KA-BLOG!

I went to the MANILA INTERNATIONAL BOOKFAIR last Saturday. I t was my first time going there since they moved the venue from the Megatrade Hall to the World Trade Center and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were still plenty of attendees despite being moved to an out-of-the-way location.

With Kuki and Jade in tow (and most of my in-laws) we got there at around 4pm. I told myself to practice restraint, because the KomiKon is coming up and I have to finance my participation there. Jade got the most purchases, since Kuki and I hit the childrens' books places early on. We bought her 6 new books, plus two local romance novels for her yaya.

Jade started to nod off by then, so Kuki took her and sat down at the Reflexology seminar booth, which left me free to pursue my own interests. I headed on down to the Central Comics Headquarters booth, where all of the books were 50% off! Restraint... restraint.........

I first picked up the ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE GRAPHIC CLASSICS, since it included among its roster Nestor Redondo and Arnold Arre. I was pondering on whether to get the H.G. WELLS edition which had Alex Niño art in it, but it was sealed and the Niño art could have been a reprint of the early Pendulum Press edition of WAR OF THE WORLDS which I already have, so I decided against getting it.

Editor Vincent Fago wrote an intro (with accompanying illustration by Arre) about Nestor Redondo, and it's an eye-opening piece on how he discovered Redondo living in the Philippines, on his trip here, and how he enjoyed taking in the culture of our land. Sometimes it takes the eyes of an outsider for us to realize how much we Pinoys have in our country.

I saw a copy of Alan Moore's SUPREME: THE STORY OF THE YEAR, but was really torn about getting it because of the Rob Liefeld association. It was sealed, too, so I didn't know if the art was Liefeld-ish (Rob Liefeld I can tolerate somewhat, but his dozens of clones were just -- ugh). After going back and forth I finally decided on purchasing it on the strength of it being written by Alan Moore. When I got home to read it, I was very happy I did. This is great stuff by Moore, much like his Miracleman run, and the art wasn't too bad. Rick Veitch really does the retro comic book look really well, and he even does a not-too-bad riff on Neal Adams' style.

I also went to the Power Books and Fully-Booked booths, hoping to get a MARVEL ESSENTIAL or two, but the lines were too long and I didn't like the Essentials they had anyway, so I didn't get to purchase anything there.

I bought Jade a book from the Adarna booth earlier, and told myself I'd come back for the collected edition of THE MYTHOLOGY CLASS, but I completely forgot all about it and remembered only when I reached home. Well, I can still get it from bookstores, anyway.

All in all, a nice time was had by all. I look forward to next year's Bookfair again.