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Showing posts with label aswang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aswang. Show all posts

Saturday, September 05, 2015

GMA NEWS : The Aswang Diaspora

September 4, 2015 6:04pm - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf


The Aswang Diaspora: Why Philippine lower myths continue to endure
By BEA MONTENEGRO, GMA News
September 4, 2015 

Read the complete article at: 
Why do writers and artists decide to go back to supernatural beings for story source material? One reason is because no one’s writing the stories they want to share.
 
“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved
- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf
Why do writers and artists decide to go back to supernatural beings for story source material? One reason is because no one’s writing the stories they want to share.
 
“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved
- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf
The Aswang Diaspora: Why Philippine lower myths continue to endure - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure

“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved writing ghost stories and have always wanted to write a detective story. So I ended up creating Alexandra Trese as my occult investigator, as the reader’s guide into Manila’s supernatural underworld.”

“It's the most natural subject to draw, really,” said Kajo Baldisimo, Trese’s artist. “As young as three years old, these creatures were already a part of my and most of our generation's subconscious thanks to our parents and grandparents who have a great way of disciplining us by making us believe in these stories and these creatures.”

“It's in the DNA of every Filipino,” said Baldisimo. “It’s one of the few things we can clearly say is very Pinoy, something that’s ours,” Tan said. “I think telling aswang stories is something we’ll always want to tell. There are so many variations on their story, depending on how tells the story. Someone will always have their own version to tell.”

Friday, April 24, 2015

BATMANILA art by Kajo Baldisimo

The Batman vs The Mananaggal

The Bat-Trike

A Bat at Luneta Park

The Bat and The Tikbalang

BatJeepney

Meanwhile... at Manila City Hall

The Kapre and the Bat

Bat-Kalesa

Batman over Makati City

The complete Batmanila collection

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Ragnarok MALAYA Map

I heard about this new expansion the world of Ragnarok a couple of months ago. I'm always excited and happy to find out whenever I hear that creatures from Philippine myth are being used in stories, shows, games that are made by foreign companies; like the time a suspect in CSI was said to be an aswang and those episodes when Blade came over to the Philippines and fought a giant manananggal.

So, it's great to see how players here and around the world will learn more about our myth and folklore. Check out the Malaya map of Ragnarok, that's filled with tikbalang, mananaggal, bangungot and a bakunawa.




There is a place of legend, where the spirits of nature mingle with the stuff of fairy tales. The people of Port Malaya have lived in peace for a long time, but a dark force is slowly creeping in, corrupting everything and turning once harmless spirits into fearful monsters!

The citizens of Port Malaya need courageous new heroes to combat this threat and rid their once-peaceful land of evil once and for all. Will you answer the call?

Get ready to go on an adventure closer to home as Philippine Ragnarok Online prepares to launch its most anticipated update, Episode 25: Port Malaya! Explore a whole new world and battle monsters based on our own Philippine folklore and legend!

http://ragnarok.levelupgames.ph/episode25/


A very scary looking bakunawa

The Bakunawa trying to be cute

A very kawaii bangungot

a jejeling ... probably the scariest monster from Philippine myth

the manananggal that's also a nurse

this tikbalang looks tough

psycho tiyanak

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Agimat vs Aswang

If you were around during the early years of Alamat Comics, you might have heard about this much-awaited comic book called LAKAN.

The story was set in a post-apocalyptic Philippines, where aswang pillaged the cities and countryside, where Filipinos once again banded together as tribes and fought back the aswang using swords and their agimat.

Here are the preview pages that first appeared in COMICS 101:






I put together those preview pages using my dad’s laser printer and his office’s Xerox machine. (Thanks dad!)

LAKAN must have been the first comic book I wrote as a work-for-hire guy. It was 1994 and my friend Ma-an told me about some friends of her friend that were going to publish a comic book and they needed a writer.

At that time, I didn’t have any published comic book work, so I just printed out a scifi story I wrote and brought it to the meeting with Ian Orendain and Chris Bernardo, the editors of the book.

They read my short story and considered me good enough to be brought on board as the new scriptwriter of the comic book. Ian and Chris explained to me the plot of Lakan and what they wanted changed.

They showed me pages and sketches of LAKAN artwork by guys named Gerry Alanguilan, Oliver Pulumbarit, and John Toledo. Little did I know that, later on, we’d eventually meet and become the founding members of Alamat Comics. I saw Gerry’s fantastic and insanely-detailed pages and asked if we were going to retain those pages. Because all the artists were getting reshuffled to do other scenes, all those original pages would never be used. I actually felt bad that those pages wouldn’t see print.

Here are links to Gerry’s blog where he talks about LAKAN and shows us those pages:

Lakan: Kings and Queens
http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/550

Lakan: Bloodshed and Tears
http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/551

The Hive
http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/2571

From my point of view, LAKAN was the result of our many years of reading X-Men, Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and growing up at the time when Francis M rallied the youth with “Mga Kababayan Ko” while wearing his ethnic-inspired clothes. It felt like the sort of story that would be produce during such a time.

Unfortunately, because of so many reasons, the book was never published.

But, I guess, the idea of “man vs aswang” is something that will forever be told by the Filipino storyteller and it will just take on different forms in the years to come.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Blade fights aswang in Manila

In episode 3 (Vampire Hunter) and episode 4 (Juvenile Days) of BLADE the anime, he travels to Manila and encounters a type of aswang that's rarely seen in Philippine literature / pop culture. Keep reading to find out what it is.


Check out the setting and background of the next couple of frames. I liked how they researched and illustrated a very realistic looking Manila.





Blade vs mandurugo
The mandurugo is a variety of the aswang that takes the form of an attractive girl by day, and develops wings and a long, hollow, thread-like tongue by night. The tongue is used to suck up blood from a sleeping victim. --Wikipedia



 


Take a look at the mandurugo in human form. Does she look familiar to you? Is that... nahhh... no way... maybe she just goes to the hairstylist?






Screenshots from the episode where Blade fights a manananggal in Siquijor:
http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2011/08/blade-battles-aswang-in-siquijor.html