mababang langit

i was sposed to finish this thing during the christmas break, but things got unseasonally busy with work, so i've only done a single page so far, plus a proposed cover. i'm not sure how the white-on-black thing is to be achieved in an economical manner. clicky for biggie:

farewell and thank you, mr. salinger. your book changed my life.

you know that scene in rocky 2 where rocky's swimming all these laps and apollo creed says to adrien, "he's using muscles he never thought he had"? apol sta. maria's ang alamat ng panget & many other does the same thing, only to your brain. specifically, that part of your brain that processes weird . the panget reading experience is equal parts laughing, recoiling in horror, and scratching your head in utter confusion. often you find yourself doing all three things at once. i loved it. one of the best comics of 2009, as far as i'm concerned. of course, the best parts of the book aren't fit to be posted on this blog. sta. maria finds that "absurd" button and mashes down on it so hard and so often it's not even funny (but it almost always is). i was blown away by the sheer manic inventiveness of his situations and characters, and the ruthless, morbid eye he casts on the human race--source of all stupidity. part of wh

so there's this thing where you type in the title of your book, and they tell you its chances of becoming a best-seller based on just the title itself. naturally i took it 100% seriously and plugged in a bunch of komiks titles. the scores are arranged from highest to lowest below. i threw in a few control values as well ( in bold ) just to compare: kiko machine - 72.5% funny komiks - 69.0% ang alamat ng pangit - 69.0% a tale of two cities (best-selling novel of all time) - 63.7% pugad baboy - 63.7% wasted - 63.7 % after eden - 63.7 % culture crash - 59.3% bayan knights - 59.3% kalayaan - 59.3% bearkdowns - 59.3% pilipino komiks - 45.6% lapu-lapu - 45.6% kubori kikiam - 45.6% elmer - 45.6% trese (name) - 45.6% nardong tae - 45.6% ang mundo ni andong agimat - 41.4% Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsazsa Zaturnnah - 41.4% the bible - 35.9% Album ng mga Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy - 35.9% mangaholix - 35.9% ang maskot - 35.9% operasyon -35.9% bukas luluhod ang mga tala - 26.3%

click here to read it. but be warned: the site's flash interface is pretty horrible. via

mon ilagan is mayor of cainta, rizal, which is near where i live. like many local politicians, ilagan works his personal logo into as many public works projects as he can. around christmastime last year, i noticed these hanging from the streetlights along ortigas extension: it was the first time i'd really looked at the logo. and maybe it was the combination of the nighttime setting, and those wing-like leaves at the sides, but this immediately sprang to mind:

first, a history of evil , an unfinished student film by norweigian animator ole magnus saxegård: followed up by milo manara's sexy and violent a history of humans : click here to see the whole thing (NSFW) i'n not usually into gadgets and gear, but i'll be damned if this isn't the shmexiest pc i've ever seen. drool over schultzeworks' philco pc : pair that with another retro-styled beaut, n2a motors' 789 chevy. it's literally three classic cars in one : it makes me wanna jump in the driver's seat and blast the 60's batman theme from the stereo. nanananaNAnanana...

i just need to find a "pregnant high school classmate" to win it. too bad i went to an all-boys school . via

the thumbthing helps you hold your book open with just one hand. perfect for reading porn. via

...and guess what i saw on the "fresh off the press" display? yay coching! the rest of the copies, however, continue to languish in the textbook section instead of the graphic novels section where they belong: tsk. i wonder if it's some kind of computer error that's caused the misclassification. after all, the in-store price checker already has a virus... so what is to be done? - send angry emails to national bookstore's customer service at info@nationalbookstore.com.ph? - send angry emails directly to nanay socorro at asknanay@nationalbookstore.com.ph? - bitch about it on your blog? - start a facebook fan page called "francisco coching's lapu-lapu is a graphic novel not a textbook!"? - move all the copies yourself whenever you're at a national bookstore outlet? - all of the above? speaking of national bookstore, if you've been avoiding the fourth floor of the main branch in cubao (the pre-owned books section) because of the stupid high pric

is this plotline: Condensed, it went something like this: Peter Parker gets over MJ, finds a new girl, falls in love. But: Peter also discovers her father is actually the Vulture, a naughty green guy with wings to be played by John Malkovich. Peter is torn between the love of his new lady and taking down the Vulture. Being a Spandex tight-ass, he decides to take down the Vulture, and kills him. This patricide goes down poorly with Peter’s new fiancée, and she rejects him. Despondent, Peter decides to abandon his superpowers, and Movie No. 4 ends with Peter Parker throwing away his Spider-Man mask, and audiences wondering if they are watching Superman II. (edit: wait, it ain't patricide if it wasn't your own father you killed, right?) via image

first there was that food-out-your-nose funny (and NSFW) kubori kikiam motion comic: and now, jerome jacinto (a.k.a. chichapie ) has put together this mock opening sequence based on his indie comic the metro :

paolo chikiamco , the man behind sci-fi magazine rocket kapre and editor of the metakritiko section of philippine online chronicles , just posted a review of ang maskot : The story itself is both funny and, surprisingly, heart warming. I’d initially thought that the komik would use the idea of “angry man in a bird costume” to make an ultra-violent black comedy, but that’s not the case here—a good thing, to my mind. Not everyone who has a bad day goes on a murderous rampage, nor becomes blind to the fact that other people may have bigger problems. read the full article here .

remember those he-man paintings i posted a while back? they're in an L.A. exhibit entitled "Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe". more images included in that show here and here . they are killer. via

okay, this project is long overdue so maybe blogging about it will light a fire under my ass. the good folks at sputnik comics asked me to customize a munny for them. what's a munny, you ask? this is a munny: it's a do-it-yourself, customizable vinyl designer toy. it comes with accessories and stuff: i'm gonna carve it up, sculpt on additioanl parts, paint it, and if all goes well and i don't screw up too badly, we will hopefully end up with something that looks like this: which will then be put up for auction at the sputnik store. i'll be posting my work progress on this blog. where does one go to buy googly eyes?

i wish it were some kind of misbegotten PR joke. but, oh sweet matrix of leadership, it's not . that's the actual official volunteer campaign logo portrayed above, by the way. hmmm, speaking of appropriate color choices... there, that's better.

check out this totally awesome clay mini-model (it's only 2" high!) made by cartoonist/graphic artist/sculptor omeng estanislao . the costume head comes off to reveal maskot's trademark scowl. you can browse omeng's other stuff over at his deviantart , including this sweet superdog figure based on the popular funny komiks character.

personal observations about komiks this year: the market is there - after all, it was able to support an unprecedented six major komiks events this year, despite catastrophic floods and whatnot. a nascent komiks convention circuit is forming (komikon, metrocon, m3con)--crossing my fingers that this becomes a permanent thing. broadening tastes - underground hits like alamat ng panget and bearkdowns generated a lot of buzz in '09, hopefully opening doors for more titles outside the established superhero/manga/humor genres. bookstores still the way to go - like it or not, the key to mainstream comics success still lies in nanay socorro's monopolizing hands, whether you're selling a pamphlet (mangaholix) or a graphic novel (trese, el indio, 12, etc.). komiks still don't get enough respect - at least from the mainstream media, judging by the lack of coverage. some new years' wishes for the local komiks scene: more comics journalism - randy valiente's

let's keep our fingers intact, ey? and while we're on the subject, here are a couple of recent photos of mine: bought this 1975 five-peso coin at an antiques store in megamall. it is huge and it's got my katukayo's profile on it. tanching tayo! try buying a red ribbon cake the afternoon of december 31st and this is what you get. the fact that they even print claim stubs in the triple digits tells you a lot already. all the tables in the restaurant had been cleared away, and the place was standing room only. first time i ever saw such a thing. the line at the cashier almost stretched to the comfort rooms.