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Aug

29

Where Bold Stars Go To Die

Filed Under My Comics, Philippine Comics, Video Blogs | 7 Comments

As far ago as 1999, perhaps 2000, I thought of this story about Filipina bold stars, classic ones like Coca Nicolas, Pepsi Paloma, Lampel Cojuanco, Sarsi Emmanuel, Cristina Crisol, Claudia Zobel, and Anna Marie Gutierrez. I thought it was just a cute little love story that could may well ruffle the feathers of many a conservative people. I shared the story with friends like Budjette, Leinil, including a couple of women, and they seemed to like it.

I wanted to do it right then and there, but I was busy with stuff like X-Force, Ochlocrat, and eventually the New X-Men Annual 2001. I approached other artists to do it, among them Dino Ignacio, who was able to do a bit of art for it before he himself got preoccupied with school and work and being an insanely and notoriously popular Internet guy because of his Bert Is Evil site that got very controversial. He even did a CNN interview about it. Awesome. You can see a bit Dino’s art here. The full version is no longer accessible though. I just might put it up again at some later time.

The next artist to pick it up is Noel F. Lim, but let’s not go there. :) Next, I decided to finally draw it myself. But then ELMER came along, then Timawa, then Rizal…. I thought I’d do it after ELMER, but I keep remembering what one of my readers asked me a while back… “When are you going to create something that my young niece can read?” I went ahead and started art on “Where Bold Stars…” as I was doing Elmer, but then my friend Arlan Esmeña suddenly asked me to write a story for him to draw.

Some of you may recognize Arlan from his many appearances in my videos including “True Love“, “Kwentong Tambay 1“, and “Kwentong Tambay 2“.

Arlan is also Architect Arlanzandro C. Esmeña, fellow architect and fellow member of the San Pablo Chapter of the United Architects of the Philippines. He’s always been interested in comics, and in fact, I brought with me samples of his artwork when I went to the San Diego Convention in 1999. But unlike myself and Ilyn (who is also an architect), Arlan is a full time practicing architect, not only here in San Pablo but all over the country. Based on his samples from 1999, I can tell he can really make it as a comic book artist if the inclination is there. The inclination is certainly there, but I feel he’s already made a very good career for himself as an architect, and he says he likes the job, so it’s all great.

But he loves comics as well, so when he asked me to write something for him to draw, I thought I’d give him “Where Bold Stars Go To Die”. The sample above one of his many sketches for the project. Here we are talking about it in a video:


Kwentong Tambay #3: Facial Hair ang Green Comics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOOmefUrYAw

Arlan will be with me this coming November at the 4th Philippine KOMIKON at the UP Diliman to launch “Where Bold Stars…”. Of course, I will be launching ELMER #4 as well, so it’s a big Komikon for us this year.

In a recent interview, I was asked what message I was trying to say in my comics, citing Wasted as it was a rather violent story.

Apologies to the newspaper if I’m pre-empting the publication of the interview, but my response to that was this:

Nope, no message. I don’t build my stories around a “message” or a “moral lesson” that endeavors to “teach” something. I resist making those kinds of stories because I don’t want to become a writer with an agenda. It’s all about the “idea”. If the idea is good enough and tantalizing enough for me, I will go wherever it takes me. I never intended on creating a full on adult comic book, but the idea behind “Where Bold Stars Go To Die” is so thrilling to me that I just had to go there and do it.

I think it’s also timely, with the Anti-Obscenity Bill already submitted in the Senate for consideration and deliberation. Although “Where Bold Stars…” wasn’t initially intended as an act of defiance to this grossly sweeping and Martial Law era relic, it is NOW.

*****
My thoughts on the Anti-Obscenity Bill.
The Anti-Obscenity Bill: What Does It Mean for Artists?
http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/652

Comments

7 Responses to “Where Bold Stars Go To Die”

  1. jim on August 29th, 2008 4:52 pm

    hahaha, pareho pala tayo ng facial hair pattern, sir Gerry! highschool pa lang ako, inaahit ko na yung gilid ng mukha ko para magka side burns pero wala talaga. :D

    maganda yung art ni sir Arlan, tsaka naiintriga ako sa story. hintayin ko to sa komikon.

    or…wanna trade a copy for my drawn porn art pages? i have loads already from my current work and i dont know what to do with it. :D

    Just kidding, tho, if youre interested to see it i could bring it sa komikon. :)

  2. Budjette on August 29th, 2008 6:40 pm

    nice art style :)

    will fit the story well!

    can’t wait to finally see it the whole story drawn!

  3. leinil on August 30th, 2008 1:36 am

    I like it! Nice art you got there:) potentially wankable.

  4. PJ Magalhães on August 31st, 2008 2:24 pm

    Pepsi is a person’s name???!

  5. Gerry Alanguilan on August 31st, 2008 9:51 pm

    Hey PJ! Definitely! It was a stage name though. :D

  6. 4th Philippine KOMIKON - Viloria.net on September 3rd, 2008 11:50 pm

    [...] The 4th Philippine KOMIKON will be held at the Bahay ng Alumni (R. Magsaysay Avenue, UP Diliman) on November 22, 2008 (Saturday). Everyone is going green. Even Philippine comics. [...]

  7. louis on October 9th, 2008 2:21 pm

    Keep mga artist ang galing Nyo pls. send u naman ako ng mga pics. thanks po more power godbless