This post has nothing to do with comics. This is just me thinking about things, as I would often do when my mind wanders. When I’m having lunch there’s this cat that hangs outside our backdoor wall, waiting to be fed. He’s not our cat. I don’t think he’s anyone’s cat. I’ve seen him around all over the place, looking for other cats among the chickens. Outside, this cat doesn’t know who I am and doesn’t even respond to me. In fact, he even runs away from me. But when he’s at the backdoor, he’s my best friend, as he eyes the fish in my hand. He meows demandingly, as if I owe him this fish. I’ve taken to calling this cat Lolcat. So when he’s here, he’s kind of my cat, but most of the time, he’s not.

Once in a while Lolcat would appear at the wall with a large bloody gash on his side. Sometimes he would appear with a swollen paw, unable to jump. Sometimes he would appear, mouth open full of saliva. Turns out he would sometimes get some fish with a large bone somewhere and it gets stuck in his mouth or throat. I would try to help him if I could, but then he would disappear for days. I thought he would be dead. But he would turn up sometime later, perfectly all right, once again demanding food. I swear this cat has more than nine lives. He ought to have been dead several times over. I’ve seen him get injuries that would have killed other cats. But not this one. This one is a survivor.

It got me thinking, you know, Elmer style, what if this cat was human? It’s got to be a really lonely life. He has no friends, no family. He’s all alone. He doesn’t know where he’s going to get his food tomorrow and how he’s going to survive. And if gets sick or critically injured there is no one there to help him, no one there to keep him company or hold his hand and tell them everything is going to be all right. It’s terrifying. If Lolcat was human he would have gone insane from loneliness and despair.

So perhaps this is an argument for animals not really having the intelligence and consciousness like ours. Because it they thought and felt like us, animals like Lolcat and other animals under similar circumstances would just go insane. This is perhaps why animals can survive on their own like this. They don’t have any silly psychological and emotional problems to think about. It’s all instinct.

I don’t want to be like that though. I like having friends. I like having people I can count on and depend on. I like having someone hold my hand when I dearly need it.

My wife Ilyn recently wrote an article on her blog about being Catholic with regards to the RH Bill. She does not say whether she is for or against the bill, but she has a lot to say about the Catholic Church’s behavior in this whole affair. And you know what? I completely agree with her. It’s what I had been thinking about for such a long time and I’ve been trying to mull over what to say. She went ahead and said everything I wanted to say, and she said it pretty well. If you have time, please go on ahead and visit her blog at the link below.

Ok…I Really Have to Talk About This…
http://paper-basket.blogspot.com/2011/04/ok-i-really-have-to-talk-about-this.html

I think the Catholic Church in the Philippines is finally drawing the line. It’s either you’re in or you’re out. And like Ilyn says, this is not the proper way of reaching out to their flock. It forces us to draw our own lines, and I truly hate it if it comes down to this.

I think the leadership of the Catholic Church in this country has a lot to think about this Holy Week. They need to think of the following words: Understanding. Compassion. LOVE. Their actions of late have been so un-Christian that as a Catholic, I am very disappointed.

We had the venue, the Lion’s Club of San Pablo, for only ONE day. So we had planned to bring all the tables, chairs, mobile, tarpaulins, decorations, exhibits and exhibit panels early in the day before the doors opened at 10am, and pack them all up by 6:00pm.

We were at the venue at 6:30am. We planned to be there at 6 but we’re sleepy heads. The caretaker of the place was a sleepy head as well because we were knocking on the gates long before she opened it. As soon as she sleepily staggered to open the gate for us, off we went.

The tarpaulins and exhibit panels were courtesy of Davies Paints and the United Architects of the Philippines, San Pablo Chapter. The UAP is celebrating National Architecture Week, and they chose to co-sponsor the event. They can only sponsor an event if members of the sponsored group/event had architects in it, and there were THREE of us: myself, Ilyn and Arlan Esmeña. All of us card-carrying members of UAP San Pablo.

Dressing up the stage

Setting up the exhibits

Early birds Andrew Villar and Rod Espinosa help set up the exhibits. Thanks guys!

Pregnant Komikera Edjee setting up exhibits

The United Architects of the Philippines, San Pablo Chapter

Ilyn at the Komikero Publishing table

Pinoy Komiks Rebyu fan, Maya Salas

Bayan Knights!

Heubert Michael, Stephen Segovia and Harvey Tolibao at the Comic Odyssey table

The Great Manix Abrera

Kajo Baldisimo of TRESE

KIDS!

Christina, from Germany!

My dad browsing a copy of “Where Bold Stars Go To Die”, much to my horror. I have yet to tell them about this comic book. Well, they know now.

We offer our appreciation for Mr. Hugo “Boboy” Yonzon for his contribution to Philippine comics.

Grand Prize contest winner.

John Becaro at the Freedom Wall

Edgar Tadeo. Dramatic.

The Cast of Characters

With Rod Espinosa

With Kajo Baldisimo and Manix Abrera

The Komikero Artists Group, recreating the poster. See you all next year!

More photos at my Facebook
Pictures from Edgar Tadeo
Photos from Jonas Diego
Photos from Randy Valiente
Photos from Hazel Manzano

We closed our event at 6:00pm and we packed and out of the venue by 7:00pm. Then some of us had beers afterwards. I just had one because that’s all I can take. Riding alone on a tricycle on the way back home, spent and ragged, I felt like I was coming home from the most awesome Komikero meeting ever.

That’s Jonas Diego and me on stage yesterday, auctioning a variety of stuff including original artworks, signed sketchbooks by Leinil Yu, etc. The online auctions, the live auctions, as well as the caricature auctions conducted by Mr. Hugo Yonzon at the Podium have so far raised more than 80 thousand pesos!

The photo above is by Carlo Pagulayan. See a whole gallery of photos from Carlo here.

The Komikero Angels

That’s our two tables before the hall opened to the public. From left is Arlan’s wife May, Ilyn, Edjee and Zara.

The Francisco V. Coching and Alfredo Alcala Exhibits

Arlan Esmeña, Dr. John A. Lent, me!

Veteran Komiks illustrator Jun Lofamia at the table.

A visit from my brother Noel and nephew Robin.

Arlan and me at the table with Robin and Charles Tan.

Edjee and Jiggy Cruz

At the Summit Panel for UNDERPASS with David Hontiveros, Oliver Pulumbarit, Ian Sta. Maria and Kajo Baldisimo. Budjette’s hands are to the right of David.

With Jun Sabayton

Danny Acuña

Gilbert Monsanto exhausted at the end of the day.

As I previously predicted, this year’s Komikon was INSANE! A lot of terrific new books came out including Trese 3: Mass Murders, Bayan Knights #3, Francisco V. Coching’s EL INDIO, and our two books “Where Bold Stars Go To Die” and ELMER Collected Edition didn’t fare so bad either.

I’ve read TRESE and it was an incredible wrap up of the first 13-issue run. With multiple issues devoted to one story, it gave Budjette and Kajo space to explore the origins of TRESE and oh my God what an awesome origin that is. Highly Recommended!

However, Manix Abrera pummels us all with his marvelous “12″. It’s a full color graphic novel of 12 short stories told without words. Manix’s beautifully insane imagination is on full display. I was brought to laughter, to tears, to disgust, to euphoria. To me, this is far and away the best release of Komikon. It elevates cartooning and comics in the Philippines to a whole different level. Cliched as it may sound, but this is an instant classic. An absolutely brilliant classic. Manix, I hope you live a VERY long life because my life is now all the more richer knowing you will be around to create things like this. Thank you.

“12″, Trese, and the many other new releases in this Komikon alone makes me very very happy for the Philippine comics industry.

Photos from Jiggy Cruz.

Photos from Edgar Tadeo.

Photos from Jonas Diego with the Komikero group as the day winds down.

This is my April Fool’s gag for 2009.

2008 had been extremely difficult for me and my extended families. In hindsight, it was probably the worst time to decide to pursue personal projects knowing now how bad the economy would become.

Struggling for a good way to make a living and living on the very edge of bankruptcy for the better part of the last two years, it made me reconsider a job offer I had previously declined that would help us get out of this financial quicksand.

The job offer came by way of You Tube. You Tube has been nothing more than a place for me to have fun. That was it. But surprisingly enough, the schticks and stupid videos that I have done there have somehow gained a following. Last year I was offered to star in a TV sitcom that would make use of my You Tube “persona”. I had initially scoffed at the idea because back then I still thought of myself as a comic book creator.

I’ve had plenty of opportunity to rethink that decision as I found myself searching for coins in my drawers and pants just so I could buy lunch. I realized right there that “I shouldn’t have to do this.” So I called up the number that was given to me, and starting next month we begin shooting the TV sitcom.

I’m not at liberty to say what show it is, or what TV network it is for. But I am sure that the audience would be primarily OFWs as they seem to be my primary audience.

It will be a full time job, so as of next month, I will no longer be working in comics. I will just finish off my current commitments including the last two installments of Timawa, as well as the last few ELMER gift sets.

I make this decision with a sad heart. Comics has been my life for well, my entire life. To leave it behind is a painful thing to do. I’m the kind of person who commits totally to something so if I would be embracing acting, I would do so completely and wholeheartedly. I cannot act and do comics at the same time. It’s just not me.

Perhaps one day I will do comics again, if this acting thing doesn’t eventually work out. But right now I really can’t afford to think like that.

I will also be closing this blog, and opening a new one hosted at the TV network’s site. I will inform you all of the address soon.

I will also be closing my You Tube channel, as its closure is part of the deal with the network.

It’s corny I know, but they want me to go by the name GERARDO from now on. Of course, all of my friends can still call me Gerry. But for everyone else, I guess Gerardo is it. It’s still my name of course. That’s the name on my birth certificate. I suppose it’s meant to make me seem more mature. They know best I guess.

Well, that’s it. I don’t know how much longer this blog will stay up, but as long as it’s still here, let me just offer my deepest thanks and gratitude to everyone who has visited here and shared a bit of themselves with me.

Thank you very much.

The first batch of Elmer Gift Sets will be delivered today. Yes, we’d rather prefer to hand these sets directly to those who bought them rather then send them via courier. We don’t want to take the chance that it they will be lost, and that I feel it’s much better to meet with those who will receive them.

I haven’t personalized any of the sets yet because I want to make sure that they will be there to receive it. There is the possibility that one or two might back out, and I would have a tough time selling it to someone else if I had already personalized it to other people.

So to those who had confirmed, see you all later at our secret undisclosed location at our secret undisclosed time.

We’ll be preparing the second batch soon. We have decided to put together no more than TWENTY sets together, and no more beyond that. There is still a chance that you can get a copy for yourself because a few people have have decided to relinquish their reservations.

Ilyn and I have decided to price each set at P2,500 pesos. Yes, it is expensive, but we believe it’s only commensurate to the unique nature of these sets.

To review, each set contains the following:

*A hardcover hand bound collection of ELMER #1-4, bound in a manner resembling Elmer Gallo’s Diary. Due to the availability of paper used, not all bound books are alike in color and texture. These are not new printings. We used the 1st print copies of individual issues of Elmer #1-#4.

*5.5″x8.5″ Original illustration in pen and ink. No two illustrations are alike.

*Facsimile of a page from Elmer Gallo’s original diary.

*Facsimile of a clipping of Elmer Gallo’s “Chicken Scratchings” newspaper column.

*Five 4″x6″ Gallo family photographs

*CD containing “Chicken Joy: Documentary of Elmer and Its Creator” video documentary created by Edgar Tadeo.

*Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ilyn and myself.

*A hand crafted two level nested box that puts everything together in one neat package. As pictures indicate, not all boxes will look alike in color and texture due also to the availability of paper.

*Plus a bonus complete set of Seven San Pablo City postcards published by Komikero Publishing in 2004. Not related to Elmer, but what the heck.

Oh yeah, each book contains a blank page specifically for personalization. I can write anything there that you would like. I can even sketch something. Each book HAS to be personalized to you or to someone you will give it too. We will not be selling any set that will not be personalized to a particular individual.

It is still possible to get a set. If you’re still interested and agree to the terms, please send an email to gerryalanguilan at yahoo dot com and I will put you on the list.

To all those who have already sent in their requests, thanks very much for the support!

Boney, Milky and Eugene were featured in Animal Scene magazine in their October 2008 issue. I wasn’t able to get a copy of it since pretty much the whole of October I was laid up in bed sick and during November I was scampering to finish Elmer #4 on time. I guess I’ll just go over the back issue bins, but if anyone finds a copy of it out there, please let me know!

The article is now online here:

http://natzbalbas.multiply.com/photos/album/88#2
Thanks to Nathaniel!

My pets have been the subject of some of my online comics. I wrote and drew one about my cat “Mimiws” and much later, about Eugene.

Last Meow
Eugene

Armageddon, or as it turns out, my brother.

I don’t remember what date it was, but it was sometime in 1985, when my brother came home with a comic book. An X-men comic book.

I remember the X-men. I was a big fan of the comic book in the late 70′s after having collected all the available issues reprinted by National Book Store. If I’m not mistaken, those reprints began with X-men 96, the issue where the X-men battles Kierrok, up to #101, where the X-Men are captured by Black Tom and the Juggernaut in Scotland. I remember with great fondness awesome moments from this period of the X-men. That Chris Claremont guy who writes this thing… wow, this guy is great! Dave Cockrum the artist was great too!

1.Steven Lang ranting about how Xavier, Cyclops and Jean Grey are the heart and soul of the X-men. Cut out the heart and the body dies, he says. Prophetic words. When Brett Ratner killed Xavier, Cyclops and Jean Grey in one fell swoop in X-men 3, it pretty much ended that franchise.

2.Wolverine busting out of supposedly unbreakable chains when Steven Lang slaps Jean Grey, revealing to the X-men, and the readers, that the claws were part of him. Banshee’s reaction was unforgettable, “Yer claws, Laddie… Lord above, they’re a part of you!”

3.All out war at JFK airport with Cyclops, Havoc, Eric the Red, Storm and Polaris. Storm unleashes her powers in just the most spectacular fashion. “This is no game Polaris!” ZZRAKAM!

Of course, when we moved to Manila many years later and I went to High School, I truly felt like I’ve grown up, ready to leave my childhood behind. Well, those X-men comics are part of a huge stack that I left behind in San Pablo or gave away to friends, all part of a childhood box that I packed up, never to be seen again.

Fast forward to 1985. I’m in college, minding my own business, comics the furthest thing from my mind. I was resting after school, either lying in bed or writing something on my study table.

Then my brother walks in. With a comic book. X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga.

The cover immediately grabbed me. It was the very first time I ever saw artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz, a name I would not learn till much later. I was blown away. I’ve never seen the X-men depicted in such a realistic manner (I would see Neal Adam’s work much later) and it felt weird, but electrifying at the same time. I wanted to read it right there, but my brother walked off with it because he just had to read it first. Great.

I had to wait, and when he had done, I went off to bed and opened the book.

And well, I guess it’s fair to say that from that time on, I was never the same. Just when you thought you were all set in life going in a certain direction then without warning, whooosh! Off you go in another direction.

The Dark Phoenix Saga was one of those life changing things, probably one of the most significant moments in my life that I look back and see, with much clarity, how different a person I was before and after reading it. Once again, it was written by that Claremont guy… is this guy some kind of awesome or what? The artist, John Byrne, was kind of an awesome artist himself. The art… wow, the art on this thing was fantastic.

The reasons I loved the X-men when I was a kid all came back, and it came back hefting a huge sledgehammer and swinging because these stories were far far better than those I read before.

I became a much bigger comics fan than I was when I was a kid. Once a week or couple of weeks, my brother would come home with a new batch of X-men comics, which a collector friend of his was letting him borrow.

Very soon, my brother was bringing in other comics like New Mutants, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, Ronin… I was in comics heaven.

I started to collect my own comic books, starting with of course, the X-Men. I’d use up whatever extra money I had to buy comics. Sometimes I would lie to my parents and say I needed money to buy Yokens or tracing papers or technical pens, but in reality, I was buying comics. This is the first time I’m admitting that. Comics was like a drug. I had to have it. I went to places I never went before just to track down issues. I learned about places like Cubao and Greenhills to find comics stores located there and went there often. I went to Avenida to the newsstands because they had a weekly delivery of comics.

Before I knew it, I started scribbling my own comics on a school notebook, and I was off and running. And in the 25 or so years that followed, I’ve never stopped running. Who knew that at I would eventually work on the X-men myself… and work with Chris Claremont, the guy who wrote all those X-Men stories that sparked my imagination all those years ago? I still can’t believe it myself.

Some years ago my brother, upon seeing what I’ve done, he said, “I’ve created a monster!”

Well, yes you did.

You can all go blame him here.