Kajo's Marvel Try-out Pages

DAREDEVIL story/ script by Mark Waid

Trese Shirt, designed by Kajo

This TRESE1 shirt, designed by Kajo, based on the cover of Trese Book1, will be available this Saturday at the Komikon Indieket event. (Bayanihan Center, Pioneer St., Pasig City) More details at: http://www.komikon.org/.

Shirts will be sold at P500 during the event.

Art Republik Interview

Many thanks to Betty Regala for including me / interviewing me for their show ART REPUBLIK.
My bit starts at 16:35 into the interview. http://youtu.be/7hvuONdJmY4?t=16m35s

Art Republik's Episode 9: Skin, Street and Comics is part of the First Season of the show aired on Knowledge Channel, SkyCable 42. For more information on Art Republik, like them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/artrepublik

Trese and Ambush team-up

JUMP

Story by Budjette Tan 

Art by Andrew Villar

Editor At Large

It’s been a week since Summer Komikon 2012 and I haven’t had the chance to talk about the comic books that we launched.

Me and Kajo had this grand plan to release the new Trese book last week, but several things kept me busy and we were only able to release “Maverick Rider”, the first case from what will be Trese Book 5.

Aside from my wonderful dayjob, my nights were filled with editing the following comic book projects:

TIKTIK: THE ASWANG CHRONICLES

Story and character creation by Erik Matti and Dondon Monteverde.

Script by Erik Matti. Addiiotnal scenes and diaglogues by Michiko Yamamoto and Jade Castro. 

Art by DIGITAL ART CHEFS.

Edited by Budjette Tan.

Published by Reality Entertainment. Inc.  and Agosto Dos Pictures, Inc.

Last September 2011, I got a call to meet up with movie producer Dondon Monteverde and director Erik Matti. They showed me the initial edit to their new movie TIKTIK: THE ASWANG CHRONICLES starring Dingdong Dantes, Lovi Poe, Ramon Bautista, Joey Marquez, and Janice de Belen.

What makes this movie different from the usual Pinoy horror movie is that they shot the entire film in a studio and everything was shot against a green screen. Similar to the process done in “300” and “Sin City”, TIKTIK’s world will be completely computer generated. Of course, all the aswang will also CG’d! Since it would take them a year to do all those SFX, they still wanted a way to get people excited about the movie months before the actual screening.

So, they thought of releasing a comic book adaptation and asked me to help them put it together.

Working with Direk Erik, I adapted and edited down the two hour movie into a 60-page comic book.

We then brought in James Palabay, Melvin “Taga-Ilog” Calingo, Jon “Codename: Bathala” Zamar and the rest of the Digital Art Chefs to bring the comic book to page.

And just like many action-suspense movies, the copies of TIKTIK arrived in the nick of time, with James crashing through the gates of the Komikon with copies at hand. (Okay, he didn’t really crash into anything.)

Later in the afternoon, the crowd was surprised by the arrival of Dingdong Dantes and Lovi Poe, who came to talk to about the comic book and the movie.

Dave Yu, the SFX director of the movie, also went up on stage and talked about the process of creating the world of TIKTIK and bringing aswang to life.

I can only hope and wish that TIKTIK the comic book and the movie much success. If all goes well, then they plan to make more ASWANG CHRONICLES movies and in between all those movies, they might just make more comics.

Can you imagine the possibilities?!

For the first time, a movie company is investing in the comic book medium to promote and push the world of their story forward.

If all goes well, then, knowing the “gaya-gaya” mentality of the Pinoy, maybe the movie producers of the Metro Manila Film Fest will also want to have comic book adaptations of their movies. They might even want to do spin-offs or sequels or prequels.

If all goes well, then it will put the spotlight on the need for more comic book creators.

SKYWORLD : Volume 1 and Volume 2

Story by Mervin Ignacio

Art by Ian Sta. Maria

Edited by Budjette Tan

Published by National Bookstore

Ten years ago, Mervin and Ian met for the first time and it was love at first sight. (Okay, I’m making that up!) Mervin and Ian met because a sideline project and while having a smoke, their small talk lead to their love for comic books and how they wished someone would make a comic book that really delved into Philippine myth and folklore.

Cut-to: a decade later and they have finally taken that glimmer of an idea and made it into a 300-page epic.

The funny thing is, when the guys were putting together the first book, they asked me to look at it, I gave my comments, and when they comic book was printed, I was suddenly labeled editor. And thus, I became SKYWORLD’s editor. But with the combined power of me, Mervin, and Ian, a typo always seems to escape our attention. (For example, if you have the first printing of Skyworld Book 1, you will notice, in the fine print, that it was “Copywrite (C)2007”)

Aside from finally bringing this centuries-spanning fantasy to a close, I’m also happy that National Bookstore agreed to publish this two volume graphic novel.

After ELMER, I was wondering if they would venture into doing more comic books and I’m just glad they picked SKYWORLD to be their next title.

So, aside from movie companies exploring the comic book medium, we now have the country’s largest bookstore publishing comic books. What else can go right?

Edited by Paolo Chikiamco and Budjette Tan

Published by Summit Media

I remember having a discussion with some friends (or did it all happen online somewhere?) about the viability of the comic book medium in the Philippines. At that time, we were saying, your best bet is to produce a graphic novel that can be distributed in bookstores. Rather than try and publish a monthly comic book, to try and scrabble to meet that monthly deadline, to try and scrounge for enough funds to print it on a monthly basis, it would be better to just finish a 80 to 100 page graphic novel (which is, roughly, the length of a 4 to 5 issue mini-series) and release it in one go. And if you’re lucky, if you can find a publisher who likes it, then you don’t have to spend for printing and promoting it.

But, the thought of a monthly (or bi-monthly) comic book publication still lingered at the back of my head. I knew that attempting to do a monthly title (like Marvel and DC) would prove difficult unless you had a dedicated team working on it, which means you’ll need to pay this team on a monthly basis. In the past, there have been many attempts to release a monthly comic book. Even though they lasted a couple of years, they were not able to release it on a regular basis.

Which lead me to believe that the one-shot graphic novel was still the best route.

And yet, every Komikon, I take look at the pile of photocopied comics I bought, and for the ones that like, I always wish there was a way to get them into the hands of more readers. I also wished that more people got to know our local comic book writers and artists.

So, what if, instead of trying to release one title about one character, written and drawn by one creative team, there was a way to “crowd source” a comic book anthology. The stories would be made up of one-shot stories (so, we don’t need to worry about serial stories whose ending might never see the light of day or take ten years to finish)

For years, I have been pitching comic book ideas to Summit Media, hoping the country’s largest magazine company would produce local graphic novels.

In 2009, Summit took a chance with my idea for a comic book anthology of horror stories. We launched UNDERPASS during the Komikon, where it was well-received. But when it was distributed in the bookstores, it only sold a couple of thousand copies and didn’t merit a second issue. I talked to people about it, got their thoughts and ideas about why it didn’t work and what would make it better. With my list of mistakes, I had a checklist of “what not to do”.

If “horror” wasn’t something that would work for the local magazine scene, then what should the content of the anthology be?

And maybe it shouldn’t be a “comics anthology”. Maybe it should be a “comics magazine” or a comic book disguised as magazine, so that it’ll be easier to pitch to advertisers.

Maybe “fantasy” was the way to go. “Fantasy” would cover majority of the comic book stories being locally produced. It would easy to pitch to sponsors that the magazine is like a “fantaserye in comic book form”.

The more I thought about what I wanted to put in the magazine, the more I realized that it was already being done by Paolo Chikiamco in his website: www.rocketkapre.com. His site already reviewed and did interviews with fantasy creators. He also published/uploaded fantasy ebooks. The only thing he didn’t have in his site, were comic book stories.

In December 2010, I sent an email to Paolo, pitching to him the idea of a magazine version of RocketKapre. Turns out he had a better idea. He realized there was a gap in the market: no one was talking to the young-adult (YA) reader. We have all these kids (ok, they’re not all “kids”) who love reading Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Twilight, Vampire Dairies --  but what happens after they’re done with those books? Was it possible to offer them something else, something that was uniquely Pinoy, stories that had a touch of Philippine myth, folklore, and history?

We wanted the magazine to have comic book stories, prose stories, interviews and reviews, as well as a “how to” section. We envisioned the magazine to be entertaining enough for reader to want to collect it, but informative enough so that schools would want to subscribe to it and have it available in their libraries. 

With those guidelines in place, we put together a sample issue, pitched it to Summit, and thank God, they said to publishing this “pilot issue”.

Much like the “pilot episode” of a TV show, the chances of Kwentillion becoming a “regular series” is in the hands of the viewer (or in this case, the reader).  Because if and when KWENTILLION becomes a regular monthly (or bi-monthly) comics magazine, then it will become a venue for new comic book characters to be told, a chance to meet and get to know more Filipino authors and artists, and more importantly, an opportunity to share and tell a million new stories.

As of this writing, KWENTILLION has been spotted in several branches of National Bookstore, Powerbooks, and BestSellers. We hope it will be found in a branch near you.

I’ll give an update as to when SKYWORLD Volume 1 and 2, and TIKTIK: THE ASWANG CHRONICLES will be sent out to the stores.

I hope that these comic books signal a start in the Philippine comic book scene. I hope that it will be the beginning of many opportunities for comic book writers and artists to share their craft and their stories. Of course, for these comic books to succeed, it is important that it gets the support of as many readers as possible. So, if you like any of these books then LIKE their pages on Facebook and hit the SHARE button to tell all your friends about them.

https://www.facebook.com/SkyworldComics

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tiktik-The-Aswang-Chronicles/419246321442146

https://www.facebook.com/Kwentillion

Now that these projects are all done, I hope you don’t mind if I go back to writing Trese. See you at the October KOMIKON!

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

Kajo Assembles the Avengers

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! Check out Kajo's awesome sketches up for auction at Comic Odyssey's Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) this Saturday (May 5)! Done with Pen, Ink, and Light Gray Marker on art board. Each panel is letter sized with total dimensions of 17 x 22 inches. Starting bid at only P100. Auction is for the benefit of Tony DeZuniga.

mythicalwear

Ian Sta. Maria's tshirt designs for GRAPHIC-T, California.
See more of Ian's art at: http://iantoy.deviantart.com/

sirena

maria makiling

bakunawa

Trese tattoo

Ira Filomeno's Trese tattoos https://twitter.com/#!/banishantigone

Haring Bakal

The Mind Body Kick Ass Team travels to the Philippines and learns about agimat and anting-anting. 
Below is a related article about Haring Bakal.

The powerful 'Utol' Jess April 26, 2004 / Inquirer News Service 
http://www.inq7.net/lif/2004/apr/27/lif_22-1.htm

MEMBERS of Haring Bakal (King Iron) in Lipa, Batangas hold Jess Verallo in high esteem. I learned that among amulet aficionados, there is a hierarchy of the powers that people possess, and Jess' occupies one of the highest ranks.

Before the blessing, we listened to members' stories about the powers of their amulets. Jess related how, on one occasion, he was threatened by a group of armed men. Alone and armed only with a bolo (machete), he said an oracion or secret prayer, and the men suddenly scampered away.

I asked why, and he said they might have seen something. He did not elaborate. I suspect he was referring to the powerful spirit guides he could call in times of danger.

On another occasion, an anting-anting (amulet) owner showed him his mutya (talisman), boasting it was very powerful. Jess put the object into his mouth and bit it. The mutya crumbled like powder. When told about it, the owner said, "Maybe it's your teeth that got broken."

Jess handed the broken amulet to him and the man shouted, "Oh, it's a fake!" He invited Jess to his house and asked for the oracion used to break the mutya.

Temple of God

Jess said he used no oracion or power word. "My amulet is in my very person, because my body is the temple of God," he explained.

Jess' reputation as a possessor of unusual powers was sealed when he revived his niece who drowned while swimming in a lake. She drowned at 7 a.m. and the lifeless body was recovered at 11 p.m. Jess summoned the girl's spirit to return to her body and she revived. Until now, the girl is still alive. This story has been told and retold in the village and beyond.

Another incredible story was told to us by a member of Verallo's group. "One day," he said, "a jeep's brakes [failed while the vehicle was going down a] steep road leading to the house of Jun Verallo. Jess was driving a jeep going up the same hill. The driver kept shouting, 'I have no brakes! I have no brakes.' " Before the vehicle could hit Verallo's jeep, so the story goes, it stopped and remained motionless until Jess could swerve to the side to avoid a collision. The jeep then continued to go down hill and crashed.

"My dream," Utol Jess said, "is to put on the right path all who ask help from me. I do not want even one of them to be taken advantage of or be in danger."

Jess now has followers throughout Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

History of Haring Bakal

Very little is known about the history and background of Haring Bakal. According to Jess Verallo, it began in Mindanao in the late 1800s. It was founded by Dodong Aquilino Lagari Gulang.
The organization aims to protect the weak and those whose lives are threatened by dangerous elements, to fight evil and help the government. To be protected, one has to join the brotherhood. A member has to be blessed. The blessing includes being hacked with a very sharp bolo or a sword several times in different parts of the body.

The number of times one gets hacked determines his ranking or status in the brotherhood. Initially one gets six strikes, later 21, then 36 and finally, 57, for a total of 120. The 36 strikes include the nape and the 57 strikes include the two sides of the neck as well as the head.

Once a person has been properly blessed by an authorized "blessor," he becomes a member of Haring Bakal. He will then receive a prayer to be said every day and has to wear a special red T-shirt on which are written sacred words or oracion of protection. This becomes the member's only anting-anting or amulet. Members of Haring Bakal, unlike other amulet believers, do not carry medallions or other metallic or wooden amulets in their body. They believe the oracions, which are taken from the Holy Book and come directly from God, protect them from knives and bullets, and even sorcery and accidents.

Every new member recites the Oath of Allegiance that says, among other things, he will "love God and obey His commandments, instill the spirit of Christianism and to serve and defend my country without mental reservations."

When founder Dodong Lagari died, no one was appointed to replace him as overall head. It remains vacant and members still consider him the head of the organization. The others are called chapter heads or presidents but a head "blessor" is higher than a president.

Clearances

Before one is initiated into the organization, he must submit clearances from the police, National Bureau of Investigation and barangay (village or neighborhood). He should also have a drug clearance.

News of Haring Bakal members' ability to ward off bullets and knives has led to a significant increase in membership. Especially eager to join are military and police personnel whose lives are always in danger. Today, estimates of Haring Bakal membership throughout the Philippines range from 300,000 to one million.

Members strictly adhere to a code of ethics requiring them to protect, not to harm, people. Violators are expelled. Some of those expelled later formed their own organizations and adopted some of the rituals and practices of Haring Bakal. Thus, it is not easy to determine overall membership.

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY POSTED AT: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?s=ed8e177e531c1f2705c9a7a67f1ca132&showtopic=15631http://www.inq7.net/lif/2004/apr/27/lif_22-1.htm

TRESE in Rogue (April 2012)

In the April issue of ROGUE (yup, the one with Solenn Heussaff tempting you with a bar of Magnum) you'll also get to read Mixkaela Villalon's "A Guide to Recognizing Your Heroes"

The top five comic book characters in the article were Manix's "Rakenrol Guy" who was labelled as "The Lone Bro"; while Darna was labelled "The Head Bitch", Polgas is the "The Pinoy Muttley", Zsazsa Zaturnnah is "The Gay Aphrodite" and Trese is "The Bonafide Asskicker."

Also mentioned in a sidebar article were Andong Agimat, the Kubori Kikiams, Gerry Alanguilan's Elmer, Manix's reporter from News Hardcore, and Greg Narvas' "I Was A Teenage Filipino Skinhead"

Yes, TRESE is in this issue! So, please go and get it! :-)

LEGO KAMBAL

These Lego Kambal Men were ordered piece-by-piece by our friend Jig. He wanted to give it to me and Wella as a wedding gift, but finding all the right pieces took some time, so we were only able to receive it last week. Many thanks Jig!

Now... if we can only convince Lego to really produce a Trese and Kambal playset, then that would be great!

Keep On Drawing

Yesterday, I received an email from Ms. Eileen Sy, who accused me of influencing the decision of which people would get interviewed by C.B. Cebulski in his recent search for Marvel comic book artists.

Below is the email from Ms. Sy, after which you will read my reply to her, which I have decided to make public.

Budjette,

It's a shame that you forcibly included 8 of your buddies out of 34 artists in CB Cebulski's talent search. It can now be explained why more talented people were excluded.

Aspiring artists like us are now questioned your credibility and looked at you as the next greedy agent of comics artist.

I wonder why Migs Ramos is so disillusioned with your Trese garbage. The padrino system is still alive and kicking in person like you.

Shame on you!

===================================================

To: Ms. Eileen Sy

1

Out of the 34 artists shortlisted by C.B. Cebulski, only two of them were my friends. They were handpicked by Mr. Cebulski himself and his decision was not influenced by me or anyone else.

2

I am not a “comics agent” nor am I claiming to be anyone’s “comics agent.”

3

If you view my work as “garbage” then that is your opinion.

4

There was no “padrino system” used in choosing those 34 artists. Everyone got a fair chance of submitting and everyone was chosen based on what they submitted.

I know for a fact that my other friends submitted their portfolios and they did not get into the shortlist. These artists have won local awards for their comic book work, but Mr. Cebulski did not pick them. If I was really “forcibly including” people into the shortlist, then those friends of mine should’ve got in the list as well, but they didn’t.

There is no “favoritism” or “padrino system” when it comes to National Bookstore and local comic book creators.

Miguel Ramos and National Bookstore have shown full support to the local comic book scene, as well as support to all Filipino comic book creators.

In the past years, they have sponsored and supported the Metro Comic Con and the Komikon.

They recently hosted the “HeARTworks” comic book art charity event.

They have hosted the comic book launch of Gerry Alanguilan’s Elmer, and Superior, which was drawn by Leinil Yu and Gerry.

Go to the branches of National Bookstore now and you’ll see that they distribute all kinds of local comic books: from graphic novels published by Visprint, like Kikomachine, Trese, The Filipino Heroes League, Zsazsa Zaturnnah; to self-published comic books like Kalayaan, Bayan Knights, Pugad Baboy, and Beerkada.

Ms. Sy, if you feel bad that you didn’t get in the shortlist, then don’t blame it on me and don’t blame anyone else.

I have been writing comic books for the past 22 years and I have been rejected by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and even Atlas Komiks.

I am lucky and blessed to have found a publisher like Visprint, who finally accepted my work and supports the stories I tell with Kajo. But before I found a publisher who accepted and approved of my work, it meant I had to keep writing and keep getting rejected for 17 years. And in the past five years, I have submitted and pitched “Trese” to Vertigo Comics, Marvel Comics, and Image Comics and I still got rejected. But that has not stopped me from writing more stories and from improving my craft.

In all those times I got rejected, I blamed no one else but myself.

And as I write my next story, I make sure that this is the best one I’ve written and hope that this will be the one that the publishers will like and get me accepted.

Lastly, if this were just an email critiquing my work then I would’ve probably replied to you in private. If you really believe that my work is “garbage”, then you are entitled to your own opinion and would feel no need to try and change that belief.

However, the reason I am responding publicly is because your baseless accusations casts doubt on the recent talent search conducted by Mr. Cebulski. It is unfair of you to say that some of them got in because of some “padrino system”.

Out of the 34 artists, there was a good mix of professional artists (those who have been published here and abroad) and amateur artists. There was even one who just graduated from college. They were all chosen based on the portfolio they submitted, based on their skill and hard work.

It is unfair of you to say that some of those artists didn’t deserve to be shortlisted. It is unfair of you to judge that they weren’t talented enough to be interviewed.

I am amazed that you took the time to sit down and write that email, make unfounded accusations, call me names and call my work garbage, when you could’ve used that time to draw more and improve your craft.

Keep on drawing, Ms. Sy. Just keep on drawing.

--budjette tan

p.s. if you ever want to show your new and improved portfolio to Mr. Cebulski, feel free to email him at : cbcebulski @marvel .com

Pacquiao meets Trese

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