24 Responses to “Ruben Yandoc Preview”

1. Ed on August 11th, 2008 10:54 am

   Love the brush strokes!

2. auggie on August 11th, 2008 1:47 pm

   Gerry,

   Di ba si Joemari mi kaibigang French aficionado na parang expert ki Yandoc ? marami sigurong data ?

3. Rod Samonte on August 11th, 2008 10:35 pm

   Gerry,
   Yandoc in your example (at original pa yata) here, continued Emil Rodriguez’s bible series. That’s why there so much similarity in their style. At first look I thought it was Rodriguez. I really did not like his style, although in your example, I see he learned a lot from Rodriguez, including drapery and layout. However, his figures were stiff, not as much dynamic action as Rodriguez (or for that matter Coching who was Rodriguez’s influence). Yandoc likes to illustrate with a failsafe side or frontal view, his favorite views, but sometimes does not work or show less action than the action being described (the last frame here for example) – the girl is sitting down, as the man is trying to hold her down, both men in frontal shots and a side view for the girl. The illustration does not really show what is being described in the caption, not really much action. The previous frame is of course the same side-view/frontal shots, but the first frame is an excellent copy of Rodriguez. Still, whatever we can find or see of his work and biography would indeed be very welcome.
   Rod

4. Jose Mari Lee on August 12th, 2008 4:34 am

   Ginoong Samonte:

   I think you hit it bang-on analyzing Yandoc’s illustration. He was indeed a Rodriguez copycat, but he actually weaned himself from Rodriguez by
   making his drawings more cartoony in style and also making the figures of the character’s UGLIER. Though still lacking the dynamism of Rodriguez’, Yandoc actually graduated finally from the “inspiration” that if you look at his work in DC comics of the late 70s and up to the mid-80s, Yandoc became his own man and did more innovations in his angling and story-telling.

   Let us remember now that it wasn’t only Yandoc who emulated Rodriguez. Alex Niño is, or let me say: WAS – also a Rodriguez disciple. When Nino took over the illustrations of ANAK NI PRINSIPE AMANTE in Pilipino Komiks, the publication left the masthead-title (Rodriguez was the MASTER in this department that not even Coching was able to match him). But it was extremely obvious how Niño copied Rodriguez’ expression, the exaggeration of action, and the drapery. Remember those Homeric heroes of Rodriguez’ Bible series? Well, what do we know? Even the character’s wide open mouth in anger and saliva drolling out of it – was also adopted by Nino in ANAK NI PRINSIPE AMANTE and KILABOT NG PERSIA. Even the “framing” backgrounds of Rodriguez was adopted by Nino. But, like Yandoc, Nino’s faces were UGLY – in fact, even UGLIER than Yandoc’s! Hence, one editor-in-chief didn’t hire Nino that time because he said: his humans are just so ugly, I doubt if they will appeal to the readers. Marcelo B. Isidro, an editor and komiks writer (who became a film Director later) welcomed Nino’s art with open arms, even made him as a team mate in HELGA, ISANG HAKBANG NA LUPA. What really turned off many editors about Nino’s early drawings were obviously, the ugly figures, and secondly, BAD HAIR DAY! He-he. You guys might wonder why. I mean, if you look at his work in HELGA, the women were sporting a hair-do called KISS-ME, a style fitted the early 1930s! Guys, imagine BETTY BOOP. Look at her coiff. That’s exactly what Nino had in his women. He-he. Yandoc, however, tried to move up with the times. Geez, his women can be voloptuous, and could win hands down when their boobs are matched with those of Dolly Parton’s, or, PAMELA ANDERSON if you will! In fact, Yandoc probably won the approval of editors early on was because of the fact that even if his characters had ugly faces, they weren’t that WEIRD-looking than that of Nino’s. And if Pablo S. Gomez didn’t give Nino the break he badly after his work with ISIDRO, I wonder if we’re be talking about him today.

   I conclude therefore, that Rodriguez was a true master when it comes to comics illustration. Even if he was inspired by Coching initially, Rodriguez made a complete turn-around and managed to innovate by actually reworking his style that later on possessed more dynamism, authentic & well-researched costuming (unlike Yandoc who had the tendency to invent and sometimes looked ridiculous because of it), simplicity, powerful story-telling and very appealing to look at.

   And despite Yandoc’s huge improvement later in his career, he really never surpassed the genius of Rodriguez.

5. Musashi Maeda on August 12th, 2008 5:43 am

   I was totally ignorant about Philippine comics so far.I will pay attention to this site from now on.Salamato po.

6. dennis on August 12th, 2008 9:10 am

   Tristan Lapoussiere provides a biography and art analysis of Yandoc on the 4th issue of the Back-Up Comic Magazine, published in France last year. I can lend you my copy on the Komikon.

7. Rod Samonte on August 12th, 2008 11:42 am

   Ginoong JM,
   We did have a long exchange about this here on the April 8 entry by Gerry, titled Something about Alex Nino, Gilbert Monsanto, in which I stated Nino was influenced by both Coching and Rodriguez, and which ended up in our use of Chinese brush or was it Shocard? You’ve elaborated more on what you said there previously, and I’m sure we can have a really long exchange again, about Coching, Rodriguez, Nino, and now Yandoc about influences and what-not. Suffice it to say that all of these illustrators are top-notch in what they have achieved, and especially at their peak.
   I think I may have met Marcelo B. Isidro, though I can’t remember where, but I think he was an editor at the time I met him of a small komiks publication located in Caloocan, near Premier Studios. Possibly before your time?
   Rod

8. jose Mari Lee on August 12th, 2008 8:45 pm

   Senor Samonte:

   Another artist that we can trace to this group is ABEL LAXAMANA. When he started drawing for comics, he was inspired by Nino. Later, what he did was radically innovate by making the hair of his characters SOLID BLACK, no sheen whatsoever. In those days, once you see a solid hair drawings of people, you would know immediately that they were done by Laxamana, though it was very obvious that the Nino influence lingered for quite sometime until he found his own style.

   I met Marcelo Isidro much later. He was such a free-spirited person that he would rather stay in the cozy confines of a small publications and do what he wanted, rather than join the big publications and be subjected to the whims of the owners. He definitely belonged in the Redondo-Alcala-Panaligan circle. There was also HORROR KOMIKS by RADING MINA SABATER (PSG’s godson) where Marcelo Isidro did some series and edited several small publications.

9. Rod Samonte on August 13th, 2008 2:13 am

   Ginoong JM,
   I knew Rading Mina Sabater. He was a young writer, and I think his mother owned Horror Komiks. The first komiks I ever did was a story by him. However, I was a real greenhorn, and the script was given to me, not by an editor, but by my mentor a comics illustrator named Ric Hernandez. I wonder if you know him. Anyway, he gave me the script on the basis of a page I did wherein I copied a full page of Redondo, exactly as it was, hahaha. Don’t know why I did Redondo, when all this time I was doing ala-Coching komiks on my practice pages. Well, I didn’t know what to do with the script, it was nothing I’d ever studied. or copied which was Coching, it was a science-fiction story about a devastation or Armageddon hitting earth. I did what I could do, and when I finished it and showed it to my mentor, he was greatly disappointed, and he started retouching the whole five pages. When he was done, the finished komiks looked like his work rather than my work, hahaha, and that was what was published. It may have been published in Horror Komiks.
   I am not really familiar with Abel Laxamana. But didn’t Jim Fernandez, also do solid black hair (or at least almost solid with little detail) on his characters when he finally found his own style? Jim Fernandez is another artist who isn’t talked about or featured, yet he was one of the top artists of Ace Publications. As with Yandoc I can’t find any biography about him or his whereabouts now.
   Rod

10. auggie on August 13th, 2008 9:12 am

    Rod,

    Pamilyar ako sa gawa ni Ric Hernandez. Parang ROMUS, technical pen ang ginagamit niya, instead of brush di ba ? para ring si ROD BENITEZ, halong pen & brush. Tungkol ki JIM FERNANDEZ, bumili ka ba noong BOLNIKS niya ? kasabay ito ng CRAF publications, but folded earlier. Mas simikat yata si JIM FERNANDEZ, after ACE and CRAF ng nag nobelista na lang siya ng ZUMA, series. UST graduate yata ito at Accounting major.

    About Yandoc, which of his series rings a bell to you : MAHARLIKANG KUBA, PAYASONG ITIM, VIENTE NUEVE ?

11. Jose Mari Lee on August 13th, 2008 9:19 am

    Actually, Jim Fernandez always put sheen on his characters’ hair. It was Alex Nino who started at one time by using completely black hair, which was adopted by Lacsamana. When Lacsamana was using the style for a while, Nino’s drawing had evolved by then, they became even weirder, and that’s when Lacsamana found his own style and abandoned the solid black hair.

    In those days, even minor publications like Horror were still making money. Even if they used new illustrators (training ground), the book was distributed from Appari to Jolo. I was getting Horror Komiks in Bicol where I lived part of my childhood. Dell Barras started there if I recalled right. Naka-lampin pa siya noon at gumagapang pa nang mag-umpisa siya sa Horror Komiks. Pero ang bilis ng pag-asenso ng drawing ni Dell. Hindi kagaya ng iba, na kung anu-anong style muna ang ina-adopt bago matagpuan ang kanilang mga sarili. Si Dell, nag-Redondo, at hindi siya naghanap pa ng iba. He modified his drawings from there and found his own in such a short time.

    Nakakatuwa naman ang adventure mo noon sa local komiks.

    BTW, talking of JIM FERNANDEZ, do you still remember his daily cartoon for the Manila Times in the 70s? It was called FEATHERS and the leading character was a wise owl, delving further into current issues of the day.

12. dennis on August 13th, 2008 9:36 am

    I think Jim as an artist has been overshadowed by Jim as a komiks novelist. Nung sumikat yung mga nobela niyang Cannibal, Zuma, etc., iniwan na ring tuluyan ni Jim ang illustration.

13. Jose Mari Lee on August 13th, 2008 2:00 pm

    YES. JO LUNA became a JIM Fernandez clone.
    But what’s quite interesting was when Jim got tired of drawing and started writing scripts (papel na ginuhitan ng frames at isinusulat doon ang captions and dialogs), two of Mars Ravelo’s serials were actually continued by NESTOR MALGAPO. KWATANG in PILIPINO KOMIKS and HAYDEE THE BROWN GIRL AND THE WHITE IDOL in TSS. Amazingly, Nestor M did his drawings EXACTLY a FERNANDEZ look-alike and unlike other replacements in other serials, these two are the most similar in appearance. That stint was rather a good hint that Nestor M was actually a very good artist and he did prove it soon enough.

    Though the worst replacement GASI did was in Pioneer Komiks – APARTMENT 711. When Emil Rodriguez left the country, JOE GATCHALIAN took over and I thought I was reading another series! I guess it became more obvious because I had a bound copy of it and you can see the whole serial. But, if the editor was (I just have to quote Supremong Kapre) not using his puwet instead of his ulo, why let Gatchalian draw the last few chapters when the styles of the two were rather pole to pole!

14. Rod Samonte on August 13th, 2008 2:21 pm

    JM,
    Actually my best adventure was way before I tried to get into comics. I had just graduated from High School and I had no idea what I was going to do. Didn’t take any art in high school, didn’t think I had any art inclination, but then I discovered komiks (that’s another adventure in itself which I won’t delve into, hehehe). Anyway, after High School my erpat, enrolled me in Machine Shop at PCAT (Philippine College of Arts and Trades)which was located on the other side of Pasig River from where I lived in Sampaloc. However, because I wasn’t that interested in going to school, I missed the full enrolment, but my dad still got me into the evening classes which starts at 5pm. Everyday I would walk to school via Quezon Blvd, through Quiapo and across the bridge, since I had all the time in the world before my classes. Well, I discovered this newspaper store that was selling all this Pinoy Komiks, not far from was going to be Odeon Theater (wala pa noon). Would you believe, I would stop there just about everyday and browse for a couple of hours looking through their boxes of komiks, and that’s how I completed all the Coching novels in Especial Komiks and Pilipino Komiks. I actually found Coching’s earliest komiks there. I would go everyday, because there was always something new everyday, and if I remember right, the price was something like 10 centavos. And I didn’t stop at Coching, I was also collecting Redondo, Alcala and others, but mainly, it was Coching I was trying to complete. I’d be ecstatic if I find an issue of Satur, for example, or a bunch of three or four issues of Barbaro, that I didn’t have yet. There’s a sad ending, however, to this story, most of this collection which I had book bound (and which included mostly new issues of Kenkoy Komiks with Emil Rodriguez, Redondo illustrated comics, Nestor Leonides I was also collecting, Alcala (I had a complete Ukala), Fred Carrillo, etc were destroyed in a flood in Manila while I was away on a trip around the world. When I got back I assessed the damage, and was able to save Taga Sa Bato (except for a few damage pages), Talipandas, Kontra-Bida and the Javinal illustrated Ang Maton. Also Apat Na Anino by Fred Carrillo and Clod del Mundo is in excellent condition. All the Redondo’s, Alcala, Rodriguez which included his novels in Bulaklak, Leonides, Jodloman, etc were destroyed. Right now, I am looking at my copy of Kontra-Bida, and you know what, I am still missing the first, third and fourth issue of that illustrated novel from Pilipino Komiks.

    Dennis,
    You’re right. I finally found a biography of Jim Fernandez, and apparently he was so successful as a writer he quit illustrating. And JM, no I don’t remember his daily cartoon.
    Rod

15. Rod Samonte on August 13th, 2008 2:59 pm

    Auggie,
    Actually Ric was using pens, yes, but also brushes, but small brushes not the Chinese brushes which Redondo, Alcala were using. And he worked fast. His originals were black-black, not the near wash effect that most illustrators were doing because of adding water to the India Ink to make it madulas ipahid. I stopped collecting when Craf Publications came out. My last collections were Kenkoy Komiks, I was one of the eager first to buy the first issue, which was well-advertised long before it came out, and also I was buying new, Pilipino Komiks and Especial Komiks to complete my Condenado and Talipandas collection. I had both cloth-bound; Condenado was destroyed, but I still have Talipandas in excellent condition considering its age. In both these novels Coching was at his peak.
    Definitely, I remember Payasong Itim as really well-illustrated by Yandoc. I can’t remember where it was published though, as I never collected him.
    Rod

16. auggie on August 13th, 2008 5:34 pm

    Rod,

    Payasong Itim, was serialized in Kenkoy Komix, right after his Maharlikang Kuba.
    Kung kumpleto pa ang TALIPANDAS series mo, mi pagasa pa pala tayong gawing GRAPHIC NOVEL iyan, of course with permission from Lulu, Maridel and Aling Luming. waddaya say ?
    Tungkol sa mga Comics Stores, I used to but my English Comics diyan din sa Quiapo, sa may, tulay, Quezon Bridge, NG WAHH Store. Lahat ng DELL, DC,ATLAS-TIMELY, at mga Westerns. Sa mga used comics, doon naman sa SALENGAS Store sa Dapitan, malapit na sa Algeciras St. Isang bahay puro comics ang laman for rentals, kaya lang puro imported. Sa Tagalog, Doon sa Bicol, ako nakakita ng mga rare collections. sa mga back issues ng CRAF, SUPERYOR, BOLNIKS, etc. sa gilid noon ng CINERAMA, which was under construction diyan sa kanto ng Quezon Blvd. at Azcarraga. Sa Manalili, malapit sa Odeon at Phil Rabbit terminal, marami rin akong nabiling comics doon. Sa mga Class na magazine at imported ones, including my references for ILLUSTRATION Subject, doon naman sa Escolta, sa isang hole-in-the wall, na tindahan, malapit sa Jones bridge. Si Mang Romy ang pangalan ng dealer. Maraming UST Fine Arts na parukyano si Mang Romy, dahil ang gaganda ng magazines at libro niya, mura pa. namamakyaw siya sa mga exclusive villages sa Makati, at mga foreign embassies, kaya high end ang merchandise niya. ESQUIRE, LOOK, LIFE, ARGOSY, AVANT GARDE, RAMPARTS, PLAYBOY, CAVALIER, VOGUE HARPERS BAZAAR, SATURDAY EVENING POST, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED etc were just a few of his goodies. Sa mga WARREN comics at Heavy Metal, Epic , sa blackmarket ako dumadayo sa labas ng CLARK Airbase. Ang bagong PLayboy doon na punit ang cover eh piso lang, same with Penthouse and Hustler. Pati shades ng AO, orig, nakabili ako doon, pang US airforce, saka flak jacket from the Vietnam front….

17. Rod Samonte on August 14th, 2008 12:07 am

    Auggie,
    Mali pala yung sinabi kong malapit sa Odeon yung newspaper store na nabilhan ko ng mga komiks in my previous comment. Sa Quezon Blvd., kaya malapit sa Cinerama, kanto ng Azcarraga. Wala pa ang Cinerama noon. Pinakahuli ko na yung Condenado, and then I stopped buying, even Coching, as I got into other interests in art (nasa blog ko).
    Favorite ko talaga yung Condenado noon, and I thought Coching was at the height of his powers when he did that comics. Nadurog yung buong collection ko. Talipandas buo pa, but I liked Condenado better especially the story line. It was like a Philippine Western, or Sergio Leoni movie. They were made into movies with Van de Leon as Condenado, and Rita Gomez as Talipandas.
    Kilala mo ba ang mga Coching? I’m sure they have collections of some their father’s novels.
    Bilib naman ako sa memory mo, natatandaan mo pa ang mga kung saan mo nabili ang iyong collection. I can only remember that one store, maybe because that’s where I got the bulk of my collection.
    Rod

18. jose Mari Lee on August 14th, 2008 2:02 am

    Monsieur Samonte:

    When I was doing research on Manila Theaters, parang nabasa ko somewhere na iyang lugar ng Cinerama ay dating NARIC. Ito yata ay imbakan ng mga BIGAS during the Diosdado Macapagal era. Then, naging Cinerama na nga at balita ko’y ito ang pinaka-state of the art noong mga kapanahunang iyon. UInfortunately, hindi ko napasok ang cinehang iyon dahil nasunog yata at nang magbalik-ciudad ako sa Manila ay wala nang Cinerama. Kumbaga sa teleplay ni Orlando Nadres na AT SIYA’Y UMALIS AT SIYA’Y DUMATING – ako naman ay talagang WALA NANG DINATNAN :)

    Pero masaki sa north America ay hindi nagtagal ang cinerama. masyado kasing cumbersome.

    Ang nabasa kong komiks serial na talagang bumilib ako ay yung Clodualdo del Mundo’s KANDELERONG PILAK. May bound copy din ako noon pero hindi ko na malaman kung sino ang nakadampot. But, Fred Carillo’s work here was fantastic. Ito ang dapat ay mai-re-publish din dahil tunay na work of art talaga.

19. auggie on August 14th, 2008 8:53 am

    Rod,

    I still remember CONDENADO, vividly. But it was not Coching’s first foray into Pinoy Westerns. I believe it was TAGA SA BATO. If you have noticed, both novels featured anti-heroes as lead characters. Braulio/Talahib, in Taga, and Kapitan Tirona/Tirong, in Condenado. Tirong was a war decorated Korean veteran, who accidentally killed his wife and the father of Blackjack, in a fit of rage. He became an outlaw, bringing with him her lovely daughter Mignon, and two of his former loyal grunts in Korea, Bruto and Simaron. Along the way, he had the reputation of the fastest gun in the EAST. And so many young Turks would like to find that out. Enter young gunslingers Matanglawin and Blackjack….No I don’t know the Coching’s actually.

    JM,

    Nasunog nga ang Cinerama, eventually. But it was fun while it lasted. Tama ka, very cumbersome nga. Three movie projectors side by side to have the ultra wide effect, but sometimes hindi magregister ng tama, kaya kita mo ang seams. I saw HOW THE WEST WAS WON, It’s a MAD,MAD, MAD WORLD, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. I believe it was owned by a certain congressman from Bataan, Congressman Roman. Sa baba ng Cinerama, along the sidewalks there were plenty of hawkers, including those back issues of Craf, Bolniks etc….

20. auggie on August 14th, 2008 1:52 pm

    Rod,

    Yes, natatandaan ko pa ang mga stores na binibilhan ko ng merchandise, for example, sa Legaspi City, doon sa PRIETO BOOK STORE ako bumibili ng mga westerns, gaya ng Kid Colt Outlaw, Two Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Gunsmoke Western, Sgt. Rock, Sea Devils , Hawkman, etc. Sa Sorsogon public market naman sa Achay’s ( Aragon) newspaper & bookstore ako bumibili ng Classics Illustrated, Jr. Classics, The World around Us, Liwayway, Bulaklak, Youngster, Home Life, and those Ace publications. This must be in the late 50s. Kahit nga ang kahabaan ng Avenida diyan, and Quezon Blvd, lahat ng magazine stands nagalugad ko noon. Pero meron akong regular suki doon sa stand in front mismo ng Hollywood Theater diyan sa Azcarraga. Doon ko nabili yung mga Tarzan na Joe Kubert, Enemy Ace, Jonah Hex, at mga Playboy na punit ang cover. Sa Alemars naman diyan sa Avenida, mga paperbacks ni Louis LAmour, at meryendahan ng LTB, lugaw,tokwa’t baboy. Sa tapat naman ng Arrangque market, just beside Vista theater ang editorial office ng CRAF, sa second floor ng isang decrepit building . OK rin tumambay doon.

21. Rod Samonte on August 14th, 2008 2:12 pm

    Auggie,
    Tandang-tanda mo pa ang plot ng Condenado, pati mga pangalan ng characters. Bilib talaga ako sa memory mo. Anyway, you’re right about about Taga sa Bato as also being a western, but not so much a western as Condenado. In Taga, the main weapon was the Philippine bolo or itak, and Braulio/Talahib was an expert swordsman if we can call it that. Remember how he cut that coconut in half in mid-air. His brother Crisanto, was also good with the bolo, and he was the one who did the “taga sa bato” of the title. Condenado was more western in that six-shooters and side holsters was the main weapon of the three protagonist of Tirong, Blackjack and Matanglawin. There was even a scene where the three faced each other under the hot sun, hehehe, ala that scene in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with Clint Eastwood.

    Auggie, JM,
    Cinerama was one of the most beautiful movie theaters ever built at that time, and I was there to watch the movie the first day it opened. The theater was huge with thick and lush beige (or was it light gray) carpeting (I believe the first time carpet was used in theaters in Manila),and the seats were semi-stadium. And of course the screen was the biggest. I can’t remember which movie was shown for it’s first showing, it could have been How the West Was Won. I also watched It’s a Mad, Mad World and others. Later, however, they had to show non-cinerama movies too as there were not that many cinerama movies. Within a year na-baboy na ang napagandang cinehang ito.

    Actually, JM, Cinerema is alive and well here in Los Angeles. We have a Cinerama theater here called Cinerama Dome, in a building that is a huge geodesic dome and the theater is round. I again saw How The West was Won, at this theater, just to relive the experience I had back in Manila in our own Cinerama.
    Rod

22. auggie on August 14th, 2008 6:41 pm

    Rod,

    Is it possible na nangopya si Sergio Leone ki Coching ? we never can tell. Favorite ko rin si Sergio. Na-Deconstruct niya ang Hollywood Western. Ang galing ng mga soundtrack ng Westerns niya at pati na rin ang production design at costumes. Mas authentic ang westerns niya. Ang hindi alam ng karamihan, utang ni Clint Eastwood ang kanyang superstardom ki Sergio. TV bit player lang si Clint sa isang TV western series, RAWHIDE, and playing second fiddle pa ki Eric Fleming, pero naispatan siya ni Sergio, and the rest was history. BTW, napanood mo bang lahat ang westerns ni Sergio( Clint EASTWOOD Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West, at Duck You Sucker !)?

    I think, Western fanboy din si Coching….

23. jose Mari Lee on August 14th, 2008 8:43 pm

    Ginoong Samonte:

    Napasok ko iyang cinerama dome, pero ang principle yata niyan ay hindi na yung original na tatlong projectors. It is more like IMAX na paikot din. I could be wrong. Though, every time I go long driving around the California area, I make sure to watch a movie or two there in downtown Sacto, called OLD J Theater. Yung mga oldies ang ipinalalabas doon at very nostalgic.

    Auggie: Diyata’t 1950s ay bumibili ka na ng mga komiks? Ang naabutan ko, mga naka-bound na serialized komiks na lang. Kaya halimbawa, noong matapos ma-serialized, ini-re-release ito noon ng Roces family as complete book. Kaya yung mga 1950s na stories, lalabas uli in the 60s as books. Hindi nila ito ipinagpatuloy after the 70s kaya wala ka nang makikitang mga komiks na nakalibro.

    Lahat ng Clint Eastwood Spaghetti westerns ay napanood ko. In fact, noong 1970s ay halos buwan-buwan ay amy lumalabas na westerns from Italy. Lee Van Cleef made a killing by starring as the villain in them. I’m sure you’ve seen THE HELL BENDERS, minus Clint Eastwood, but with Lee on it. Puro pa naman Cinemascope itong mga westerns na ito. Very entertaining indeed.

    Pero ano kaya’t kung ang mga westerns ni Coching ay ginamitan niya ng mga KALABAW instead na kabayo… ano kaya ang naging resulta? LOL. Mas makatotohanan, for sure.

24. auggie on August 15th, 2008 12:15 am

    JM,

    Noong 50s, bumibili na ako ? oo naman lalo na kong dumarating ang Ermat ko galing Manila, or nagbabakasyon ako during summers sa Manila, komiks at sine agad ang inaatupag ko. Kaya pagbalik ko sa Sorsogon, mi bragging rights na ako, Oy napanood ko naiyang THE Vikings, na Iyan ! o Kaya Dracula. Pero yung Comics, itinatago ko, hindi ko pinapahiram, I hoard them, in a box of milk and keep them under my bed. Bago matulog sa gabi, re-review-rebyuhin mo, and you try to imagine things na, based doon sa mga binasa mo.Kahit poor ang lighting condition, pinagtitiyagaan ko.

    Grabeng suspension of disbelief talaga yung mga westerns ni Coching. Mas realistic nga siguro kung mga Baka at Kalabaw ang props niya, at sa Masbate ang setting dahil mi mga Rantso talaga doon, at marami ring rustlers…

    BTW, ilalabas ang PLONING ,diyan sa Vancouver, sa Sept.12-18, yata sa Empire Theater at sa isa pang nakalimutan ko. Read it in a press release.

    Mabenta nga si Lee Van Cleef ng nauso ang Spaghetti westerns. Meron pa siyang series yata noon na SABATA. OK din si Sergio Corbucci, gumawa ng DJANGO, THEY CALL HIM NOBODY….