Just came back from the doctor. Around two or three weeks ago, my heart started palpitating continuously, which prompted me to get checked up. After weeks of tests (lab or otherwise) the doctor found... Nothing.

My heart is in normal health. Except for a lab finding of my HDL (good cholesterol) being a bit lower than normal, I'm perfectly fine. I can increase my HDL by exercising (which I have been doing regularly since I turned 30) and/or taking fish oil supplements. I guess I'll do the former, since it's less expensive.

When I feel something wrong with my body, I get a check up as soon as I can. Always, they find out that there's nothing wrong with me. Well, except for the time I was diagnosed with shoulder impingement, which most likely I was born with and would just have to learn to live with.

It's weird, but sometimes I hope that they DO find something wrong. That means I didn't have to waste my time going through all the tests and check-ups just to find out that I'm fine. Get my drift? But I guess all that legwork is a small price to pay to be given a clean bill of health.

The doctor said that most likely, stress had something to do with my heart palpitations. He said to just learn to relax and continue exercising. It got me to thinking about stuff in my life right now... Am I doing too much? Is being a full-time advertising art director, freelance comics artist, part-time art studio head, hands-on father and husband too much for one guy? I really don't know. I guess I'll just have to balance all that stuff, since I don't think I can give any of it up. And I guess I'll have to learn to relax in the process.

KOMIKS CONVENTIONS

I think a Komiks Convention bug has hit the Philippines. What with the Komikon now holding a summer convention (the Komikon Summer Fiesta this May), in addition to the one later this year, and the Manila Comic Con in August. Not to mention other "geek-oriented" conventions which comics have always been a part of (like the Philippine ToyCon). Is there a comprehensive listing somewhere?

I confess that I miss being a part of these things. But lately I haven't had any local output that I can bring to the table. My comics work nowadays consist mostly of doing stuff for US small press publishers. As much as I want to, the demands of my regular job and budgetary constraints prevent me from doing self-published work at the moment. Nothing beats the fulfillment of creating comics with no restraints except the ones you put on yourself., and just letting yourself run wild with ideas. Hopefully I can go and do stuff like this in the near future.

In the meantime, I guess I'll still be attending these conventions. But not as an exhibitor... I'll be there as a regular convention-goer. I hope I don't miss these events like I did the last Komikon. :)

Two Things...

First off, Watchmen the movie. I liked it. Very faithful to the source material. I don't get why some fans of the book rant about things omitted or things changed. A motion picture is a different entity, so get over it already.

Anyway, random thoughts about it (might have some spoilers, but I'll try to avoid them when I can)...

- It was strange to find myself being sympathetic to the Comedian. When I read the book he was a very hateful character, but seeing him in flesh-and-blood kind of made me understand why he did the things he did.

- I didn't realize that the novel was very violent. Seeing it on the comic page, you get to be a bit detached. But seeing it portrayed by real people was another thing entirely.

- I felt that the action scenes looked out of place. When you watch the movie's more "realistic" and dramatic moments, it's very serious. But when the action commences, it's very stylized and (dare I say it) Matrix-y in a way. Don't get me wrong, the action choreography is good and I liked it, but they sorta stuck out like a sore thumb compared with the other scenes.

- The changed ending. I have no gripe about it. It was a very reasonable alternative to the one in the book, and it provided a plausible explanation for Dr. Manhattan's self-imposed exile.

All in all, a good viewing experience. But I shudder to think about the news going around that Hollywood execs are now going to go the "darker" route when it comes to comic book-based movies. C'mon, can't we have both?

Okay, second thing... Remember the Phantom pin-up I posted before? Well, thanks to that, I'm now pencilling a comic book for Moonstone Books! Whoda thunk???!? Editor-in-Chief Joe Gentile asked me at first to do a Kolchak sample for him, which he liked. But then another, more immediate assignment opened up, a bi-monthly book featuring the Domino Lady. He asked me to do a pin-up sample for that, and after an initial stumble on my part, I landed the gig! Thanks very much to you guys at Moonstone! It's written by  New York Times bestselling author Nancy Holder, with inks by veteran inker Keith Williams. I'm very honored to be part of this team. I'm doing the second issue, but the first issue of Domino Lady should be hitting store shelves in June, 2009. For a listing of Moonstone Books coming out in June, click here.

Oh and you can head over to my CapsuleZone website to check out the Kolchak and Domino Lady samples I made. :)

A very flattering review and a plug for BONE CHILLER...

In my bored moments I sometimes google my name and see what comes up. That's how I discovered this review for Cold Blooded Chillers #3 from Broken Frontier, which gave me goosebumps when reviewer Dave Baxter said this about my art...

Filipino sensation Reno Maniquis steps in for the mirror-image sister-story "Transcendence", and this guy's work is mainstream slick-and-smooth incredible. Think George Perez meets JG Jones. Maniquis presents a world lush in detail and flawless comic book layouts. He's currently the artist on the book Wall of Angels, and everyone needs to read CBC #3, and then seek out that larger series...

Wow! George Perez meets JG Jones? High praise indeed. Thank you, Mr. Baxter.

You can read the full review here.

And on a very related note, COLD BLOODED CHILLERS: BONE CHILLER is now also available. It's a 140-page anthology penned by Robert M. Heske.  The "Transcendence" short story from CBC #3 is included here, and I've also done spot illustrations for the short film script "Alibi". Other contributing artists include Breno Tamura, Mark Chilcott, Jay Fife, Alain Norte, Dirk Shearer, Adam Swiecki and Preston Asevedo (who also provides the cover). I'll be posting maybe a couple of the "Alibi" illustrations on CapsuleZone pretty soon.

Oh, and there's a trailer, too. Watch it below...

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