Cover by KAJO BALDISIMO

2007 is the 15th anniversary of Maskarado. I'm trying my hardest to release a new issue within the year (issue 8, to be exact). And as a special treat, it will be an extra-sized issue with no price increase. It will feature a second story which will be a team-up between Maskarado and Gio Paredes' Kalayaan.

Simultaneously, I'll be releasing a Maskarado Gallery booklet, the cover of which is pictured above. I'm thinking of giving it away for free as a promo of sorts. All one has to do is buy ANY issue of Maskarado and he (or she) will get one booklet for free. At least, I hope to. If production cost becomes prohibitive, maybe I'll just charge it AT COST. We'll see.

I'm really excited about this. And the artists who'll be contributing are among the best in Pinoy komiks today (and some from yesterday). Those who've already submitted pin-ups are: Jonas Diego, John Becaro, Gilbert Monsanto, Ner Pedrina, Dell Barras, Ed Tadeo, Kajo Baldisimo (see art above), Randy Valiente, Godfrey Escota, Jonathan Ledesma, Jaime Salangsang and Jac Ting Lim.

People who've already agreed to contribute include Ariel Atienza, Jon Zamar, Bong Leal, Arnold Arre, Elbert Or, Mico Suayan, Honoel Ibardolaza (HAI), Gerry Alanguilan, Joel Chua, Dario Carrasco and Hal Santiago. Plus short stories from Budjette Tan and Dodo Dayao. There are other artists I'm trying to contact and hopefully more will be added to this list.

It's a good year to be a Maskarado fan. :)

Jonas Diego has started a new company under IAS, Inc. that produces web content (games, animation, etc). They wanted to make a big splash and get a lot of attention and since the US Elections is quite hot right now, They developed the animated feature CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER DUPER FRIENDS!



As Jonas puts it... "It's a tribute to the old Saturday Morning Cartoon show except that, instead of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman it's the US Presidential Aspirants in the colorfult tights. We're very proud to finally be able to unveil it."

Babe in Toyland...



Jade loves to make faces in front of the camera. I don't know why. Maybe she takes after me. I remember there was this one year where I swore I would never have a decent photo of me taken in that particular year (I think that's the same year my photo on the upper right of this blog was taken).

But I swear there's a lot more of Kuki in her than me. I guess it proves there's such a thing as "mana-mana."

From Azrael Coladilla...

International Book Day 2007

A day of books and roses… Although not celebrated in the Philippines, this is an important event in several European countries like Spain, and Instituto Cervantes aims to establish the date as a tradition in the Manila cultural calendar.

In celebration of this special occasion, Instituto Cervantes will organize a whole day Open House with many fun activities like concerts, film showings, Spanish food fair, photo and declamation contests on April 21, 2007 from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm. It will begin with a Book Market where Instituto Cervantes will offer at token price more than 4,000 brand new books. Aside from the Instituto Cervantes, the market will include a sale of books by popular Filipino publishing firms and leading bookstores at 20% off! Also following the tradition during the Day of the Book in Spain, a rose will be gifted to every book buyer!

Instituto Cervantes (Manila)
For more details, please call Instituto Cervantes at 526-1482 to 85.
Apr 21, 2007 - 10:00am to 11:0pm

My short story, "Inherent Tendencies," will be included in The Hierograph, an 80-page quarterly anthology from TwentyToSix Books. It will be out in July, 2007. For those interested in purchasing the book, it will be made available through Amazon.com.

Also, I'll be taking over TwentyToSix's ongoing comic, Wall of Angels, as of issue 7. More details on that in the future.

And don't forget, "The Witness" (written by Carlo Borromeo) will be coming out in Dead By Dawn #4, due out around May, 2007. I think Dead By Dawn is available through Previews, so you can ask your local comic shop to order that if you want.

Last week, FILIPINO KOMIKS was requested to cease and desist publication and to pull out all remainging copies from stores because, according to Atlas Publishing, it infringes (according to them) upon the title of their now-defunct PILIPINO KOMIKS.

It's sad to read about things like this. While other people are talking about reviving the komiks industry, Rising Star (publisher of Filipino Komiks) is there doing something about it. But then remnants of the old, failed industry come along and tries to shoot them down before they can even begin to establish themselves.

Crab mentality at its best.

Read more about it on Randy Valiente's blog.