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.

COMICS LEGEND MARSHALL ROGERS PASSES AWAY...

From Newsarama:
"Comics have lost another luminary. Details are still sketchy, but word came earlier today that Marshall Rogers died yesterday or Saturday. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed. "

Full story here.

Here's something I've been tinkering with lately...



A tentative cover to a Maskarado trade paperback collection (collecting the first three issues, including the preview)...



The first page of issue #1, completely colored and re-lettered, with minor retouching...

It's something I'm hoping to get done, and I'm shopping around for a good distributor. That means it's gonna be a legit publication, not just "indie."

I'm also of two minds whether to leave the interiors in black & white (lower printing cost) or coloring it to give it that extra gloss.

What do you guys think?

I'm in Thailand right now for the ADFEST. It's pretty okay, but I've been away for more than a day and already I'm missing Kuki and Jade. I can't wait to get back home on Monday.

Anyway, that's not even why I'm blogging right now. I'm really excited because I've got my first US comics gig, as an inker on THE ADVENTURES OF LIGHTNING SQUIRREL. It's written by Jeff Kipnis, pencilled by Victor Cabanelas and published by Rabidfrog Productions. I'm on board for issue number 3. It's a six-issue miniseries, so I'll be doing four issues total.

But that's not all. I'm going to be PENCILLING and INKING another book for another US independent publisher by the middle of this year. I don't know if I can give away the details yet, but it's an ongoing book. I'll post updates as soon as I can.

On top of that, I'm trying to get issue 8 of Maskarado finished and have been seeing if a colored TPB collection of the first Maskarado storyarc will be feasible. Plus I'm doing a 7-page short story for yet another US indie.

Oh, and THE WITNESS was picked up by SCAR COMICS in the UK for inclusion in their anthology, DEAD BY DAWN Quarterly. At least I don't have to draw that anymore. Hehe.

Pile that on top of my regular job, and I think I'll be dead by 2008. :)

But really, I'm very excited that all this comics work is coming my way. I just hope I can keep up.

I've announced this elsewhere, but now that I can blog again I'll just announce it here again... MASKARADO is now available at DRUID'S KEEP!

Druid's Keep
Unit 315 Gateway Center
Paseo de Magallanes
Makati City
Tel. 854-5332

Many thanks to Felix Cua and my good friend Ogie!