2014

2014 wasn’t such a nice year for the family. The year started out with much optimism (I always try to be such at the outset of every new year.). Determination to be positive definitely has its limits in the face of unavoidable bad events.

I lost my mom on May 28. It was very devastating for me, specially for my dad who took it quite hard although he tried to hide it. He still struggles with the loss today, as I do. They were married for more than 50 years. Unimaginable losing someone you’ve been with your entire life. I just can’t imagine it.

A month or so later, Typhoon Glenda struck and for the first time in the history of our house, water entered and flooded all the rooms of the ground floor. It destroyed a lot of things including batches of WASTED. I made light of it later on by selling “Glendamaged” Wasteds for a vastly reduced price.

Months later on October 2, my brother also lost his wife Cherry to cancer. It’s hard for me to write about this. I just feel really bad for my brother and of course his son, Robin.

Around the same time, thieves stole a St. Michael statue from our garage that had much sentimental value for my dad. Feeling insecure in our house for the first time and perhaps because of the loss of something that meant a lot to my dad, his health took a beating and was hospitalized for several days. He soon pulled out of it, thankfully enough.

At about the same time, Ilyn and I learned of the loss of a considerable amount of money we had invested in a pension plan of a company that went bankrupt. We’re left with nothing of that investment. It’s just money, of course… but we still needed it to buy food to eat, pay the bills and buy medicine. I’m still trying to find some legal help about this matter. Insurance companies must have something similar to a bank’s deposit insurance. Any lawyers out there who can help out, please do get in touch.

At the end of October I got sick with pneumonia. I thought it was something easy to recover from, very much like a normal flu, but it turns out it wasn’t the case. I was sick with it for a week, but my immune system plummeted as did my hemoglobin. It was horrible. I couldn’t get up from bed. I had to work through inking Axis during this time and it was just punishing. After the work was done, I just collapsed and spent the next month and a half recovering. I didn’t work at all. I only learned later that pneumonia wasn’t a trivial thing. It was something quite serious and if I hadn’t been treated, I could have died. To be honest, there were a couple of moments during that time that I felt I was dying, so much so I had wanted to give Ilyn all my passwords. I missed another deadline for another company and I’m still struggling to do it now.

It’s hard, but I try to focus on some positive things. I still have my job, which I’m thankful for. Nobody else died or got horribly sick, so that’s a good thing too. I was able to release two new things this year, Rodski Patotski: Ang Dalagang Baby (which bagged a place in this year’s Inquirer’s top ten books!) and Crest Hut Butt Shop #4. I also received some news that ELMER may get an Italian translation next year. Ilyn and I had a lot of pretty good and memorable times together, and to me that’s very important. Today Ilyn and I celebrate our 12th Anniversary. 12 amazingly happy years together. She’s the perfect partner anyone could ask for. Incredibly supportive through thick and thin, through sickness and health, literally!

I do look forward to 2015 with much hope. That doesn’t mean I’ll just sit around waiting for good things to happen. I will try very hard to make it happen for me and the family. I really think one must find their own happiness. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but I think it’s worth the effort.

At Sampalok Lake, December 20, 2014.

“Ang Unang Pasko” Illustrated by Emil Rodriguez, Adapted by Angel Ad Santos

Here’s a short story illustrated by one of the greatest unknown Filipino komiks illustrators, Emil Rodriguez. I will be posting more of Emil’s work in the coming weeks, but I’m posting this one now in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, this particular story came from a bound compilation that doesn’t indicate what publication it came from or when it was published. I’m guessing this came out sometime in the early 1960s. Click for larger images.

On "Komikero"

Hard to believe, but a few people are taking issue with the word “Komikero” being used to describe comic book artists. I’d like to talk a little about it.

First, a little history.

Back in 2002, I was thinking of buying my own domain name. I didn’t want something like “gerryalanguilan.com” because it’s too long and a little too hard to remember (or spell). I wanted a name that describes me as a comic book guy. Of course, I knew “komikero” meant comedian. But I thought, what the hell. I’ll appropriate the word to mean comic book artist. And so I bought “Komikero.com” and used that as my website. It’s short, concise and easy to remember.

Over the years I noticed other people starting to use the word “komikero” to mean comic book artist. I thought that was awesome. Today it’s pretty much all over the place.

Of course, some people would take issue with it, insisting that “komikero” meant comedian and not comic book artist.

But think about this: What other term is used to mean “comedian”? Don’t they call comedians “comics”? Just look online. Here’s the definition of “comic”:

noun

1.

a comedian, especially a professional one.

“a stand-up comic”

synonyms: comedian, comedienne, funny man/woman, humorist, wit; More

2.

NORTH AMERICAN

comic strips.

synonyms: comic strip, cartoon, comic book; informalfunny

“the paper no longer runs his favorite Sunday comic”

If in the English language “comics” can mean both comedian and comic book artist, why can’t it be the same for the Filipino language? Why can’t “Komikero” mean both comedians and comic book artists?

I REST MY CASE!

Axis, Komikon and Other Things

It’s been a very difficult couple of months for me, physically. I caught pneumonia late last month and as I recounted in my last blog entry, it was truly horrible. After I wrote that blog entry I thought it was all over, but much to my dismay, it took far longer to recover than I realized. It became so bad it affected my schedule for inking Axis. Although I still inked more than half of issue #8, I have to thank Jason Paz for stepping in to help, and specially to Leinil Yu, who has been very understanding of my situation and gave me as much room as he could. Leinil tells me that we won’t be working on anything new until January so that comes as a huge relief for me because I truly need the break.

I wasn’t feeling so good the day before Komikon that I seriously considered not going and just let Ilyn and Zara take care of the table. I was still furiously working on Axis at the time and there were still a couple of pages to do. I decided to go anyway because my printer ink ran out and I had to get some from Manila. It turned out to be an incredible Komikon.



My doctor has advised me not to go to crowded places and if I did, I needed to wear a face mask. I didn’t wear a face mask, at least for most of Komikon. I just decided not to shake hands with anybody and just stay at my table and not wander around. I hope I didn’t offend anybody by doing so. It just couldn’t be avoided. I asked my friend Danry Ocampo to wander around for me instead and buy me comics. There were a few new potentially good titles that came out that day that I just had to get. So thanks Danry! I haven’t gotten a chance to read anything much yet except for Manix Abrera’s “14” which was fun and interesting. Oh yeah, JP Palabon’s “Pera” was also hysterical.

My childhood friend Dan Yatco came to Komikon to visit me (dude on the left at the photo above). We’ve been friends since Grade 6 (Grade 7 for him because I’m accelerated hehe). We were also friends and classmates in High School and then again in college. It was me who actually convinced him to take up Architecture because I couldn’t bear to go to a new university by myself. I don’t think he’s particularly interested in comics, but he reads them and goes to these events because of me and that’s really touching. Sometimes there are friends you make for life.

Now I feel much better and I probably will be able to do some bit of work. There is another thing I have to do for Graphic Classics that has also been delayed because of my illness. I can probably start doing that again soon. I’ll most likely take it easy and ease myself in, maybe just a few hours at a time in a day.

The Last Two Weeks

The last two weeks were just horrible. It started out as a cough that just won’t go away. I couldn’t sleep for all the coughing. And then I got fever. And colds. And the coughing got so bad that it started to disturb me in a way it had never done before. I had my x-rays taken and went to the hospital. It turns out I had pneumonia. Holy shit. I guess that explained it. I was flat on my back for two weeks on antibiotics, nebulizing three times a day. Today I’m feeling much better, but I felt terrible that I never had the chance to work at all the last two weeks. I suppose I needed the rest, but no I have to really catch up. I have lots of work to do. That’s what I’m thinking now. I’m voice is still rough from all the coughing torture I went through, but it’s recovering too.

I was told that pneumonia could kill. And it was really frightening knowing that a week ago while I was in the thick of it. There were moments when I swear I started considering giving all Ilyn all of my passwords. You can guess what that means. I’m glad that moment passed. It’s still too early for me. So much stuff yet to do.

Nine Pages from Rodski Patotski: Ang Dalagang Baby

 Rodski Patotski: Ang Dalagang Baby
Written by Gerry Alanguilan
Line Art and Colors by Arnold Arre
Title Design by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre
Published by Komikero Publishing

Buy the book at branches of Comic Odyssey or from the Komikero Shop.

Finding the Right Publisher

This is a followup to my previous article, “Creating Your Own Characters is Creating Your Own Future“. It turns out there’s much more to say about the matter based on a few things I’ve read online.

It’s well and good to create your own characters, but great care must be given when looking for a publisher. There are still plenty of “old world” beliefs in the world of Philippine publishing including the belief that the publisher owns whatever you create.

For many decades creators simply were not aware that they were entitled to such ownership, considering what they do simply as a “job”. They write, they draw, the draw a paycheck and that’s it. A few creators probably don’t even think about it. They’re happy enough to have a paying job. And I think that’s perfectly all right. People didn’t know they were entitled to so much more for such a long time.

Now in 2014 though (and for many years now), creators can demand the right to own the stories and characters they create. And I think it’s really up to them to demand such things from their publishers. You can consider this a job if you want, but if you want a legacy, you have to demand it. I understand that you might not want to ruffle feathers, you just want things to go on as they are, but if you want something more for yourself, buckle up, ride the storm, and grab what’s rightfully yours.

For my entire career I’ve always avoided working for publishers who demand ownership of my creations, even if they say they simply own only 50%. I always refused. I own my work, 100%. In my view, the publisher only has the right to exclusively publish and distribute your work. All other rights belong to you. This includes movie and tv rights and other adaptations to other media.

There are publishers out there who are willing to accept such terms, but there are others who won’t. More often than not, I end up publishing my own work because that’s one of the ways I can ensure that I have complete control over what goes on with my creations.

And if you ever do find the right publisher for you, make sure you scrutinize your contract very well. It might help to consult a lawyer to help you understand completely what’s being offered.

Just make sure that the publisher only holds publishing and distribution rights. Other media adaptation rights belong to you. Make sure that you ask for a time limit to how long the publisher has your work. Three years, six years… whatever works best for you. Just make sure it’s in there.

Also pay attention to what’s written down with regards to their commitment to promote your work. Do they schedule signings, panels, and invite you to join conventions, festivals, etc? Promotion is one of the things that the publisher needs to commit to. You can help by doing promotions yourself. Every little bit counts.

And lastly, the contract works both ways. If they do their part, you also need to make sure you uphold your commitment to the terms of your contract. I think that’s only right and fair.