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Rappler: 8 Thrilling Books by Filipino Authors

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"Macoy and Ardie Aquino stage the crisis with crisp, kinetic panels and a gallows humor that feels true to how we tell stories after disasters. The pace is merciless: decisions in seconds, consequences in frames. You’ll swear you’re “just reading one more page” and then realize you’ve been holding your breath for twenty." - Rappler.com 

Fully Booked Online: Eight Filipino Books You Might Not Be Able to Put Down

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  Article here

School Run is one of the Inquirer's 39 Noteworthy Filipino Books of 2024!

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    honored to be among the four comics titles that made the list !

we shot an ad (pt. 2)

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and here it is!

a FOURTH school run box set!

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 ardie aquino's really pulled out all the stops on these box sets, releasing a fourth set of variant covers, with arguably some of the best ones yet: i can't believe that's maki and catniss illustrated by the roni santiago, man...

we shot an ad

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 for school run the graphic novel. here's ardie and me in all our gory glory:  and here's the production team at studio a and ideascape MNL (and family), including the great nelz yumul , after wrap: note how i'm trying to put on a brave face after all that green makeup wouldn't quite wash off.   let's just say there was some explaining (and a lot of scrubbing) involved when i got home. *a further note on the makeup: i knew things were going well when sir prince was doing his job putting the stuff on me, and at first the comments were all jovial and laughing, but as the work progressed they went from, "haha cute," to "oh..." to "dude that's disgusting." but it was worth it, certainly a hell of an experience. i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

aswang high now available in the US!

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  ASWANG HIGH skillfully weaves horror, humor, and the pains of growing up into its fabric, presenting a unique twist on the high school experience... it's a journey of friendship, identity, and courage in the face of the utterly unknown.   thanks so much to Hot Tropiks - Culture Bookstore for bringing aswang high over to the states!

INQUIRER: 15 komiks you should be reading right now

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  thanks pam pastor, inquirer, and paolo herras for including aswang high in this list! you can read the full article here .

FCBD 2024 at comic odyssey

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story time!   yesterday at Comic Odyssey 's #FreeComicBookDay2024 event, a couple of guys walk by ardie and i's table and one of them goes, "hey, school run!" and points at our comic.   he then enthusiastically summarizes the plot of the comic to his friend, from memory, based on the few issues he'd bought years ago. the friend, intrigued, buys our first issue.   a small thing. but as a writer there's not much more i could ask for.    

school run box sets, plural!

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 check out these premium, limited edition, six-sided dollops of zombie-themed eye candy:  now check out these gorgeous alternate covers made by a stellar collection of pinoy artsts: that's an art exhibit in a box, folks. more info about the specific artists and how this all came to be in this press release. (we got a press release!)

ASWANG HIGH on hot topik's 2023 bestsellers list

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 so grateful that aswang high is selling well on hot tropiks!  

rappler: 10 books by Filipino authors to gift your loved ones this Christmas

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 thank you again to juno reyes and rappler for including aswang high in this list!

aswang high featured in rappler's paskomiket '23 roundup

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...It’s clear that Macoy’s writing and Cyril’s art style had the right synergy to produce the magic behind Aswang High .      thank you juno reyes and rappler for spreading the word!

i was on family feud!

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   that's mel casipit, toto madayag, myself, and the legend pol medina jr., coming together to form team komikero, playing to win some money for komiket inc. you can watch the full episode here .   i wish i could say we gave a good account of ourselves, but in terms of entertainment value, there wasn't much we could do against four drag queens. we could've sketched up some scathing caricatures maybe, but the tv format just wouldn't allow for it. furthermore, the survey answers just weren't there for us that night.  i will never eat grilled tuna again.  

comics reading at manila book fair 2023

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  i was invited by komiket to read an excerpt from aswang high at this year's MIBF, only the biggest publishing event in the land... jay ignacio was also there to read from his award-winning book, alandal , as was bambi amago, who read from her multi-award-winning doobiedoo asks . well, what i lacked in awards i made up for in animated slides!

film pitch: the flying tricycle

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for the past few weeks, i've been working with the immensely talented tristan yuvienco and the generous, awesome folks at SIKAP to develop a feature-length animated pitch for tristan's brainchild, "the flying tricycle." it's being pitched at this year's AYO Cebu as we speak and then again later this year at the annecy animation festival in france! *fingers crossed*

komikon: homecoming 2023

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my kids grew up watching me make komiks, and at some point they started making their own, without prompting or instruction from me. eventually i redrew some of those comics (with permission) and released them at komikon alongside the original creators:   and then, as befits my bloodline, a decade went by without any new issues. BUT then sometime after puberty, they started fooling around on my old drawing tablet, and lo and behold, they maketh pinups, and it was good. so i offered to sell some of them at my komikon table this past weekend.   and people bought them, like mike! thanks mike. (mike has a new comic book out, check it ) people also bought copies of aswang high...all the copies i brought, in fact! cy and i also received our very first fanart, ever. i was touched. thanks marco! you had some great questions! komikon was held at the UP college of fine arts gallery, and there were a bunch of greek-style statues scattered around the venue. it was the most number of peni...

today i became a published author.

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  paskomiket 2022, aswang high, cy and me. thanks, komiket.

how to get your comics published in the philippines (based on my experience)

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  want to make comics get introduced to the local komiks scene, in my case, komikon early 2000's find somewhere online to talk with other comics-minded people be friendly realize that komiks creators are just a bunch of ordinary dudes (it was mostly dudes back then) "if they can do this i can too" pirate stuff to read (had been doing this for years at this point actually) learn things online pirate stuff to draw with have a college roomate move to america and bequeath you their old pen tablet held together with scotch tape make the damn comic try not to care about it too much sell the damn comic be friendly get noticed by other komiks creators. if you can catch gerry alanguilan's eye that's a good sign consign your comic anywhere that will have it make more comics (?) get asked by some friendly comic shop owners if they can turn your first comic into a film never stop beating that particular horse get noticed by more people in positions of power (critics, editors,...

komiket ortigas 2022

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    sometimes you don't know what you got till you lose it; sometimes you don't realize what you lost till you find it again. komiket let me hang around their table and try to hoodwink modern-day readers into buying some early 2000's black and white indie comics. i also had issue #1 of the new school run series (reinterpreted by ardie aquino), but for me it was all about seeing how my old work piqued the interest of the new crowd. they had almost zero interest. still, had tons of fun catching up with komiks people new and old. such a small venue, smaller than bahay ng alumni where it all started, yet so meaningful.