What Gerry Alanguilan and Co. are trying to say

"I think nobody ever really said we were doing our comics to "revive the Philippine comic book industry"? Who told everybody to expect this from us?None of us woke up one morning thinking, "Oho! I will revive the comic book industry! To accomplish this goal, I will do THIS. I will do THAT." Wouldn't that be insanely and grossly egotistic of us to believe ourselves wondrously talented, skillful, and knowledgeable enough to dare to make it our #1 objective.... to revive a national industry?. I apologize if we have disappointed you by not living up to your expectations, but they are expectations we never even dared to have for ourselves, let alone strive for.It's an unrealistic and an unfair expectation, and how could anyone to put *that* on our shoulders? We only wanted to write stories and draw pictures because it's fun. And we love doing it. Now all of a sudden we're expected to be responsible for the resuscitation of a whole industry? Get a GRIP. Get a SERIOUS grip! Please!"

Oh, so its all just for "fun" then? Its all just a hobby? A pasttime like cross-stitch? An expression of "love"? (scratch scratch) Well what about this later remark on his "Thoughts about the Komiks Congress":

"To dismiss or ignore what young comics writers and artists have accomplished in the last 15 years, creating a new comics industry amidst the dying throes of an old and much greater one, in an economy that is struggling and unstable, would be terribly unwise. Clearly, the fact that comics are created and read in a time when no serious money can be made in comics can be a case study if one wishes to understand ways of how comics can survive and persist in an environment where it shouldn’t. xxx For a revival of komiks in a wide scale to happen, there are many practices in the old industry that has to be stricken out of the books. I sincerely hope that the people involved don’t believe that they can just continue what they have done before as if nothing happened. xxx" (Emphasis Mine)

Get it? First he claims that "they" are NOT out to revive a local comics industry. THEN in another of his opinionated essays, he ASSERTS that for the last 15 years, a new comics industry was being created by the same "them". Huh?!

Did we read it right? A "new comics industry" was created in this country for the last 15 years? That would be in 1992, right? And it was created by the young comics writers and artists of today (like him, presumably)? Sonovagun. And this is coming from the same guy who hyped that 2006 is going to be a BIG year for Filipino comics?

Well how come many talented creatives are still working in animation and foreign comics companies these days? (He's proud of that by the way because in his mind, its much better that there are more Filipinos working and making waves in comics and animation media abroad, than locally).

And why aren't a lot of people seeing or at least BUYING these works? Just how "industrious" is this so-called industry anyway? How many are these self-publishers? How frequent are their works? Who are their primary audience? How much are they usually sold? What easily accessible places are they being displayed for sale? If the selfless one claims that the comics of this new industry are numerous and popular like his single most favorite example: "Zsa Zsa Zaturnah" (which by the way is allegedly written by uncredited Palanca award-winning humor writer EFREN MARTINEZ, and NOT by Carlo Vergara), then WHERE are they? WHERE and WHAT are these numerous works is he speaking of? Why does he say that they are popular? WHY haven't we seen them last year, 2006, a BIG year for Filipino comics, and in the previous yearS before that?

At the controversial 2006 Manila Film Festival, the Zsa Zsa Zaturnah movie (along with "Tatlong Baraha") was not even a money maker either. That's popular? Where's the "boom" in the local graphic novel market sold in a few bookstores for at least Php 200?

Well, there you have it. That's a komikero for you, making statements whenever convenient. And the sentiment is shared by his compatriot, Gilbert Monsanto, when commenting on the same Komiks Congress, he so eloquently chides:

"I think that the real difference from the komiks of today is that they were mere contributors of a big company then. Komiks today are done by young, dedicated and should be considered heroes of today. Imagine these creators are not getting much from each herculean step they make just to revive a sleeping giant. When the so called masters turned their backs to work on other more profitable jobs like animation and such when komiks was sick and dying on its knees, we fought harder. They never had the courage to self-publish because they know it is suicide, yet we dove in and took on the challenge. We are the komiks of today. We respect them for who they are and how they inspired us. But for them to claim victory to something they did nothing for a long time? PWE!" (Emphasis Mine)

And here, the selfless one was saying that today's "indie" komiks creators did not wake up one morning thinking, "OHO! I will revive the comic book industry!" The brains behind NEO-COMICS gave a similar nonchalant claim just a few months back. Where are they now? After FOUR largely unsold issues, they're gone.

I wonder at this point, who is really insane and grossly egotistic as to believe themselves so wondrously talented, skillful, and knowledgeable enough to make reviving the local comics industry their No. 1 objective. Hey, bro! The world wants to know! What are you guys really trying to say?

ANO BA TALAGA, KUYA?