If you want to see samples of my comics work, head on over to CapsuleZone! If you want to see my graphic design portfolio, just go to Reno Maniquis Graphic Works! Thanks for dropping by!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

When you work in an office environment, there are officemates who smoke. And throughout most of the day, they get to have "yosi breaks," which may be at an average of around 5 times a day.

I think this is unfair to those who don't smoke. Smokers take these breaks at around 5-10 minutes each, so everyday they get more minutes NOT WORKING than those who do not smoke.

Kuki and I were discussing this some time ago, and she's also had this discussion with her friend, Erwin. They suggested that maybe non-smokers should have "Chippy breaks," wherein you can have a break from working and just eat Chippy for 5-10 minutes. Hey, it doesn't have to be Chippy. If Chiz Curls is more your thing (or anything else for that matter), then go for it.

I guess that would make it fair for everyone.

Friday, March 24, 2006

BLOG FILLER #6!

Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no, it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.


Moral:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Ang Mundo ni ANDONG AGIMAT



This is a completely different book from what we've gotten from Arnold Arre in the past. None of the sentimentality which was prevalent in books like AFTER EDEN or TRIP TO TAGAYTAY, heck, even MYTHOLOGY CLASS. Okay, okay, maybe a little between Ando and Silang, but not much. This book is grim, gritty, and dark.

Which makes it GOOD.

Arnold Arre has stepped up his storyteling skills here, and paces each scene just right. Even the long, un-dialogued, all-women fight sequence didn't seem drawn-out. The only scene where I got confused was the flashback sequence of how Ando got to be the "protector." I didn't immediately get (is that correct grammar??!?!) that he was supposed to be the young criminal shown at first.

That said, what I've always admired about his art is that every individual character is distinctly recognizable the way Arnold draws them. That's also the case here. And the way he portrays the cast is very appropriate. The villains are creepy and col-looking, while the heroes look very much like ordinary people.

This may be his most detailed work yet. While the art is rough in some places, that same roughness only adds to the tone of the story, not detracts from it.

The story is just kick-@$$. The pace just keeps you want to turn the page until you get to the very end. I also liked the ending, which is a bit different where (SPOILER!) the hero isn't necessarily there when everything comes together.

It seems this is not the last we've seen of ANDONG AGIMAT, and I, for one, look forward to joining him and Arnold Arre on their further adventures.

Monday, March 13, 2006

SWAMPED THING...

I'm swamped. Swamped with so much stuff to do. Work... comics... family... too much stuff to juggle. Medyo nagbe-break nga lang ako sa pag-blog ko ngayon. Sorry to everyone who's been missing the MASKARADO feature in this blog during THURSDAY COMIC WEBRING. I guess this is my opportunity to announce that it's gonna be on hiatus for a while, much like the MASKARADO comic book and TABLOID KOMIKS, though for TABLOID I'm planning on releasing an issue for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY (kelan na nga ba yun?).

Gah. Back to work...

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Wow! It's been a month since I last blogged. Maybe some folks thought I was dead or something. Obviously, I'm not. Two reasons why I haven't blogged in a while...

1) I went on a two-week vacation, and I don't have internet at home. Yeah, yeah... I live in a cave.
2) The office (where I blog) has firewalled blogger. Which I don't understand why. I can't even leave comments in other people's blogs.

How can I blog now, you ask? Well, our server was down today, and they had to fix it. It looks like our tech guy forgot to block the websites normally blocked here, so I'm using this once-in-a-lifetime chance to blog. Man, I've had blogging withdrawals for the past month. Blogger may be gone tomorrow (at least here in the office) for all I know.

Ho-kay... let me plug a few things. First up, Mars Ravelo shirts. They're available now at all BRANDED stores (or would that be kiosks). SM malls usually have them. There's one in Megamall, and I know there's another one in SM Southmall. The Megamall branch is situated at the third floor, Bldg. A, near the cinemas. Lastikman and Darna are shirts designed by Bong Leal, And Captain Barbell shirts designed by yours truly. Below is the design for the Captain Barbell shirt...



Second... EXODUS THE OFFICIAL MOVIE ADAPTATION! Yup, I'm now hard at work at adapting the movie into comic format. This won't be a simple retelling of the movie, however, since we'll be tweaking some things a bit and will establish the characters' backgrounds and personalities more. This will be a much deeper story (I hope). It's going to be published by The Enchanted Kingdom. Check out their comic, TALES FROM THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM, the second issue should be out by now. It features a print ad for the Exodus comic. See image below...



That's not the final image in the print ad, though. The editor asked me to tweak the face a bit so it looks more like Bong Revilla (who starred in the movie version). But all in all, I'm pretty psyched about this. It's my biggest project for komiks in recent years, and I hope it does well.

I guess that's it for now. I really hope they drop the firewall on blogger here in the office. it's really a bummer.