This entry for January 2006 is probably the earliest post I had about Elmer. If you asked me back then what Elmer would accomplish in 2011 I would not have believed it. I’m very glad I’ve proven most importantly to myself that this is something I can really do. That this is something I can be doing for the rest of my life. That I’m not just wasting my time. For the longest time I truly felt insecure whether I can really do something worthwhile in comics.

Thank you to everyone who bought, borrowed, downloaded, read and supported Elmer in whatever way you did. You guys have my gratitude. I promise I will continue to write and draw my stories, no matter what happens.

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Of interest to long time readers of Wasted… you all probably know the background of that book, and why I made it. If not, you can read my account here.

After 21 long years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the girl who had caused me to do Wasted. I hadn’t seen her at all in all this time although we do correspond, albeit almost annually, via e-mail. It might sound dramatic, but the truth of it is, 21 years is a long time to carry hard feelings. I had gotten over her many many years ago, long before I even met my wife. Whatever fury and anger and drama that could have transpired had we meet soon after the break up seems to be almost laughable 21 years later.

We met, and we talked as friends, and it was great.

But I cannot deny that I would probably be a different person today without her. There would have been no Wasted, and I probably wouldn’t have pursued comics as hard as I did. So I’m grateful to her for that.

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I hardly drink anymore, but I have half a bottle of champagne to finish by midnight (courtesy of my French publisher). No more firecrackers for me! Happy New Year, and Be Safe Everyone! See you all in 2012!

Click for Super Large Image

YES! The 3rd San Pablo City Comics Festival is finally happening. You may recall the first festival happened in 2003 at the Mariño Residence along Sampalok Lake. The second one in 2009 at Lion’s Club, also along Sampalok Lake.

This year, we’re changing venues once again, emphasizing another San Pablo landmark, the Ultimart Shopping Center. Long time residents of San Pablo cherish Ultimart as their very own mall. Recent renovations make it one of the best places for residents to hang out with its new pleasant design, excellent restaurants and shops.

The San Pablo City Comics Festival is presented by KOMIKERO Publishing and JONASDIEGO.COM in cooperation with the KOMIKERO Artist Group and the Graphic Literature Guild (GLG) of UPLB. Well,I guess I’m more of a figurehead than anything else. It’s Jonas Diego and his group that’s doing most of the legwork in the organization of this event, with me helping out in bits here and there. This festival is made possible by the incredible generosity and support of Ultimart itself, and the United Architects of the Philippines, San Pablo Chapter.

Special Guests include Pugad Baboy creator Pol Medina, and Kikomachine creator Manix Abrera.

For more information on this event including activities, contests, maps on how to get there, please head on over the official festival site below:

The 3rd San Pablo Comics Festival Website
http://sanpablocomicsfestival.blogspot.com/

Facebook Event Page. Click if you’re going! Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/events/301393093220449/

National Book Store will be sending copies of ELMER 2nd Edition, and it will be sold at the Komikero Publishing table.

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Stalwarts of local comics hold 3rd Comics Festival in Laguna
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekspeak/stalwarts-local-comics-hold-3rd-comics-festival-laguna-155442489.html

At the fifth floor of Fully Booked. The place was, well… FULLY BOOKED!

Marvel and DC artist Harvey Tolibao working on a monster Psylocke drawing using only a ballpoint pen! His piece raised 30,000 pesos!

Comics retail chain store Comic Odyssey owner Sandy Sansolis and Marvel superstar Leinil Francis Yu.

The ELMER illustration I drew at the event. It raised 13,000 pesos at auction!

IDW artist Mark Torres draws up some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Marvel artist Edgar Tadeo draws up a Thor!

Marvel artist Stephen Segovia!

Dynamite artist Heubert Khan Michael!

Marvel artist Mico Suayan!

Legendary artist Tony De Zuniga!

With host RJ Ledesma!

Signing copies of Superior.

Harvey and his completed illustration. WOW!

I went to the event thinking it’s going to be a little fun event where I’ll get to meet and hang out with friends… it turns out to be much more fun than I expected, and surprisingly, also kind of a big deal as there was an incredibly huge turnout, and our collective artworks raised as much as 125 thousand pesos for the UN World Food Program. I thought that was incredible.

Check out these articles for more coverage of the event:

Red Dot Diva Coverage
Yo! MC: The NextJam! Coverage
The Web Journal of John Ray Coverage
Toysrevil Coverage
Flipgeeks Picture Coverage

Here’s a particularly nice video made by Marvene Rom Munda.

vinyl+SPLASH Event (AVP) from Marvene Rom Munda on Vimeo.

With my wife Ilyn enjoying some quiet time outside the venue before we went home.

The crowd at Komikon yesterday, right on top of this post, just to give you an idea of how crazy it was. I was taken quite by surprise by the sheer amount of people who showed up. Having gone to this thing for years, I have a fair idea of the amount of people who visit. The mornings are usually rather calm, with things picking up after lunch. But the crowd this time around was intense. From the moment the doors opened in the morning up until the event closed at 7pm, it was this crowded. I saw a lot of new faces, which is great!

Click for larger image.

That photo above represents the stash I got from Komikon. And to think I barely had time to leave my table and go around and buy stuff. These are the only things I managed to get, but this is by no means the entire output of the convention. From the looks of it, I probably got only less than 10% of new komiks being offered on the floor. I wish I could have gotten more, but that’s how it goes, I guess. It may seem like I’m complaining that I can’t break out of my table for long periods of time, but I’m really not. It was great so many came over to buy Elmer and Bold Star and my other stuff for sale, including some original artwork. It was great meeting everyone who came. I just wish I had more opportunity to go and buy stuff. After all, I’m still very much a fan myself.

The Tintin stuff over there are gifts from French journalist Laurent Melikian, who visited the Philippines specifically to attend Komikon. Isn’t that amazing?

With Laurent.

Laurent also brought with him the Prix Asie ACBD 2011 Trophy from my French publisher Editions Ca Et La.

Here are more photos from the event.

The calm before the storm.

The line outside.

Tepai Pascual.

Doc Carlo Jose San Juan taking a break from his medical duties to sell his comic book… about a doctor and a talking duck?

Law Student Teddy Pavon cramming for a test before selling the print version of his webcomic Work in Progress.

Johnny Danganan sells comic books that features Johnny Balbona, a character I created based on him.

Melvin and Joanah Tinio Calingo

Komiks veterans Jun Lofamia and Bert Lopez

Komiks veteran Rico Rival

Yes, I brought my work seat to the con. Got a problem with that? :D

Storm and Beast!

With Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah creator Carlo Vergara

On stage with Komikon organizer/host Sherry Baet Zamar

Hey, Baby! With Ariel Atienza, Tony De Zuniga and Lyndon Gregorio

Heubert Khan Michael, Wilson Tortosa and Edgar Tadeo

With Leinil Francis Yu and Edgar.

GMA 7 Video Coverage:

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

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KOMIKON Coverage Links

Blog Coverage from The Comics Cube
Blog Coverage from NSW Online
Blog Coverage from Inside a Cat’s Mind
Plain Random Blog Coverage
Ika-Siyam Blog Coverage
Carina’s Words Blog Coverage
Mel Casipit’s Blog Coverage
NonSensical Words Blog Coverage Part 1
Nonsensical Words Blog Coverage Part 2 (Photos!)
JB Casacop Blog Coverage
Work in Progress Blog Coverage
Teardrop’s Photo Coverage

So much new KOMIKS coming out at Komikon. Here is but a sampling of Macoy’s site. If anyone out there still thinks Komiks are dead in the Philippines, then they’re just plain STUPID.

Although I’m still promoting Elmer and selling Bold Stars, I do have new stuff coming out. And it’s crazy. It’s the return of Johnny Balbona!

Johnny will be making an appearance in Komikero Komiks Anthology #8, to be sold at Jonas Diego’s table. Oh yeah, here’s a map of the venue itself so you can much more easily find us.

Click for Larger Image

Here’s Ariel Atienza and Lyndon Gregorio, two of the Komikon organizers in a radio appearance yesterday, promoting the event.

Video by Mark Cerbo

As I mentioned, the amount of komiks coming out is INSANE. I wish to buy them all, but of course, I wouldn’t be able to. If I don’t buy your comic book, it’s nothing personal. Keep in mind that there’s only so much I can buy and there are specific things that I really wish to get. I’m really looking forward to Edgar Tadeo’s Jacara Zar, Gio Paredes’ Kalayaan Volume 1 TPB, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s Trese Book 4, Gilbert Monsanto’s new stuff…. and so many more.

I wish I have a bit of time to go around. Since I don’t have a new release, I think I can afford to wander the venue a bit. Yes, I’m really excited for today! See you all there!

More info on Komikon (What, where, when): http://komikon.org

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Hopefully, the comments are working now. If not, you can always leave comments at my Facebook Page here.

Click for Larger Image

Thanks to Komikon for making me a guest this year. That probably means I’ll get to do stuff at the event. I don’t know what that is yet, but I’m ready for anything. National Book Store is a co-presentor this year, and since they published ELMER 2nd Edition, copies can be bought at their booth, which shouldn’t be too far from my table. For my part, I’ll be selling “Where Bold Stars Go To Die”, although admittedly, I only have a few copies left. I’ll be letting go a few original pages from Superior and Ultimate Avengers for a vastly reduced Komikon-only price, for those who have been wanting to buy original comic book art but couldn’t afford to.

I’ll be scampering like mad to finish my short Johnny Balbona story in the next few days which will go into the newest issue of Komikero Komiks Anthology. This is the craziest Johnny Balbona has ever been, and I can’t wait to unleash him. This anthology will be sold at Jonas Diego’s table.

For those who wish to go, the Komikon is going to be held at the Bayanihan Center in Pasig. I really like this venue because it feels like a tiny San Diego Convention Center. It’s large, it’s cool, far easier to access than previous venues, and best of all the comfort rooms are CLEAN. As in utterly CLEAN. Yep, nothing’s too good for my ass.

Click here for instructions how to get there.

I wanted to share this video I came up with back in 2006. A lot has changed since then, but I wanted to present it as is in an effort to remain objective. I wish I could update it and include the numerous other creators I’ve unintentionally left out and all those new creators who have come in since then, but it may take a far longer song than this one to get them all in. Nevertheless, this video still evokes some very strong emotions in me whenever I see it.

Yes, whatever quirks and warts and controversies and dramas Philippine komiks may have, I still just love it to death. See you at Komikon!

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Yes, comments are disabled on this site for now because the commenting system is broken. Damn you, WordPress. In the meantime, you can leave comments at my Facebook page here.

Now that Arlan is gone, I find footage of him more and more valuable. I had forgotten this, and I couldn’t help but shed a tear when I saw it again. This was taken November 18, 2008, only three years ago. And yet in just three years so many things have happened.

News from my European publisher Serge Ewenczyk of Editions çà et là just a few minutes ago: Elmer has won the Quai des Bulles – Ouest France 2011. Photo of Serge above. I’m really just writing this down like a robot because my emotions are currently going ballistic and I really don’t know what to do or say. I’m still like oh maaaaaan.

Below is the list of finalists for the award:

Here is the announcement from the Quai Des Bulles blog: http://quaidesbulles2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-selection-ouest-france-quai-des_6333.html

Apologies if comments are disabled for now. Something is wrong with the commenting system. Working on it.

Photo by Jiggy Cruz

Well, not exactly free. You need to buy either the ELMER 2nd Edition or Trese Book 4 at any branch of National Bookstore (make sure it includes the raffle stub), enter the raffle and one of these iPads can be yours!

Those drawings are not printed on the backs of those iPads. They’re hand drawn on the iPad themselves. Elmer was of course, drawn by me, and Trese was drawn by Kajo Baldisimo. They’re truly one of a kind. For more info about this, check out Jiggy Cruz’s article below:

iPads Sport Pinoy Komiks Art
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/geekspeak/ipads-sport-pinoy-comics-art-085339401.html

For the curious, Elmer was drawn using industrial strength pen which cannot be washed away either by strong chemicals or intense heat. So it’s sticking on there, no matter what!

Then we zoomed off to Robinson’s Galleria for lunch, then from 1-4pm there was a series of interviews with newspapers, and finally at 5pm, the launch!

The new Philippine Komiks display at the National Book Store on the 2nd floor of Robinson’s Galleria.

The Elmer display at Bestsllers 4th Floor Robinson’s Galleria

Elmer standee!

Prints up for raffle.

Q&A hosted by Jiggy Cruz

Interview with Solar.

The ultimate raffle prize…. an iPad with a hand drawn ELMER on the back!

Charles Tan drives me crazy with his podcast. You can listen to it here.

There was a little buffet for all the attendees… and guess what was on the menu? Of course… chicken!

It was all over around 7:30 in the evening. Tired, me and Ilyn got take out from Bon Chon chicken (because we heard it was good) and went home. Settling into bed that night, I felt like I spent the night at the beach… you know the feeling of having experienced waves all day, you sort of still feel it washing over you when you get home. That’s how I felt. It felt very nice.

Thanks to all those who came to the launch… I really appreciate it. Thanks to my friends who came… I even saw one of my old classmates from High School who I haven’t seen in 30 years! It was great. Thanks to Jiggy for hosting the event, and thanks to Miguel Ramos and the rest of National Book Store, Inc. for making it all happen.

I’ll see you guys next at the 7th Annual Komikon on November 19, 2011, Bayanihan Center!