am

    Coching or Redondo on titles like THOR. Nino on the SILVER SURFER and other cosmic heroes would have been great.

  12. Markus on June 19th, 2008 2:29 pm

    The Sesame Street picture makes me excited for November. I’ll pot that on my blog, too – unless of course, I forget. Hahahah!!.. Another self-confessed packrat here.

    Thanks for sharing, Gerry.