Jul

11

Meeting a Comics Historian

Filed Under Filipino Artists, Philippine Comics | 20 Comments

When I first got a copy of an American publication called Comic Book Artist Magazine Vol. 2 #4, I was stunned, but at the same time slightly ashamed. This particular issue of the magazine devoted itself, for the most part, to the celebration of the comics art of Filipino artists, artists who had left their mark in American comics in the 70’s. The great thing was, the magazine featured mostly artwork that had been published by these artists, not in the United States, but right here in the Philippines.

Featured were artwork from Darna, Diwani and Gagamba by Nestor Redondo, Dumagit and El Indio by Francisco V. Coching, Berdugo and Talinong Hayop by Alex Niño, Damong Ligaw by Fred Carrillo, Wala Nang Hihigit Pa, by ER Cruz, Kalabog en Bosyo and other cartoons by Larry Alcala, Voltar and Anak ng Asuwang by Alfredo Alcala and many others. It was such a thrill, opening an American magazine, and out comes a full page full color spread of Darna. It made me extremely proud.

But I was also slightly ashamed. Ashamed that it had to take an American publishing company to recognize, celebrate and publish a magazine about Filipino comics artists, and Filipino comics art. Here in the Philippines, these artists were hardly even known by the current generation of Filipinos when this issue was first published. I’m glad that a lot more Filipinos are now getting to know these artists through magazines like this, the exhibits at the various toy and comics conventions, and the growing number of websites that feature these artworks and artists.

What really surprised me about the magazine though, is that it carried with it a rather detailed recounting of the history of Philippine comics. I was impressed by the writer’s thorough knowledge, writing down a large amount of detail that I was previously unaware of. It was written by a Dr. John A. Lent, and I wondered how he knew so much about us and our comics history. At once I knew I had to correspond with him, not only to find out about him, but to talk to him about the current comics industry.

Well informed though he was, he had a lack of any new information about the developments of Philippine comics in the last decade, aside from an impression that much of the output of new Filipino creators have been manga and anime inspired.

I wrote two rather long letters to the editor of Comic Book Artist magazine. One letter thanked them profusely for publishing a magazine almost completely featuring Filipino artists. Another letter took issue to the misrepresentation of my generation of comic book creators. The editor thanked me for the correspondence by sending me several copies of the magazine (which I promptly gave away to people who I thought needed them) and told me that my letter would be forwarded to the concerned parties.

I tried to learn more about who Dr. John A. Lent was, and I learned that he was a rather noted historian of comics and more. In a biography I came across, it says Dr. Lent is ” a pioneer in the study of international communications and Third World mass media. He has authored 46 books and monographs and hundreds of articles. Some of this work has concentrated on comic art, specially in Asia, United States and the Caribbean.

He is a professor at the School of Communication & Theatre, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is also the publisher and editor in chief of International Journal of Comic Art.”

I never heard from the the publisher of Comic Book Artist magazine further about the letters I sent, and I assumed that it was the last of that.

Until a few months ago when I received an email from Dr. John A. Lent himself.

He didn’t mention the letter, but he did say he was coming to the Philippines for an Asian cartoon conference at the UST, and that he wanted to meet with me and a few other current comic book creators. I knew that I had to take this opportunity to speak with him, and show him what we have done for the last 10 years or so. I felt it important to have a noted historian of comics to know about us and our work.

I tried to get in touch with a number of currently active creators of comics published here in the Philippines to set a date for a meeting with Dr. John Lent. It was a bit difficult to schedule because one of the realities of current comics creators is that they have day jobs, mostly for big advertising companies. Getting a day off is I believe, not so easy to do. But I think I’ve managed to schedule such a day for all to be together, and relate our stories and our comics in the interest of having us heard.

Unfortunately, at the last minute, the schedule changed due to a problem with Dr. Lent’s flight and our meeting had to be moved a day. That meant that a lot of the other guys couldn’t make it, leaving me and old pal Jonas Diego to speak with him.

We did try our best to bring as much comics as we could. Jonas brought a lot of indies, including photocopied ones from various groups, Mango Jam, TRESE, Rambol, Alamat 101, KIA, Mythology Class, etc., I brought with me Siglo: Freedom, Batch 72, Love Notes, MMK, colored CJC-Sterling titles, Wasted, Elmer, The Buzz, Sindak and a few others.

We met with Dr. Lent at the Manila Hotel yesterday afternoon and we spoke for several hours. I tried to be very objective and comprehensive about the current state of comics, as did Jonas, but I did strongly suggest that he speak with others so that he can get a much fuller picture. He said that he definitely intended to.

Dr. Lent will be at the National Press Club at Bulwagang Plaridel today from 2-5 PM, meeting with the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas (SKP) and the launching of the SKP Roster Book. I’m sure he will be able to speak with much more people there. If anyone’s going, can you get me a copy of the book? I’ll be very grateful!

All in all, it was great finally meeting Dr. Lent and I hope that our meeting was very informative for him, as it was for me. I personally found him to be very genial and amiable fellow, big but gentle and with a glint of humor. He’s extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about the art of comics. He’s the kind of person who I wouldn’t mind talking with about comics all day.

I had promised to continue to send him new comics, be it from myself or from other creators, just to keep him updated on our progress.

Comments

20 Responses to “Meeting a Comics Historian”

  1. adam! on July 11th, 2008 2:11 pm

    saan kaya makakabili ng comic book artist na yan?

  2. PJ Magalhaes on July 11th, 2008 2:12 pm

    awesome story! Did you ask him about the letters when you met him?

  3. Gerry Alanguilan on July 11th, 2008 2:29 pm

    Adam… the last time I saw a copy was at Fully Booked. But I think you can ask the owner of either COmic Odyssey or Druid’s Keep to order you a copy..

    PJ, I did ask him about the letter, but it seems he never got it. :D

  4. Reno on July 11th, 2008 5:55 pm

    Medyo may hawig siya kay Sergio Aragones. :)

    I hope he writes some more stuff about Philippine Komiks, especially now that you guys have handed him some of the newer stuff that’s come out.

  5. Ed on July 11th, 2008 7:17 pm

    It is just weird foreign magz recognize comics creators than local ones.

    If I only have more time, I’d like YSB! to be like a Wizard magazine…if you can remember the first issue.

    Sana mga new generations naman ang ma-feature sa mga susunod na issue ng magazine na yan. :D

  6. Rod Samonte on July 11th, 2008 10:48 pm

    Gerry,
    I have two copies of this amazing issue, one copy sold to me by Tony Zuniga himself and signed by him on the cover and which is now in protective plastic and safely stored, then I bought another copy later on for reading purposes, as I didn’t want to soil the signed one by reading it. It really is an incredible issue with 80 percent of its 112 pages devoted to Filipino Komiks. It has articles on the Philippine Islands, the Philippine invasion, Zuniga, Coching, Javinal, Redondo, Nino (who unfortunately contributed an awful cover, the only minus to this issue), a listing (from Mar Amongo to Noli Zamora, maybe next time it will include Alanguilan to Leinil Yu) and capsule biographies of all the Pinoys who ever worked up to that time in the U.S. (would you believe includes also Joel Magpayo, who says he only ever illustrated one story in his U.S. stint, just to show you how complete this listing is), pictures and more pictures in b&w and with Darna, Gagamba, and a few others even in full color, some I’ve never seen before, and so many more, and of course the article and history of Philippine Comics by Dr. Lent titled The First 75 Years of Philippine Komiks. To show you how knowledgable he is he even spelled Komiks in Tagalog. The article covers about 16 pages (interspersed with mini-biographies with pictures of the illustrators by Manual Auad). There is so much to read I am embarrassed to say I have not read everything yet. And this happens to be the period of Philippine Komiks I am most familiar with.
    The next time Dr. Lent writes an article about Philippine Comics, now that he has met you Gerry, it will be devoted to the younger illustrators none of which were included in that history. Unfortunately, his article might not be about Philippine Comics per se but Pilipino illustrators. You see Lan Medina, Leinil Yu and a few others belong to American Comics rather than Pilipino Komiks.
    Rod

  7. links for 2008-07-11 « PinoyBlurker @ PinoyBlogoSphere.com on July 11th, 2008 11:32 pm

    [...] Meeting a Comics Historian : Komikero Comics Journal [...]

  8. Pinoy Blurker » links for 2008-07-11 on July 11th, 2008 11:33 pm

    [...] Meeting a Comics Historian : Komikero Comics Journal [...]

  9. gilbert monsanto on July 11th, 2008 11:41 pm

    Lan Medina belongs to the Local komiks. He’s done a whole lot of work here locally mostly under GASI before I introduced his work to Whilce Portacio :)

  10. Gerry Alanguilan on July 12th, 2008 12:25 am

    At saka artist ni Caparas si Lan sa isang serial nya sa Sterling.

  11. auggie on July 12th, 2008 1:15 am

    Gerry,

    Professor pala itong si Dr. Lent sa Temple University, teaching Communication studies. kung mi balak kang mag post-graduate studies , palagay ko, hindi malayong makakakuha na scholarship dito ki Dr.Lent, sa Temple University, at siya rin ang adviser mo. Pakitanong naman sa kanya kung ano ang chances ng mga Pinoy Komikeros, na makakuha ng scholarships sa university for post-graduate studies.Salamat Gerry…

  12. Rod Samonte on July 12th, 2008 3:32 am

    Sorry, guys didn’t know that. I was mentioning names who are, as of this writing, making a splash here in U.S. comics and those were the names that immediately came to mind. I should have mentioned Portacio of course and Pagulayan, Philip Tan, among others, sino pa ba? Actually ang dami na namang Pinoy illustrators dito sa America. I tell you this is another Philippine invasion. Dr. Lent, hope you’re reading this.
    Ironically, and to our major embarrassment, as Gerry points out – there seem to be nothing or if there was, it was at best minimal – written about our valiant and talented Philippine illustrators who had been encroaching territories that once was dominated by Americans until this magazine feature. Now, I can’t even count the number of Pinoy illustrators working in American Comics. Mabuhay ang Pinoy.
    Rod

  13. Jon on July 12th, 2008 7:41 am

    Sana nga he’ll write an update on the current comics scene.

  14. auggie on July 12th, 2008 10:21 am

    Rod,

    Paki Xerox, naman niyang article na iyan, at please furnish me a copy. Kailan ba ang uwi mo rito ? a-attend ka ba sa 400th year anniversary sa UST sa 2011 ? sana makuha itong si Professor Lent sa UST or UP kahit man lang isang semester as visiting professor… baka pwedeng i-arrange ni Dean de los Santos sa Atelier ?

  15. Rod Samonte on July 12th, 2008 11:05 pm

    Auggie,
    I don’t know it I can go home, may problema ako sa paglalakad ngayon, can’t walk long distances. I missed the Wizard convention earlier this year and two other book fairs where I’m always a regular. I also missed my High School 50th anniversary grand reunion of our class. Tumatanda na yata. Masyadong maraming pages to be Xerox, probably better to buy the whole magazine. It’s only $7.50 cover price, siguro pag used, kalahati na lang. I’ll look around.
    Rod

  16. Vir on July 13th, 2008 12:19 am

    Guys,

    You should look for this article by Dr. John Lent in TCJ #129 “Komiks: National Book Of The Philippines” A very comprehensive write up and constructive criticism of Philippine comics.

  17. auggie on July 13th, 2008 2:17 pm

    Vir,

    Ano itong TCJ ? Thomas Jefferson Library ba ? please clarify, at kung saan available /mabibili ito, at kung magkano….Thanks.

    Rod,

    Bakit anong nangyari sa iyo at hampered ang locomotion mo ? Arthritis ? inuman mo ng CELEBREX, powerful pain-killer. Ako medyo hindi na rin makalakad ng long distances, humihina ang endurance ko at madali akong mahapo. Kung uuwi ka you need not walk, baka kami na lang ang pupunta sa bahay mo…..

  18. Gerry Alanguilan on July 13th, 2008 9:31 pm

    Auggie, TCJ ay The Comics Journal. Ang issue #129 medyo matagal na, I think from 1989 pa. Available pa rin sya sa official site. Tingnan ko kung makakakuha ako nito.
    Ito ang page nya…
    http://tinyurl.com/6owghj

  19. Rod Samonte on July 14th, 2008 7:14 am

    Auggie,
    May gout ako, matagal na but usually nakukuha sa gamot, and it doesn’t last for a week. This time I had it for the longest time from February to just 3 weeks ago. The whole month of February, ay parang nag-lock ang mga tuhod ko and I could not walk for a month, akala ko wheelchair bound na ako ng permanente. Medyo unti-unti nakuha sa gamot, then I started walking bit by bit. I finally got rid of the painkillers and medicine, which was bad for the kidneys and liver, I am now basically medicine-free (knock on wood), I’ve lost the limp, and started walking normally, but not long distances, just around the house, maybe a bookstore, I can drive though, as it was my left knee that was affected. However, I have to watch what I eat, it all starts with high-purine foods and uric acid in the joints.
    Rod

  20. PJ Magalhaes on July 16th, 2008 2:39 pm

    damn that sucks Gerry but you got to meet him none the less! I would love to grab that issue you guys are all talking about! sounds very cool and candy for the eyes!