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rocket kapre 's paolo chikiamco sat down with budjette tan and kajo baldisimo to discuss their recent national book awards win , trese fandom, and what it would take for them to quit their dayjobs and make comics full-time: Do you remember when it was that you first realized that you had a hit on your hands? That this was going to go beyond the convention circuit? BUDJETTE:   I’m not sure of the exact tipping point of Trese. I was getting an inkling of it when I would spot the occasional review online. (Yes, yes, I Google “Trese” once in awhile.) It amazed me that people took the time to write reviews that read like someone’s thesis report. These were very detailed and passionate reviews about the stories. It was also great to get feedback from guys like Gerry Alanguilan and Marco Dimaano about the book early on. And then, when we released TRESE: MURDER ON BALETE DRIVE, me and Kajo were invited guests at the Mangaholix Con in SMX, where we sold 100+ copies. By that time, we k...

there is going to be an indie komiks bazaar at UP this saturday afternoon, featuring: Joanah Calingo Alejandro Edoria Macoy Silent Sanctum Manga Kickbackers Meganon Comics, Wall Push Productions Akda comics group Inkwork Sorcery Studio click to enlarge and here's a map to the venue: click to enlarge

the kids went to a children's party yesterday, ang brought home at least one inappropriate toy: and some ironic candy.

on taal volcano monster vs. evil space paru-paro: At a modest twenty pages, Taal Volcano Monster isn't so much a story as an extended gag strip. A   Mothra   stand-in shows-up for no good reason other than that's what happens in the movies. And the requisite knock-down drag-out battle takes place. Both monsters are drawn to look like cuddly plush toys, while the humans are mostly just tiny stick figures. Mass destruction rarely looked so cute. on school run #1:   They may be kids, but if the comic follows the formula, the cast will get whittled down to just a few of the more resourceful and stronger characters... The first issue isn't particularly graphic by the genre's standards, although the possibility of baby-faced munchkins dying horribly one by one might disturb some readers... The departure from the usual horror movie casting is what's intriguing about the comic. So as perverse as this sounds, I'll be disappointed if no blood is spilled in the...

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Sputoniku No Koibito!!! Comics Signing Adam David + Carljoe Javier + Josel Nicolas 27 November 2010, Saturday 9 pm @ SPUTNIK Manix Abrera + JP Cuison + Dennis Nierra Comics Signing Friday, December 3 8:00pm - 11:00pm   BETTER LIVING THROUGH XEROXOGRAPHY * A VERY SMALL SMALL PRESS EXPO * Friday, December 3 at 7:00pm - 3:00am Ilyong's , Kalantiaw, Cubao books! komix! zines! shirts! other stuffs! Thomasian Writers Guild! Aklat Kurimaw! Ink Elephant! Tilde Acuna! Gelo Suarez! Macoy! Papermonster! Cavite Young Writers Association! Mark Angeles! Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium! the Youth & Beauty Brigade! Mike David! UP UGAT! UP Writers Club! Heights! High Chair! Gerilya Komix Krew! Kuliti!   Michael David + Rommel Estanislao Comics Signing Saturday, December 11 9:00pm - 2:00am next day *there is probably going to be a komiks bazaar at UP on december 4. will update this post as things get finalized.

poster i made for adam david 's celebration of DIY art. the maps were drawn by adam himself. from what i understand the event is going to be a party-slash-christmas sale "very small small press expo" . there will be indie comics, books, zines, poetry chapbooks, postcards, shirts, bags and all kinds of stuff made by some very talented folk. i will be there with josel nicolas, mervin malonzo, dj legaspi, apol sta. maria, michael david and anyone else who enjoys free beer and druken karaoke. if you have nothing better to do after you get your manix abrera autograph on december 3, do drop by. you can have my free beer, i'm allergic. facebook event page

true story.

colleen doran makes her case against comics piracy : Here’s hoping the next step in combating the lack of respect for copyright includes an initiative to instill some respect for the people who create content. Real human beings live behind that work . meanwhile, steve lieber enters the belly of the beast and finds the experience rewarding : I just participated in a genuinely fascinating discussion, and I think it’s old dog, new tricks time . so who's right? i think both of them are. digital piracy isn't a black-and-white issue, and we really are living in unprecedented times where the rules are being rewritten and new rules are made up as we go along. while i applaud efforts like those described in doran's article seeking to keep adsense profits out of pirates' hands, i also agree with lieber that free is here to stay and we need to deal with that fact as well. here in the philippines, the kind of comics literacy we have that helped give rise to and suppor...

andrew villar posted this video of some new and returning characters set to appear in the new batibot show debuting this month on TV 5, including the replacements for kuya bodjie and ate shena: my initial reaction is, "way too perky". but then again this hyperstimulated post-blues clues generation might prefer it that way. we'll see.

from left to right: manix and jess abrera, the artist raymond and his sister jona, michael david and myself. check out more of raymond logronio's sweet vector toons at his istikitoons facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Istikitoons/230791854091

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and will be available at comic odyssey galleria soon!

...if they'd had one of these. via

1.) stanley chi and the front act crew were at last month's PICCA fest doing their thing that they do, which means i can now claim to have officially been on TV... for like three seconds (beware crappy vid quality): the PICCA bit starts at 4:36, and i make my appearance at around 6:42. there's also a second part with more komikon bites at 6:24 and 12:00, but i'm not in it so w/e. 2.) game! magazine's october issue also acknowledged that i exist... ...in the most economical way possible. 3.) astig TV did a series of interviews featuring us sulyap komiks people, but the video's not embeddable so you'll have to go here to see how awkward and weird and fidgety i am in person. 4.) finally and most recently, poc.net's paolo chikiamco caught the tail-end of our panel interview at komikon last weekend, and posted some video to accompany his excellent komikon asessment . EDIT: the latest issue of wow! pinas magazine did a feature on ko...

vanity fair excerpts bill carter's book the war for late night : Finally, Glaser looked across the room to where Conan was sitting and asked him, “What do you want to do?” His chest muscles were so constricted, Conan wondered briefly if he might be having a heart attack. “What I want to do,” he said, haltingly, his voice rough and raw, “is something that all of you are going to tell me I can’t do.” He had their full attention now, all eyes pinned to him. “I want to write a statement that says exactly how I feel about it. You guys are going to tell me that I’m giving up all my leverage if I’m supposed to go to another network or something, but I can’t wait. I don’t want to play games here.” He described how much the show meant to him, the legacy of Carson, the offers he had passed up to get this chance, and how losing it would be crushing—and unfair. Because they were never really given a chance. The words came freely; he composed them on the spot. But they flowed, synta...

remember james frey, that a million little pieces novelist who duped oprah? he's set up full fathom five, a "fiction factory" composed of young writers trying to create the next twilight . what could possibly be wrong with that? well... a number of things. nymag.com has the dirt. Frey emphasized that this was collaboration—not my own project—and that he needed writers who will listen to him. He gave as an example a King Arthur adaptation he was working on with another writer. That author had listened to his criticism and rewritten it in a different voice; because the author was receptive, Frey was positive the book would sell, and big. Another project, a Gossip Girl–like series he had worked on with two writers employed at Star magazine, he said had gone south. The writers hadn’t made his requested character changes, so Frey had recently fired them. He reintroduced the idea that he was modeling his company on Damien Hirst’s art factory, a warehouse in which a report...

huge news for pinoy komiks. but don't take my word for it, here's what the 2009 national book awards committee had to say : In Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo has [sic] crafted a testament to the limitless capacity of the Filipino imagination, as well as one of the best Filipino comic books of all time. yeesss looks like the lit establishment has finally started taking notice. budjette reacts with a graceful, ovation-worthy acceptance speech , which impressed me so much i'm reposting it in full: To the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle, thank you very much for recognizing our work and giving us this award. To Ruey de Vera, who has shown support to local comics since 1995, writing reviews and interviewing local comic book creators, introducing them to Pinoys through his newspaper articles. Thanks to Bow, Taps, Arnold, and Mark --the skeleton crew who conjured The World of the Unknown, a radio show about ghosts, aswang, and wit...

the starmall trade hall was fit to burst yesterday, with the komikon crowd packed tighter than darna's top (anjanette abayari version). things were so busy at the sulyap table (thanks for letting us use it komikon crew!) that i didn't get to walk around at all until cherry arrived at around closing time, so i missed a bunch of indies that i really wanted. here's what i did get: someone left their komikon catalog at my table, if you want it back just let me know. the sulyap booth... whoever was supposed to sit beside me never came so i got an entire table to myself. we were placed right in front of the entrance. i was the very first indie artist people coming in would ignore. people who bought a full set of my comics brought home free stuff, like this maskot t-shirt. julienne and leroy dropped by and asked for sketches. the guy in the middle looks envious if you ask me. i barely saw any cosplayers, but someone did put together an impromptu "lipad" getup. here h...

here's a sampling of the titles scheduled for release at next week's komikon at star mall . this year's komikon boasts its biggest indie komiks tiangge yet, with 34 artists/groups participating! 24 hour comics and beyond by mel casipit atomic under ground special edition #1 by m3 comics barangay sesame by dumpling press bayan knights #5 by bayan knights group boy bakal #2 by carlo valenzuela dekada by lyndon gregorio boink! comics featuring: Andrew Villar (Ambush), Stong Franco (Quipino), Greco Milambiling (Aha Hule), Julius Villanueva (Life in progress) Hazel Manzano (Callwork), Syeri Baet-Zamar (Carpool), Mimi Romauldez (Frog pond), P'Casis, Amos Villar, and Celso Quijano break out comics by subway productions komikon comics compilation by mel casipit cresci prophecies vol. 3 by ika-siyam digmaang salinhali #8 by jon zamar and judd abinuman dragon kid #3 by lady storykeeper drop dead dangerous by chad cabrera and mike banting earthborne chapter zero b...