Aarrrghhhh!

My Mac is on the fritz again. I've blogged about my Mac before and how the LCD was damaged and it would cost me PhP30,000 to get it repaired and all that hassle, which I managed to remedy by getting an external monitor (costs a lot less than 30 grand). Now months later it's acting up on me again. When I boot it up, the screen has some noise, and then the desktop will appear. But once I move my mouse, everything freezes. Now I know it isn't my external monitor, since I tested it with other devices and they appeared on the screen with no problem.

Really damn frustrating to own a Mac here, since there's only a handful of tech support companies that you can go to, and their services are not cheap. My only wish now is that the technician coming on Saturday can retrieve all the files that I have and back them up. There's a whole lot of work there that I have to re-do if it doesn't get retrieved. If the Mac repair gets to be too expensive, I'll just junk it and get myself a PC. Hopefully the Mac guys can give me a reasonable offer on the thing and they can strip it for parts.

I'm going PC from now on. It's a whole lot cheaper, and if it breaks down at least tech support is available almost anywhere. I just have to get some advice on what I need to buy, since what I do is graphics-heavy and I think I need a heavy-duty PC for that kind of stuff. I'm very illiterate when it comes to computer hardware stuff, so I hope I can get a good replacement at a reasonable price.

I'm not dissing on the Mac here (although it might seem that way), I'm sure Mac is very very user-friendly compared to a PC. I'm just frustrated that it gets SO DAMNED EXPENSIVE once the Mac needs to get repaired.

COLD BLOODED CHILLERS issue 3 review from www.comicbits.online.com:

"And Reno Maniquis provides some really pro-quality art and it really is eye-catching. Turtles, jellyfish, seahorse and sharks drawn wonderfully."

Read the entire review here.

Purchase the book online by clicking the links below...

Comixpress

IndyPlanet

FLASH BOMBA coming to ABS-CBN!

Mars Ravelo's Flash Bomba is finally coming to ABS-CBN this February, starring Luis Manzano. The Ravelos commissioned me some years back to re-design Flash Bomba's costume for modern times, and I'm glad to see that ABS-CBN has been very faithful to the design I did. See below...

I thought that they would have trouble bringing the enlarged hands and feet to live-action, but the prosthetics that they did look good. I think it works better this way, as opposed to using CGI to achieve the effect.

Actually, this is the very first design that I did for the Ravelos, even before I did the Captain Barbell re-design. My friend Bong Leal did the re-designs of Lastikman and Darna (I think they haven't used the re-designed Darna costume yet). I also did the Tiny Tony design (which John Prats brought to life on the screen) but they tweaked it somewhat and it doesn't look like my original design much, IMO.

I also did the logo design for Flash Bomba...

More info on the Flash Bomba TV series here. You can see the trailer here.

I don't suppose I can interest ABS-CBN to do a Maskarado TV series? :)

Mystery solved!

Thanks to an anonymous poster, who left a link in the comments section, confirming that Greg Larocque is half-Filipino, and has a Filipino wife. Link below...

The Secret Identities Interview: Greg Larocque

The link is from an excerpt of an interview, from the upcoming book SECRET IDENTITIES: THE ASIAN AMERICAN SUPERHERO ANTHOLOGY. That's a mouthful, huh?

Thank you, Anonymous. Now another mystery has reared its head... WHO IS ANONYMOUS!?!?!

Is Greg Larocque Filipino?

This thought has been bugging me forever. Well, ever since his latter days as artist of The Flash. Specifically during the Return of Barry Allen storyline. I remember one splash page of Wally West holding Jay Garrick's helmet, and in the background was a Jollibee restaurant. Plus, at the very last page of the story arc, Wally was wearing a jacket with the Philippine flag on it.

So is he or isn't he? According to Wikipedia, he's married to a woman named Rosario. Is Rosario the Pinoy in the family that's why he injected all that Pinoy stuff in his art?

Regardless, I like his art. My first Greg Larocque experience was Marvel Team-Up 148, which I bought way back when the US had military bases in the Philippines. I bought it at a PX Goods store in Pampanga. I read the issue thinking that the main villain, the Black Abbott, was pretty cool. I also dug the art. It wasn't spectacular, but it was clear and the action was easy to follow.

I think he began to hit his stride when he did Legion of Super Heroes. I'm not a Legion fan, so I skipped over that part of his career. The Flash was where I would catch up with Mr. Larocque next. I liked how he would make Wally West move, as opposed to previous artist Jackson "Butch" Guice's, which looked stiff at that time. I also liked the sleek, shiny design that he would make for Wally later on, making Wally his own man yet still recognizable enough as the Flash. It's a shame he doesn't do mainstream books nowadays.

But still, everything comes back to the original question... Is Greg Larocque Filipino? Can anyone help me out here?

First day of the new work year, and I got stuck at the LTO.

Yep, the whole LTO computer database went offline nationwide today, which meant no papers nor licenses could be issued until they fixed the problem.

I was at the LTO branch at the Ayala MRT station a little past 9am, and it was already packed with people wanting to renew their licenses. A lot of them were supposed to have renewed last month but missed the opportunity because of the long Christmas break (which meant that government offices were all closed).

The line for the application form went smoothly enough, but the Drug Testing and Medical check-up seemed to go on forever. By the time I got back to the LTO window, their computers were going on-and-offline. That was past 11am. Of course, that meant that lunch break was looming. And you know the rep of our government offices once lunch break comes. Everything stops. To the LTO's credit, they still worked up until around 12:15pm.

At a little close to 2pm, it was announced that they have gone offline for good. But that there's a chance that it could be fixed. Needless to say, some people got pissed, and the broken airconditioning didn't help. I was already second in line at the second to the last stop (the cashier), so I decided to tough it out. Good thing I had some pencil pages that I could ink while waiting. A lot of the other people there also decided to wait it out, so they just spent the time talking to complete strangers (which I did, too).

At around a little before 4pm, the guy ahead of me decided to give up and just return tomorrow. Which meant I was now first in line. So I decided that I'd go all the way and hope that everything gets fixed before they close at 6pm.

Thank goodness the system got fixed at 4:30pm. I immediately paid the cashier, got my license, and rode the train home. Suffice it to say, I had to go on an impromptu leave of absence from the office. What a way to start the year, huh?

And to the few of you who stuck around to get to the end of this boring post, my deepest thanks and apologies. :P

Updated CAPSULEZONE website!

A happy, safe and peaceful new year to all! It'll be 2009 in a few hours, so I thought I'd update my old CapsuleZone website to make it easier to use (for me, at least. Hehehe). It's now parked at capsulezone.wordpress.com, but the www.capsulezone.tk address still works. I won't be updating the old geocities site anymore (Lord knows I haven't updated it for more than a year), but I won't be shutting it down, either. It can still be accessed, but I'll be putting up all the content there to the new site pretty soon.

Much of my old and current comics work will be available for viewing at the new website, so please do visit from time to time. :)

Sick and twisted: Mayor beats up 56-year old man and 14-year old kid

Read here for the story. Please spread the word so that people like these won't get away with doing acts like this.

GMA 7 and ABS-CBN have also reported on this incident. Click on the respective links...

GMA news

ABS-CBN news

He's a government peace negotiatior. It would be kinda funny if it wasn't so tragic.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY!

I'm greeting everyone this early because I might not get to blog by the time Christmas vacation comes around.

Anyway, I'll just blog away about some random stuff...

First off, my good friend, writer, and editor at Twenty To Six, Anthony Garcia, has put up some pages for what he's been dubbing our "mystery project." So as not to spoil things, I'll just re-post a couple of pages here for everyone's perusal.

Wall of Angels is still available. Buy it. Now.

Next, here are a couple of pages from a short story I did for writer Robert Heske's COLDBLOODED CHILLERS. It's slated to come out in issue no.3, hopefully available this December or early next year. And if you like what you see here, why not purchase issues 1 and 2, too? You won't be disappointed.

There are a bit more stuff lined up for me in the coming year. I have another project with Robert coming up, another gig for GRAPHIC CLASSICS, in which I'll be working on a script by David Hontiveros. It's a bit amusing that it took a US publisher to enable me and Dave to work on something together, considering we've been acquainted with each other for a long time here in the Philippines. And since we're on the subject, why not get a copy of GRAPHIC CLASSICS: AMBROSE BIERCE. Only $10! Or if you're in Manila, contact me and I can sell some of my copies directly to you. :)

And there's another thingie that's not final yet, but I hope it comes to fruition. I'm very excited by this "thingie," so I'm reaaalllly crossing my fingers on this one.

And on a completely unrelated topic, I just saw ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE recently. I caught a glimpse of this movie on TV back when I was a kid, and remembered the gaudy gold outfit that Zorro wore. After so many years, I finally got the chance to watch the full movie. And I have to say, it was hilarious! George Hamilton was perfect for this role.

To sum it up, Don Diego Vega (I'm assuming it's Diego Vega Jr.,) is requested to come home to California. His father died recently, and the town is taken over by his childhood pal Captain Esteban, now a tyrant. A coffin-like box is sent to Diego, and he discovers his dad was the original Zorro. Either he or his twin brother, Ramon, would have to take up the mantle. After his first outing as Zorro, he sprains his ankle. As fate would have it, his twin brother comes home, now calling himself Bunny Wigglesworth. He takes over the mantle of Zorro while Diego recuperates, but uses a whip and instead of the usual black costume he wears different, gaudily-colored variations of the outfit. Hilarity ensues.

But no, not really. The hilarity began even before Bunny came onto the scene. I was surprised to find myself laughing more at the antics of Diego rather than those by Bunny. Plus, rather than really despise Captain Esteban for the evil man that he is, you end up laughing at the poor sap.

Some Zorro fans have decried this movie (including Howard Chaykin in his introduction to the collected Zorro works by Alex Toth), but this Zorro fan simply loved it. As much as I love Tyrone Power and Guy Williams (okay, even Antonio Banderas), there's a place in the Zorro legacy for George Hamilton.

Now, can anyone tell me where I can get a copy of the 1920 film starring Douglas Fairbanks? :)

IT'S KOMIKON TODAY!

As I type this, the 4th KOMIKON Philippines Komiks Convention is currently underway at U.P. Diliman. It's also the first time I won't be able to attend, since we're moving to a brand new house of our own, and everything has to be packed and moved before the month ends. I'm a bit disappointed that I won't be going, but that's okay since I'm also excited about moving into our new home. So to all the guys out there attending the Komikon, enjoy and I'm sure a lot of you will be having a blast! I'll just be browsing some of the other blogs in the next few days to see what happened.

One other stuff I wanted to blog about is to promote the comic book COLD BLOODED CHILLERS, written and published by a very talented gentleman who goes by the name of Robert Heske.  Issues 1 and 2 are now available through IndyPlanet. And I've illustrated a short story in issue 3 (probably out in December). I hope you guys check it out.

You can also read reviews on the book here and here.

Okay, gotta get back to my packing. Plus I'll have two pages to finish for the next issue of Wall of Angels. Big stuff will be happening for Wall of Angels, writer Anthony Garcia has some stuff cooking. I'm really excited for the book, actually. Watch this space for more announcements! I'd be remiss if I didn't put a link to where you can purchase the book. Click here to order online!