No vacation for me

Now that we have our vacation at our office (my day time job). I will have more time to do my comics. While other people will go to the beach, cool off and have fun some where else. I will be spending all the time at our house finishing the pages of Kalayaan #9. It is full steam ahead for me from now on. Ihi lang ang pahinga.

It is crunch time once again. Just call me call me "Mr. Photo Finish" when it comes to dead line. April 17 is becoming very near. And as of this writing, I have already finished 20 pages. Seven more pages to go. I am so happy and excited at the same time for this issue. It is truly a test of my writing skills. It has become some what of an 'Obra' for me. What started as a simple one shot love story became a 3 (three) part story arc. That's right, a 3 part story. A very emotional love story of the main character of my comics "John dela Vega". Each issue is such an emotional intense story. And the nice thing about it, the succeeding issue will be surpassing it in all aspect of the story. So there are already issue #9, 10 and 11 in store for you guys.

And that is not all folks, Erwin Ropa (artist of Kalayaan #7) will be back. He will be doing Kalayaan#12, where a new conflict that I have been cooking up. Erwin already finished 3 pages sub-story that will be inserted in Kalayaan #10 and #11. There will be a new character that will be introduce that will alter Kalayaan's reality in issue #12 ( both figuratively and literally speaking). I am not finished with whole script (an enormous script). But every time I get finished with a script of page, I will immediately email it to Erwin. So we are kinda doing this comics simultaneously. I am doing this because I plan to release Kalayaan every two months if possible. That is right (again), you have read it right. Call me crazy, call me insane, because that is what I am right now. I decided to do this because I do not want to slack off. The Forex company, my US publisher told me that they will be releasing an issue of Kalayaan every two months on the states. That gives me a 1 year and 4 months ahead of time. But producing a comics every two months is just a target for me that I will try achieve. I know that many set backs could happen. I will just have to do my best.

So stay tuned every one, fasten your seat belts. This is going to be one heck of a ride.

Guess the cover artist

This is a re-post from the Bayan Knight DeviantArt account.
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As a way of thanking our donors, we're giving them the opportunity to guess the identity of our upcoming issue's guest cover artist

Whoever guesses correctly gets all the donor freebies mentioned in the Be Our Hero, PLUS a free commission from our fearless leader Gilbert Monsanto.
If more than one donor guesses correctly, we'll raffle off the prize between them

Please scroll down to the How to Order section of this journal for information on how to send us your contribution if you'd like a chance at winning a FREE commission. Don't forget to indicate the artist's name on the deposit slip or your Paypal note. Last day for guessing will be on 05 April 2010.
Just to help you along, here's a little clue about our guest artist - he's Filipino with an ongoing international title.

Care for a peek?

Facts - plain and simple

First of all, I did not create this table. I got it from a friend on facebook. To choose the best person for the highest position in the land. We should get as much information on the candidates as much as we can. We should check their track records, their accomplishments and we should never vote a person because he or she is popular.

(click the image to enlarge)

If you have find this information very useful, please re-post it to your blog or any social networking site that you have. Or simply print it and show it to your friends or people that you know. The voters has the right to know about the candidates.

Earth Hour 2010

BK4 preview

These are the preview pages of Bayan Knights #4. As you can see, these are a little bit different from the previews issue in terms of art. It's because Sarge (Gilbert Monsanto) has been trying out this new technique. He will just layout the pages first on paper, scanned it and directly ink it on the computer. The result is pretty much amazing if you ask me.

Paninindigan

Kapag dumarating ang election, lagi kong naaalala ang isang taong nakilala ko minsan. Empleyado sya ng isang company na client namin dati. Maraming taon ko na syang di nakikita at nakalimutan ko na pangalan nya at mukha. Pero ang hinding hindi ko makakalimutan ay ang walang ka kwenta kwenta nyang prinsipyo sa buhay pag dating sa politika.

Nagkataong election din noong nagkakilala kami. Habang nag mimiryenda, napunta sa politika ang usapan namin. Napag usapan namin si Candidate A at Candidate B. Parehas naming gusto si Candidate A dahil sa tingin namin ay matalino sya, hindi corrupt at maraming magagawa sa bansa natin. Parehas din ang pananaw namin kay Candidate B. Si B ay maraming asawa, lasengero at napakahilig sa sugal. Pero ang kinagulat ko ay noong sabihin ng kausap ko na si 'B' and iboboto nya at hindi si 'A'. Nagtanong ako ng 'Bakit?'. Alam nyo po ba ang sagot nya? "Bakit ko pa iboboto si A? eh hindi naman sya mananalo. Si B ang siguradong mananalo kaya sya ang boboto ko. Useless lang naman din kung si A ang iboboto ko kasi kolelat sya sa survey". Nanlaki mata ko sabay kamot sa ulo. I was still very young when that happened kaya tumahimik na lang ako.

Siguro kung ngayon nya sa akin sasabihin ito. Malamang mag kakausap kami ng mahaba haba. It is very sad that some of the people here in our country think this way. Kung lahat siguro ng tao ay tumatalon sa bangin, malamang ay tatalon din sya. Siguro kung popular ang mag bigti ay mag bibigti rin sya. Siguro kung susundin ko ang logic nya malamang ay patay na ako. Lahat naman tayo mamamatay diba? So bakit pa tayo gigising, kakain at mag ta-trabaho? Humilata na lang tayo at antayin ang kamatayan natin. Kasi useless naman din diba? Mamamatay rin naman tayo.

Kung meron ka kasing paninindigan. Kahit gaano pa ka popular ang isang kandidato. Kung sa tingin mo ay hindi sya karapat dapat. Hindi mo sya iboboto. Kahit na sinasabi ng buong mundo na sya ang mananalo sa election, pero alam mo naman na sya ay sugarol, babaero at lasinggero. Hindi mo sya iboboto dahil siguradong nanakawin nya lang ang pera ng bayan para pang gastos sa mga ito. Yung ibang kababayan kasi natin ay hindi na rin bomoboto kasi sabi nila "Bakit pa ako boboto eh dadayain rin naman ni Candidate B ang halalan". Kahit sabihin pa nating dadayain pa nya ang election . At lease, we did our part. Kung gumawa man sila ng kalokohan ay labas na tayo dun. Sila na ang sasagot noon sa Dios at sa batas.

Kaya rin siguro merong limit ang number of minutes na commercial sa TV dahil madaling ma uto ang mga kababayan natin. Kung ako lang, hahayaan kong walang limit ang advertisement sa TV. Because no matter how many hours of commercial they put there, I already have made up my mind on who I am going to vote. There is no TV commercial that can persuade me to vote for the undeserving candidate. Hayaan nating lustayin nila lahat ng yaman nila. But sad to say, maraming kababayan natin ang pwedeng daanin sa advertising at sabi sabi lang.

If you are going to vote. Please vote for the candidate that will do something to better our lives. Yung merong mahabang karanasan sa public service. Hindi yung parang kabote na lang na susulpot pag panahon na ng election tapos panay ang pa pogi at pa cute. Yung iba kasi, hindi yata naging barangay captain man lamang. Presidente ng Pilipinas kaagad ang gusto. Parang nagising lang ng isang umaga at sinabi sa sarili "Mag pe-presidente ako".

I am looking forward on this coming election positively. Specially with the computerization and all. But I hope that all of us Filipinos will vote more responsibly and wisely.

Members of Bayan Knights

Being a bunch of wacky guys that we are at Bayan Knights. We have made this promotional poster. It is a some what spoof of 'The Guardian of the Globe' poster that I posted a couple of days ago.

The background cover credits goes to Wansworld.

Kalayaan : character owned by Gio Paredes.

Morion : character owned by Wansworld.

Kawal : character owned by DCel.

Bathala : character owned by Jon Zamar.

Bagwis : character owned by Santy.

Comics Creation Link

I have created a new links on the right side of this blog for "Creating an Indie Comics" to make it much easier for people that is interested in creating their own comics. I have been receiving lots of questions about it lately.

But I just want it to stressed out that these are just based upon my personal experiences on creating an independent comics here in the Philippines. Others might vary on other parts of the world or might not be applicable on other cases.

Al Gore coming to Manila

This former vice-president of the most powerful nation in the world will be coming to Manila. I have admired him for the longest time because of his environmental advocacy. Despite the idiotic detractors that he has that is saying that global warming is a myth and he is just doing this for money. He just keeps at it and do what he does. And this time he will be going here in the Philippines. He will present an asian version of 'An Inconvenient Truth' in April 30, 2010 at the SMX Convention Center in the SM Mall of Asia Complex. I will try to be there if my schedule would permit.

For more information please go to Yahoo News.

Complementary copy

I just got my complementary copy of Pinoy Herald and Kalayaan #1 reprint. I might say that the print quality of the reprint came out way better than I have expected. This came in just in time. Because today, I will be going to my parents house to meet with my brother and sisters.

Iron Man 2 Trailer

This trailer is just amazing. The even got a design for the briefcase armor. And War Machine is just one mean machine. I think he even looks better than Iron Man. I just love that suit case armor. It makes me wish I have one when I go to office :D

Guardians of the Globe

The Guardians of the Globe will have its own comics soon. If you do not know who this team is? Then I guess you should start reading Invincible. The Guardians are first introduced way back in Invincible #7. It is a spoof of DC's Justice League and Marvels Avengers (yeah I know, that Robert Kirkman is one wacky guy :D) . But now, it seams that Image comics is putting a great deal of interest into them.

Even I was surprised to see that Todd McFarlane's "SPAWN" is going to join this team. The Image guys are still not giving details about this. My own guess is that this title will come out when the whole IMAGE UNITED mini series has finished.

Invincible has been in and out of this team during the series of his title. Lots of members have been fragmented when Invincible and Cecil (the pentagon leader of the guardian [which I hate] ) had a clash in ideology. Cecil's method to protect the Earth is too extreme that he even hires villains and murderers just to do this bidding. This new title that will be releasing on August of this year is very exciting to me. I just can't wait to see who among of the other image characters will join this team. I am hoping(and keeping my fingers crossed) that Whilce Portacio's Fortress will join the team. It is good time to be an Image fan now a days.

Click here to read the original post in Newsarama.

Summer Komikon

Summer de Avence Komikon 2010
Poster created by Jon Zamar
(Click Image to enlarge)

This is the latest Summer Komikon poster created by Jon Zamar. Additional characters have been added, including my character (just above Kapaitan Tog).

Death in the family

My sister (Ate Gene) call me up crying on the phone. She just told me that our cousin 'Wawa' just passed away. Her name is Joyce 'Wawa' Paredes-Cabotan. Wawa ang nick name nya kasi sabi sa akin dati ni Papa, noong bata pa daw kami, sa aming mag pipinsan, sya ang mahilig magpa awa kung merong gustong laruan. She is almost the same age as I am. Matanda lang sya ng isang taon. The truth is, she is not really blood related to me. She was adopted by my Auntie and my real cousin (Ate Nene and Ate Inday). We (me and my sibling) call her my cousin because she is almost the same age as I am and my siblings. We have always treated her as our relative because me and my brothers and sisters are very close to her. Bata kasi nag asawa ang Auntie Lucy ko at matanda naman nag asawa ang father ko(his younger brother). That is why, my true cousins, Ate Nene and Ate Inday are way older than me. Noong bata pa ako, meron ngang pagkakataon na nag kakamali ako at nag mamano ako sa kanila.

Last time I saw Wawa was last November 22. Bumisita kami sa bahay nila sa Bacoor Cavite. Kakatapos nya lang noon ng operasyon and she is under going dialysis. At that time, we were already worried about her, kaya kami nag punta sa bahay nila. Nag bigay na nang taning kasi ang doctor sa kanya na hindi na raw talaga sya tatagal.

Her death kept me awake last night. I just keep on thinking that a persons life is truly fragile. Naalala ko tuloy yung time na nag kasakit ako ng hepatitis a few years ago. I really thought that I was going to die. I was bed redden, my body was color yellow from head to foot and I had a terrible ulcer. The pain was excruciating.

I am worried right now about the people that she have left behind. My auntie is very old and has little or no source of income.

(L-R) Me, My Dad, Auntie Lucy and Wawa
(Taken last November 22, 2009)


(L-R) Me, Wawa, Ate Nene, Ate Inday, Auntie Lucy, My Dad

(Taken last November 22, 2009)

Pagkatapos ng visit namin last November sa kanila at nakita ko na medyo okay naman na si Wawa. Medyo napanatag na ang pag iisip ko. Maganda na ang lagay nya at nakakalakad na ng maayos. Nalungkot ako ng husto nang nalaman ko kagabi na patay na sya. Nakakapanghinayang ang kanyang pagkawala. Isa kasi sya sa pinaka matalinong tao na kilala ko. Noong Elementary kasi sya, hindi nawawala ang pangalan nya sa top 3. Pag naging 3rd honor sya ay medyo masama ang kalooban nya dahil kadalasan ay 1st honor sya. Pag dating naman ng high school at college ay scholar naman sya parati ng school. Before she got sick, she was working as a chemical engineer/biologist. Science talaga ang hilig nya kahit noon pa. Noong bata pa kimi, meron ding pag kakataon na mahaba ang pag uusap namin tungkol sa science. Sayang at hindi naging mahaba ang pag uusap namin noong huli kaming nakapunta sa bahay nila.

I will surely miss her.

Wall of Heroes 4

This post is taken from the updated Wall of heroes 4 of the Bayan Knights blog site. We just keep on moving with the fourth issue of BK. It is very hard to self publish, specially on the financial side. So any amount from anybody (specially from sponsors) would be very much appreciated. As the deadline comes closer and closer, it gets more and more difficult for us.

---------------------------------------------------------
A big "thank you" to everyone who dropped by at our Komikon booth and checked our titles out!..

As early as now, the Bayan Knights team are already preparing for our 4th issue. Many thanks to the following people for the support and love! :)

1. Francis Lim**
2. Ruth Genevieve Ong*
3. Pauline Angelica Cole*
4. Jethro Loreto Azores*
5. Neil Maunce Bascos*
6. Mark Willard Wong**
7. Riel Labanda*
8. John Becaro**
9. Myles Chua*
10. Geofrrey Borgonia**
11. Gio Paredes**


* -DONATIONS
**-PLEDGES
***- Thru COMMISSIONS (no free copy)

Donors will be acknowledged in our comics' special "Thank You" page on Bayan Knights #4 PLUS! We're giving a free Bayan Knights sketch card and along with their free copy of a Sacred Mountain Poster and a Bayan Knights issue of their choice.

Here's how to donate:

• Deposit your contributions through any BPI branch to Sacred Mountain Publications, Account # 4033-04277-4. Kindly write your name on the deposit slip and fax a copy to 655-6780. You may also scan or take a clear photo of the deposit slip and email the image file with your contact details to smp_letters@yahoo.com.
• We also accept payments through Paypal. Kindly enter smp_letters@yahoo.com as the payee account.
  

Read about how to be part of the Wall of Heroes by clicking this link and checking out "Become our Hero".

Thank you so much, guys! WE ARE ONE! :)
(Click here to view the original post from the BK site)

My cellphone was stolen

For those of you who has my number, please just erase it now from your phone book. My cellphone was stolen recently on a bus on my way home.

I am not planning to buy a new one for the time being, there are just too many things that I have to pay right now. If you want to contact me, you can still reach me by my email and my land line phone at home.

Forex - Kalayaan comics launching

These are some of the pictures that I received today (more pictures to follow) from the Forex - Kalayaan comics launching in Virginia. This was held last March 9,2010.

Launching of Kalayaan Komiks, March 9,2010 (L-R) Chairman Emeritus Jaime M. Carino, CFO Chit de Jesus, Cecille and Sergio Bautista, Marlyn Hall and Shirley Endiape.

(L-R) Rodney Jaleco, bureau chief for Washington, D.C. of ABS-CBN, Chairman Jaime M. Carino, Dr. Pio and Dr. Cristina Poblete and Forex CFO Chit de Jesus.

One of three for 12 at the PRESENT Restaurant in Falls Church, Virginia for the official launching in the USA of the Pilipino komiks, KALAYAAN by Gio Paredes. 16-course lauriant dinner attended by 33 guest.

At the FOREX headquarters in Springfield, Virginia before the launching of KALAYAAN komiks by Gio Paredes.

The poster that they are holding above will be put on all of the FOREX branches for all the Filipino community would know that they could get a FREE copy of my comics there. I am so happy right now that I feel I'm in cloud 9.

GMP Project

Yup, I am at it again. Between pages of Kalayaan, I still had a few sketching time to do these project that have been temporarily stopped. I hope that I could finish this one big tarpaulin one day.

MASKARADO

Character owned by : Reno Maniquis


UNSTOPPABLE
Character owned by : Heubert Khan Michael

MATANGLAWIN
Character owned by : Jon Zamar

LUZVIMINDA
Character owned by : Ray Adrian Magbanua

SERVANT
Character owned by : Geofrrey Borgonia

(click image to enlarge)

Here is the main tarpaulin so far. Still a lot more characters missing. It will be wonderful to finish and print this out one day. But for now, I just love it seeing this everyday. This particular image above is actually my desktop wallpaper. If you want to make it your wallpaper too, be my guess. Just simply download it. :-)

Pacquiao in Jimmy Kimmel show

Not only he was interviewed in this show. But he also sung in the show. This is a must see youtube video.

THIS IS IT

No, it is not the Michael Jackson DVD. It is much much better (at lease for me :D).

(Click image to enlarge)

(Click image to enlarge)

This is it people, both the Pinoy Herald and the Kalayaan #1 just came out of the printer. The Forex people are good enough to email me this image. A complementary copy will soon to follow. I guess that this is the first time that I have been featured on a news paper and I am very much happy.

The komiks will be formally launched on March 9. These are the list of the branch location that Kalayaan comics will be distributing abroad. It will be the main east coast headquarters of FOREX that will be giving out the first issue initially - that means the Metropolitan Washington, DC area of the District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Virginia, Springfield, Alexandria and the state of Maryland. If any of your friends in these areas, they can go to Filipino stores and pick up a copy.

This is truly a happy day for me.

K9 Page 10

Kalayaan #9 Page 10.

In this scene, the body armor (suit) of Kalayaan is given an upgrade by Cyfer. The nanobots assembles his suit much more faster. And not only that, Cyfer also programmed these nanobots to create a casual wear (spoiler alert) for our superhero when he reverts back as John dela Vega.

I was watching one episode of Sci-Fi Science in Discovery one day. It is a show hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku. A very briliant Theoretical Physicist. On one of his episode, he was designing a super suit for a Superhero. And one component of the design was the Carbon Nanotubes. He used it as the body armor of his superhero that gives the wearer super strength and protection. I guess I was on the right path all along. :-)

Ten(10) pages finished, 16 more to go. I really hope I could finish this baby in time for Summer Komikon on April 17.

Hard to ignore ADS

When I ride MRT during my commute to our office every morning. I often see these giant bill board Ads that I find hard to ignore. They are very catchy and humorous at the same time. I really admire the people that comes up with these ideas.

Kalayaan 9 cover

This will be the Kalayaan #9 Cover. The first concept for the cover was actually the page 1. But I thought that many comics already have that kind of cover where two lovers are kissing. So I figured that I have to make a cover that is not only catchy but also filled with emotions.

I guess just by looking at it, you could easily say that this is definitely not your usual issue of Kalayaan. And it is, because it will be a story of John dela Vega's past and present love life. It is also the first cover that you will not see Kalayaan, but rather his alter ego. This issue, had really put my writing skills to a test. I hope that people would enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it.

This was actually intended to be release on June of 2010. But I will do my best be in this coming Summer Komikon in April 17.

Right on schedule

I just received a .PDF file from FOREX (my publisher and distributor abroad). It contains the final layout of the first issue of Kalayaan together with a few pages of ADS. The minor adjustment are very much acceptible.

I was very much relieved when I receive the email. For a moment there I was very nervous that the release date might move to a much later date because they have a little trouble finding a cheap printer. It turns out, the quotation that they got from their usual printer is much higher than expected. This must be because of the not so good economy of the US right now. It is a good thing that they got an alternative printer that is much cheaper. But the print quality is only newsprint, which is very much expected from a free comics. Here in the Philippines, I will still be distributing and selling an issue for P60 each which has a glossy photo paper and much better paper quality on the interior. So it is pretty much fair for every one.

Everything is right on schedule. Tuloy na tuloy na talaga. The target release date is March 9, 2010 (Tuesday), and it is also the 27^th anniversary of Forex. Happy anniversary to you guys, I hope that your company would last 100 or more years. A strugling independent comics creator like me needs more people like you.

There will be an article in the newspaper about Kalayaan that will appear in the March 5 issue of the Pinoy Herald. I am so exited to get a copy of this, the exitement is just killing me. :D

K9 Page 5

Here is page 5 of Kalayaan #9. Hopefully, if all things goes well. I will be releasing this issue on April 17 during the Summer Komikon. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

New Kalayaan Fan Art

These are the new fan art that I have been receiving. And I must say that each and every one of them are wonderfully created.

Art by Jon Zamar

Jon is the creator and publisher of the comics Digmaan Salinlahi. He is also an Bayan Knights member with an original character of Matanglawin and Bathala. He is also one of the organizers of the Komikon. This guy is one busy dude. :D

Art by Jethro Morales

I first met Jethro in comic odyssey during a delivery. I had no idea that he was such a good artist. I am definetly be putting his art in the next issue of Kalayaan.

Art by Rhiver

Rhiver is a long time fellow Bayan Knight. He is a the one and only creator of Manila Man. He would also be proof reading and editing Kalayaan #9. I have been talking to him a lot lately with regards to a future issue of Kalayaan. Once I get finished with the script, I will be annoucing it here.

Art by Erwin Ropa

For those of you that have been following Kalayaan comics. You might be familiar with his name. It is because in issue #7, he did some of the pages. And I might say (without any exaduration) that his pages really rocks.

.