komikon 2011 reads: crimefighting call center agents by pascual & bernardo

-
one thing you should know about this book: very little actual crimefighting takes place in it. second: the fact that the protagonists (sandra, charlie, "double-taking" koontz and "chopped liver" noel) all work at the same call center doesn't really affect the story much. third: it is awesome.

writer noel pascual's sendup of the scream-type horror formula is pitch-perfect in its sardonic glee. it begins with the standard setup: friends on a road trip pick up a gruesome-looking hitchhiker, the hitchhiker turns out to be a psycho killer, he chases them into an abandoned house, they are trapped and must find a way to escape and/or defeat him.

in one of my favorite moments, the heroes pile every available piece of furniture in front the door to make a barricade to keep the killer out. suddenly one of them has a burst of inspiration, reaches into the pile, and locks the doorknob. the book is littered with random,occasionally surreal, comedic gems like this.

a.j. bernardo's art fits the dark, humorous tone to a tee. lots of dramatic perspective shots to accentuate the bursts of action and heighten the comedy, but also some really great sculpting of shapes using light and shadow to remind us of the story's pulp-horror roots. the spectacular finale alone, a two-page spread that is perhaps the most bizarre montage/splash page/plot resolution you will ever see in a local comic this year, is worth the price of admission.

i can't wait for the second issue.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

hot, hot summer komikon 2010

-
Image
thank you all you beautiful people who dropped by the indie tiangge and bought my stuff at yesterday's summerkon. school run #1 sold out, both the "DVD copy" (inkjet print) and "kuha sa sinehan" (photocopy) versions. you guys are awesome. look out for the second chapter at metrocon in august. i didn't have time to buy all the titles i wanted, but at least i got free stuff from chapel and josel nicolas . also did tradesies with mel casipit ( baboy 2 ), hazel manzano ( callwork 2: proud callboy ), lady storykeeper ( dragon kid 2 ) and michael david ( kubori kikiam 7 ): pop culture maven adam david remarked on the quality and variety of this year's indie releases. it's an exciting time! my setup, with the school run cover going camo against the red tablecloth. the indie tables were arranged in a circle and situated in a corner this year, so anyone who got there late had to face the wall, just like in kindergarten. i lucked out because gio paredes g...
Read more

komikon indies (UPDATED) (and bumped)

-
Image
summerkon is next week! here's an updated list of indes coming out, mostly with pictures (this is not intended to be all-inclusive) - punnx 2 by jp cuison & dennis nierra - callwork: proud callboy by hazel manzano - love story from omeng estanistlao - kalayaan 9 by gio paredes (kaya mo yan gio!) - riddle of nowhere , a book of poems by ej galang illustrated by apol sta. maria - umlauts and atom bombs , by gerry alanguilan & marivi hilos-nepomuceno - philippine adventure & romance stories 1 , ed. by art de guzman & nestor malgapo - pasig: epilogue by taga-ilog shorts by david sysing sanduguan 6 by ner perdrina no parking comics ed. by amos villar kapitan tog/ kulas by freely abrigo insomnior by rhiver digmaang salinlahi: suleiman by jon zamar bayan knights 4 by gilbert monsanto et al baboy 2 by mel casipit hand-drawn, quartered and other tell-tales by ariel atienza laban: a love story by jose gamboa kubori kikiam 7 by michael david zombies in manila ...
Read more

25 komiks titles' best-sellerness

-
Image
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% ...
Read more

read the first two chapters of "ang panday"

-
Image
the pinoy superheroes universe blog marked FPJ's sixth death anniversary by featuring the character many of us associate with him the most: ang panday. among the tidbits and video clips presented by aris panganiban is a link to the first two chapters of the 70's komiks series. here's page one: in these first two chapters, flavio is really just a small-town do-gooder rather than a fantasy world messiah. all he does is beat up a trio of local thugs and tie them to a tree for the constabulary to find. no magic swords, no manananggal nor sand ninjas, no max alvarado. his weapon or choice is a sledgehammer and his catchphrase is "tinutuwid ang matitigas na bakal!" fourteen chapters later , he's recovering from some mishap at some mansion. still no sword n' sorcery to be seen, but he does engage in some alarmingly freudian tag-team tree-chopping with a man who knows his "secret".
Read more