Comic Convention

Today, I was at the first ever Philippine Comic Convention. The place was packed but not so much that you can’t move around or anything. It was nice to see, most for the first time, people you’ve worked with and will be working with in the next months or so. Technology is such that we never needed to be physically working with our workmates, everything now is composed of 1s and 0s… maybe; who we think is a person on the other end of the wire is merely an advanced AI taught to interact and learn from peer conversations and soon, take over the world. Or perhaps it’s because I just watched Stealth. Anyway, since this IS the first ever convention, we can see that there’s room for improvements. It’s good to see other artists doing so well also. The comic world isn’t really big here in the country so whoever makes it big really brings your heart joy and hope to be someone like them. I bought myself a couple of local comics and manga. And there was a booth with old wakasan pinoy komiks… for a while there, I was a bit nervous that I might see surviving copies of my old works. Haha! I’m in luck, Operation Jenocide was successful.

Some Old Stuff

Here are some of my VERY old comic pages. I think they're quite okay, considering how young I was then and inexperienced. It sure makes me wonder if I do these pages again, with the things I know now, would it be better? My style certainly has changed over the years.

Stretch

Hmm... this page looks familiar... I wonder where I've seen this... Oh! It's Blogspot's Post-a-Blog page! hehehe! It's been a while since I last posted anything. It's been a hectic week, I'm on my final stretch for NML Volume 2, finishing everyhting up, the tones, the revisions, resizing the old pages, doing the last pages, etc. Man, I remember that last year, it was also like this. And to think I should've learned from last volume's delays. But you know, the art quality has certainly been upgraded, or at least I think so. It's certainly looks better than the last and the story is more interesting and fast-paced. Quality, my friends, that's what I strive for in my art. It's not perfect, I never claimed to be, but we see quality (I think). Hehe!
Here's a sample of a page from Volume 2 (sans letters and SFX) where our hero, Parker, storms through Bakerton's door only to see... secreeeeet!!!! You have to wait for the second volume to see what happens and what he finds out! And if you're waiting for it, check out No Man's Land Volume 1 also! It's still available in Powerbooks outlets at a discounted price!

The Most Depressing Thing to Learn

I saw an episode of Oprah, the one about the survivors of hurricane Katrina. And THAT, my friends, is the most depressing thing I've ever seen. In the SuperDome... killings, dead bodies, human waste, disease, rape... babies and children being raped. THAT is just sad! I can't believe people would do that to children! It just made me really mad. As in MAD. Children do not deserve to be treated that way. This is a sad, sad moment.

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better, The Killer's Hot Fuss, Weezer's Maladriot, Jason Mraz' Mr. A-Z, A Perfect Circle's Emotive, Smashing Pumpkin's Adore

Crises On the Comic World

Over the weekend, I got myself some pretty good comic books. DC's Infinite Crisis #1 and Marvel's House of M #7. I'm not going to write a review because, I don't do those very well. But all I can say is, these books are truly inspiring and worth every peso. Mr. Phil Jimenez' art on Infinite Crisis is impressive, every panel filled with great detail. While this is a good read, I was more affected by what's happening in the Marvel universe, this doesn't mean that it is superior to DC's IC, but since I know more of Marvel's characters, I relate to them more. And the revelations and anticipation in the House of M is truly exciting! I just can't wait enough for the next installments.
Another thing I got this weekend id Batman Begins 2-disc Deluxe Edition DVD, it's on sale now for P499, quite cheap for something this big (at least for me). But I was surprised to see it on sale already since it was scheduled for an October 18 release... that's tomorrow. I guess, a few days won't hurt. Another thing i got was the 18-inch Spiderman Super Poseable Action Figure, it was on sale at 50% off! So I just can't let it pass and got it anyway. Even though I already have several Spidey figures, this one could be considered the "ultimate" in all of them. Heh!
Yesterday, Guia and I went to a wedding... one word to describe the ceremony was "cultish."

An Attack!

While watching the news, I was shocked to see a video of a bombing attack on a school. Students lay bloody on the floor, being dragged away by others who survived the blast. Chairs and tables lay waste on the surrounding area, ambulances waited outside, stretchers ready, blood everywhere... and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?! Oh! It's just one of those demos on what to do in case of terrorist attacks. Pretty morbid stuff. They had me fooled there. Still, that was some pretty graphic demonstration... too graphic.

In a Perfect World...

In a perfect world, we’d all be swimming in lukewarm liquid gold; able to buy everything we wanted by just squeezing our wet underpants. In a perfect world, we’d all be flying with smokeless jetpacks strapped to our fireproof backs. In a perfect world, everything will be made up of dark chocolate and pesky ants will be living underwater along with cockroaches. In a perfect world, all pens will never run out of ink, never fade, never blot and stainless steel. In a perfect world, summer afternoons will be slightly cold and the other seasons’ afternoons will be just… colder so we won’t have to sweat while we’re sleeping (and having to squeeze out the sweat from your pillows, unless it’s golden sweat). But this, especially this country isn’t a perfect world, faaaaaar from it and the hardest thing to accept here is that we don’t even try. Everyone is guilty, you, me, the poor, the rich, especially the government and the people who run it. Didn’t we use to care about this place we’re living in?! A lot of people have realized just now, with the current status of the country that there IS no hope. It makes me wonder about the future of my children. Oh, how dreadful it is to think about it. I have never dreamed of living abroad, until now. I’m sure they are not perfect, but at least, it’s colder there.

Things I hate:

1.) smelly hands

2.) hot days and sweat

3.) adobo; anything cooked in soy sauce is adobo to me

4.) cold Food, wet rice, wet breAd, fish in soup, meaT in soup, corn

5.) old women in passenger jeepneys

6.) PEOPLE who stop in front of escalators and seem lost

7.) cable tv signal snatchers

8.) roaches in my room, I feel violated

9.) Gum in My shoe, pAnts, seat, hair, wall.

10.) the size of Yakult bottles

Things I love:

1.) my girlfriend, family, friends, my work

2.) everything in my room except the floral sheets

3.) dark and mint chocolates, Yakult, garlic, siomai (not cooked in soy sauce but dipped)

4.) music, movies, games, toys

5.) techie stuff, comics, mags

6.) Gising Pilipinas (4ams on ANC)

7.) Microwave oven

8.) Anything Star Wars

9.) Mini skirts

10.) Bacon for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Oui! Oui! WEEEEEE!!!

Le BLAM!!! Le ROAR!!!

Good news indeed! NML will be released in France, translated!

MS Progression

Today is a very sad day... I was told that my friend Mitch, Belo's wife is now having problems with her eyes due to her Multiple Sclerosis. It has something to do with her optic nerves so a laser eye treatment wouldn't help. She feels sharp pains in her eyes and brain in daylight. I don't know the details yet but from what Belo has told me, her MS is now full blown. Sigh, this is really depressing news. I do hope modern medicine can do something about this... if not to cure, at least slow down the progression of her illness. Mitch and Belo, our prayers are always with you.