Art from Pasig


Dante and Mina? Nope, it's Shikaze and Agent K from K.I.A.

The cool sketch above is the work of none other than Culture Crash's mystery man, Taga-Ilog. He's been good enough to grace the pages of K.I.A. with his cool art, so we're beside ourselves with joy. I can't wait for the final art! Heh. Giddy like a schoolboy I am.

As for K.I.A. in general... the scripts have been assigned, the pinup artists have been briefed, the book's dimensions and page count are finalized. The groundwork's done and it's time to get into the nitty-gritty. Coolness.

ROTK Weekend (Minor Spoilers)

It started last night with the midnight showings at selected theaters. But by now, it's finally here. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is finally in Metro Manila movie theaters for general and regular screenings.
The gang will be trooping en masse to the theater tomorrow to catch this final installment of the MADman's choice for best movie trilogy ever. Finally I'll be able to see once again the moments that reeked epic coolness... The taking of Osgiliath, the suidical charge of Faramir, the siege of Minas Tirith, the coming of the Rohirrim, the battle of Pelennor Fields, the battle at the Black Gate, and the final, long, glorious goodbye.
Yep, I've seen it already. Seen it on the current crappy, skippy, butchered bootlegs too... but I will probably see it a few more times on the big screen and countless more when the original home release arrives. Yep, I am a LOTR movie freak. And proud of it. Heh.

K.I.A. Hitlist


Kai's racking up a big body count...

My latest comic project, the Angel Ace spinoff K.I.A. will be a pocket-sized publication that packs a big punch. Within it's black and white and red covers will be 160 pages graced with the art and talent of some of local comics' coolest people: Dean Alfar (The Lost), Nikki Alfar (KC Strange), Carl Vergara (Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah), Arnold Arre (After Eden), Honoel Ibardolaza (Homanga), Jon Mallari (Variable Edge), Jeremy Arambulo (Styx Taxi), Gerry Alanguilan (Wasted, Superman: Birthright), Wilson Tortosa (Battle of the Planets), Taga-Ilog (PASIG), Jennyson Rosero (Questor, Gokitomo), Jon Zamar (Minsan sa Panaginip), Michael Seludo and Marvin del Mundo (Atomic Underground), Karen 'Katch' Cheung (Asong Makulit), Elbert Or (Two-Color Truth), Andrew Drilon (Grafic), Joel Chua (Cherry Blossom High) and Marco Dimaano (pahabol).
It'll be a story of a deadlysexycool superagent/assassin/spy first, heroine-in-search-of-her-true-self second. We're drawing on stuff like Elektra, Aeon Flux, Danger Girl, Le Femme Nikita, Alias and more for our inspirations, to make for a slicker, sexier and darker book from the main Angel Ace titles.

It'll be something to see. Lots of read and see. Coming midyear. Watch out. You're NEXT. Heh.

WOOHOO!

My first overtime at the office for the year!!!

WHHHOOOOAAAAAAA!!!

Well, it won't be the last.

Heh.

Jumble Tumblers

Yesterday, after a noontime presentation to a client, me and my account person decided to celebrate our successful selling of a couple of radio commercials by having lunch. At JOLLIBEE! Whee!
Well, we got a cab and hied off to Edsa Shangri-La. At the food center's JB branch, we waited in line and I saw some cool Return of the King tumblers being offered. All you needed to do was add a paltry sum to your order of a happy meal and you had your COOL Lord of the Rings tumbler! Whee!
I ordered my usual. A Jolliyumburger with cheese combo with large softdrink and fried, and a single spaghetti.
Now, I order this combo ALL the time, at many different restaurants. I always make it a point to say 'single spaghetti' or 'extra spaghetti' since invariably, the counter people will say, 'Spaghetti with drink, sir?'
NO! I would always scream in my inner voice. DO I LOOK LIKE I CAN FINISH TWO LARGE SOFTDRINKS???

...

Okay, don't you DARE answer that.

Well, imagine my surprise when my Aragorn-Theoden-Arwen-Legolas emblazoned tumbler came filled to the brim with Coke. Right next to a large softdrink.

"Um... I said the spaghetti was just a separate order, not a combo."

The attendant then mouthed some gobbledy-goo that I could only avail of a large fries if I ordered the combo. Or something like that.

Usually, the option to upgrade fries and drinks come easily, but for some reason this was pretty iffy. Well, I was just hungry and just wanted my tumbler. I told my accounts person to just order a regular drink and refill from the extra large glass.

As we ate, I got to admire my new... albeit cheap plastic ROTK tumbler with the funny lid that came with no straw hole (usually they do... or maybe I'm mistaken). Another to add to my growing collection of movie tumblers. Whee.

Good Signs

Last night I hung out at Comic Quest, sketching out stuff in the K.I.A. sketchbook after splurging on issues of Superman/Batman (or is it Batman/Superman?). During the night, Vin pointed out to me that a customer had just bought a copy of Angel Ace Next. I of course offered to sign it, and did (Thanks for your support, Walter!).
Thankfully, Next seems to be having the same steady pace of sales as previous Angel issues. Siglo is obviously selling well and getting uniformly good feedback and reviews. And of course, the Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah compilation is selling like hotcakes.
It's a great time for local comics, I think. People these days don't seem to treat locally-made stuff like they used to- ergo, that it is cheap and low quality. From what I perceive, at least in my own view, Filipinos are now quite aware that, in the comics medium at least, the Pinoy has a lot of talent and the products are worth their hard-earned peso. Perhaps it also helps that in these trying times, there's a more palpable sense of nationality... or perhaps, just the need to believe in something... whether it be fictional heroes on pages or make-believe worlds to take refuge in temporarily. And of course, who else knows better than a Pinoy what it takes to entertain a Pinoy?

And if one person gets to laugh or feel good from reading our comics, we local komikeros and grafictionados can say we've done our job well.

Let's keep those pages coming, people. Heh.

In Fairness



In celebration of Dean's birthday, the Quest/Siglo group headed over to the Paskong Pasiklab carnival and fair at Philcoa near UP Diliman. It was a larger group than we usually had as of late; me, Dean, Gig, Vin, Cams, Carl, Dino, Elbert, Andrew and Jason (who came all the way from Davao!).
On the way we had joked about how we would probably drive up to the fair, take one look and promptly drive out. But surprisingly, the place looked decent and safe, clean and well-lit (though decidedly low-tech; no Enchanted Kingdom this). We started walking around, finding fun in stuff like games of chance such as Coin Toss Games, Shooting Galleries and Basketball Hoops. Carl, after getting foiled in scoring a single basket in the hoops, promptly picked up a gun and blasted away at plastic toy targets, winning a bunch of chocolate bars (money well spent, I guess).

Another feature we tried out for sheer curiosity's sake were the Freak Show booths. There were at least three scattered across the fair; Dyesebel (mermaid), Snake Woman and Galema, the Girl who played with Snakes. Basically, these booths were walled-in cubes where the top was open for viewing for spectators to look down on the attraction. The gang tried several. I looked at Dyesebel and could only barely make out a torse and water since the top of the chamber was covered by a colored screen (BAH).
I passed on the Snake Woman (which Andrew just described as a girl in a rubber suit) but eventually decided to look at Galema after seeing looks of shocked enjoyment on Gig's and Andrew's faces. Galema was a nondescript woman, dressed in shorts and a jacket (disappointingly looking NOTHING like the sexy jungle girl in the large billboard) who sat or stood in the booth with about eight to ten snakes all around her. She lifted them up in bunches, played with them, teased them and basically just looked pretty bored. Sessions lasted for about a couple of minutes before Galema would leave through a small door to presumably a safe and snakeless area.
Not really impressive (I actually tried to take a photo but it really wasn't photogenic); I had more fun looking at the lethargic snake sitting on the counter of the 'Deejay' near the booth entrance. I touched it and felt the dry but cold and clammy feel of the reptile; even feeling the bones beneath the skin. Ooh. Vin on the other hand kept petting it and looking at it for the duration of his stay (I won't be surprised to find a snake sitting on Vin's computer next week).

After that, we wandered around more, trying out more games, eating the odd snack (cotton candy, popcorn, hotdogs, gulaman, barbecue). Andrew rode on something that looked like a gyroscope. Some rode on the Octopus, some rode on the Ferris Wheel. Andrew took home a couple of matching bowls and glasses thanks to his luck (or skill?) in the Coin Toss game.

We all trooped into the Malikmata Horror Warehouse, which incredibly enough actually was pretty creepy and fun.
The place had quite a well done look to it, and the darkened corridors were maze-like, twisting and turning. The opening area had us walk through beds with bloodstained sheets, motionless figures hunched under them. Of course, by the time some of the figures actually MOVED, we had gone from moving in easygoing pairs to the huddled formation often used by caravan trains during bandit raids.
We moved past the morgue into more hallways with alcoves showing various vignettes of horror, with silent, garbed figures lining corners and blind curves. This was pretty much the creepiest part, since you really couldn’t tell if the figures would move or not. There were some cheesy parts, but overall we were laughing and screaming and shouting and rushing out the door. Money well spent, really!

After that, we started to wind down with some eats, particularly some solid barbecue from a Grill Queen kiosk. After that, it was past midnight and off we went to cool off at Chili’s in Greenhills (which happened only after a loooooong circling through a blocked UP Campus).

Great fun, and honestly, the best fun we’ve had as a group in a long time.

Let’s do it again next year, guys!