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Hey guys,
My name's Andrew Drilon, and i'm a 21-year-old Filipino comicbook creator. I don't want to come off as indulgent, but there hasn't really been much discussion or awareness in the comics blogosphere as to what's happening in the Filipino comics community, and at the risk of starting a thread that will languish in Barbelith-forum-obscurity within a week, I'm hoping that you guys might be interested in the comicbook material that comes out of a place like the Philippines.
Historically, there have been a good number of Filipino's who've managed to break out of the third-world-funk and make a mark on the international comics scene. You might have heard of some of them: Alex Nino (House of Mystery, God the Dyslexic Dog, Alfredo Alcala (Swamp Thing, Conan), Rafael Kayanan (Spiderman, Turok), Nestor Redondo (Swamp Thing, Tarzan), and many more.
There used to be a time when comics (or "komiks" as it is more widely used here) were the most popular form of entertainment media in the Philippines, dominating newspapers, magazines and even generating much of the content in our movies.
Sadly, times have changed. There's not much of a comicbook industry in the Philippines to speak of as of the moment, as the limitations of our economy and the current political zeitgeist here has been more in favor of other media. The Pinoys who can make it to the international scene are the ones who are able to support themselves financially, otherwise, most creators here have to juggle other jobs while finding time for their creative work.
Those who've hit it big in the States have made their mark in the spirit of their elders--Whilce Portacio (X-men, Wetworks), Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine, Superman:Birthright), Lan Medina (Fables, District X), Eric Canete (Aeon Flux, Cybernary 2.0), and more.
Fortunately, there's also a small group of very passionate people here in the Philippines who love comics so much that they persist at making them, publishing them out of their own pockets, to almost no profit, if any at all. And they've been coming out with very exciting, quirky material imbued with a Filipino sensibility.
My understanding of the current state of Filipino 'komiks' is akin to what happened in the US, early 20th century, when the film industry was in a slump--people got more creative, took more risks, became experimental. So there's actually a lot of interesting material being produced here that is very different (and sometimes, weirdly similar) to comics made in Japan, America or Europe. We're influenced by the more commercial comics from those places, but the sensibilies here are different, filtered through the Filipino lens.
For a more in-depth analysis of what the Pinoy Komiks Industry was and is like, Newsarama has posted two lengthy features on it HERE and HERE.
And if you guys wanna read some Pinoy Komiks online, i urge you to check out Trese (by Budjette Tan and Ka-jo Baldismo) and my own little effort, Kare-Kare Komiks.
Anyway, this is just off the top of my head, so I'll post more links later. I'm crossing my fingers that Barbelith will appreciate this; hoping that this will be a good contribution to our online community's expansive global overmind. Check us out, people! We got goods like no one else does! 
All my best,
Andrew Drilon |
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