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meet nick simmons. son of legendary KISS bassist gene simmons. manga plagiarist. at left is a page from the popular manga bleach . at right is a page from mr. simmons' US comic, incarnate . click here for lots more comparisons, side-by-sides and transpositions. via

because i don't blog enough about music. cookie mongoloid takes the kind of cookie monster singing you usually hear in death metal bands (think pantera) to its logical conclusion: actual cookie monster singing metal. you can download this single, me lost me cookie in the mosh pit, here . next up, jookabox . some wonderful frenetic jangly guitars on this one: and lastly, jonathon coulton . he's kind of a nerdy paul simon. that's not him in the video, btw. so here's the context of the song: the zombie leader is negotiating with a former officemate, who now leads the survivors holding out inside a mall. got it? note the wordplay on this one, it's brilliant.

shortly after posting yesterday's guardian article about different writers making up rules for writing, i read in kenneth yu's blog about the new yorker's reaction to said article, entitled rules about rules about writing (or, why mush will never triumph). the gist of it was: rules like these are very personal. we all have to make up our own rules for writing. oh really sherlock? i'm a human with a brain? gee thanks! well here's my rule about your rule about rules: in discussions concerning the proper way of doing things, there's always some smartass who goes, 'everything is subjective.'

ewwwwww.

if you like this kind of stuff: the guardian asked a bunch of writers for their own top ten rules. a few i particularly liked: Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. -elmore leonard Keep your exclamation points ­under control. -elmore leonard Good ideas are often murdered by better ones. -roddy doyle Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it. -david hare Find an author you admire and copy their plots and characters in order to tell your own story, just as people learn to draw and paint by copying the masters. -michael moorcock Carrot and stick – have protagonists pursued (by an obsession or a villain) and pursuing (idea, object, person, mystery). -michael moorcock It is the gestation time which counts. -michael morpurgo Think big and stay particular. -andrew motion Don't try to anticipate an "ideal reader" – there may be one, but he/she is reading someone else. -joyce carol oates Get lucky. Stay lucky. -ian ra

renaissance artist and sanduguan creator ner pedrina was already setting up when i arrived. nice standees. my own setup. did some shelf-clearing by selling off old books. seatmates: mike "boy ipis" ignacio with fellow bayan knights, gio "kalayaan" paredes , omeng "lipad" estanislao , and ner. gio getting some TV love. his star is definitely on the rise. later that day he was approached about a planned halimaw sculpture based on his kalayaan character. the real stars of the show: the renaissance artists, thronged by autograph and sketch seekers. proceeds from the sketches went to the family of late komiks artist arlan esmena . the rest will go to other komiks artists in need. the silent sanctum guys sure know how to set up a supercool booth: 1.) play stephen chow movie on laptop... ...2.) have manny pacquiao conquer castle greyskull. apparently, he has the power. alfredo alcala exhibit. awesome stuff. but my favorite piece was this: is he the most-seen kom

just broke my personal cramming record by doing a 20-page comic in 48 hours. taal volcano monster vs. evil space paru-paro will be available tomorrow at the renaissance comics convention, provided i can find a decent photocopying shop open on a sunday morning. the cramming was so bad i didn't even have time to draw a cover.

pinoy web channel flippish.com features the recently-held komikstrip convention at UP los banos. watch for when manix abrera talks about "wild, sira-ulo" local comics, and the camera cuts to kubori kikiam creator michael david . may reputasyon ka na, michael!

this sunday's renaissance event at megamall will be, as gerry alanguilan puts it , a one-day comics convention for charity. there will be bands, booths, cosplay, contests, comics, signings, sketches, all for the benefit of comics professionals going through tough times. at the center of all this is a special ondoy-themed artbook featuring top filipino artists... ...the original art of which will be put up for auction on ebay, also for the renaissance fund. see you there! official site on facebook

see kids? this is what happens when you eat too much fast food.

just so mon ilagan won't feel all alone. i guess this one's for a 'full service' dental clinic: the london 2012 olympics logo was quite controversial. also ugly. also possibly obscene: do irish fishermen drink a lot of beer? 'cause this one apparently has. impressive trajectory there, laddie! this one's a stylized rendering of the company name, "pop": and finally...

via his blog , gio paredes unearthed this short maskarado cartoon by reno maniquis : i totally dig the bruce timm look. why couldn't we have this instead of super inggo and b.i.d.a .?!

now that we've established that facial recognition software at airports and such have a 55% chance of mistaking me for a gay pirate , i'd say it's time to reveal which other famous people i resemble, according to myheritage.com . if any doubt exists as to the reliability of the said celeb look-alike test, i think these results should put all questions to rest: i'm like a one-man united colors of bennetton.

so it's "doppelganger week" on facebook, and i'm supposed to replace my profile pic with a celebrity i've been told i look like. i couldn't make up my mind between jacky chan or gary lising, so i deferred the decision to the interwebs. i found this site (they will ask you to register--just give 'em a fake email address) where you upload a picture of yourself and their face recognition algorithms tell you which celebrities you most resemble. my result? you can't argue with the internet.

my comic gets the mock movie poster treatment, courtesy of jerome jacinto, a.k.a. chichapie . look at that. just look at that. if i didn't know better i'd think this was the original and my comic was a tribute to it . i can stare at this all day. check out jerome's other stuff at his deviantart , including his own hard-boiled anthropomorphic indie, the metro .

gio paredes recently blogged about finishing talks with a US-based publisher for overseas distibution of his superhero title kalayaan . it's great news for indie komiks in general, but also especially heartening for creators like me, because gio's deal with the publisher allows him to keep all rights to his work, and he gets paid royalties. paredes's success is also a great example for aspiring komiks creators. gio may have his weaknesses as a draftsman (a fact he talks about openly in a recent interview for uno magazine ), but his passion and discipline more than make up for it. not only did he single-handedly write and illustrate all nine issues of his comic, but he also finds the time and energy to market and deliver copies to the eight different stores that carry it. he's a tireless worker. in naruto terms, a "genius of hard work".

sputnik comics is having a party on saturday and we're all invited! (as-yet-unnamed) comics artist signings, a bunch of bands including itchyworms!, pedicab and ciudad, and a for-couples geekfight quiz just in time for valentines.

by dan moynihan .

the calvin and hobbes creator talks about doing something cartoonists almost never do--retiring at the top of his game: By the end of 10 years, I’d said pretty much everything I had come there to say. If I had rolled along with the strip’s popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now “grieving” for “Calvin and Hobbes” would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I’d be agreeing with them... I'm proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it, but I wrote "Calvin and Hobbes" in my 30s, and I'm many miles from there. An artwork can stay frozen in time, but I stumble through the years like everyone else. I think the deeper fans understand that, and are willing to give me some room to go on with my life. you tell 'em, bill. most of the "grievers" really just wanted more

a little monday morning pick-me up. via