If you’ve been to a bookstore recently, you can observe that the diminishing shelf size of the Filipiniana section is getting smaller and smaller, while office supplies and furnitures are getting bigger and bigger. And within those shelves, in between the local literary greats and wattpad novelas, you can find a few local comic books like Kiko Machine, Zsazsa Zaturnnah,and Trese.
These are the most popular comic books created by Filipinos today. If you aren’t familiar with these yet, don’t worry, you’re just in time. Now is the right time to start reading. And here’s why.
Every year, hundreds of Filipino comic book creators work on their own komikbooks. From the whimsical, to the fantastic to the real. Matching these hundreds of stories is a visual artistry of every mood, shade and tone.As a country of many influences amidst globalization, the local comic book community is a mix of eastern and western influences, but the stories are indeed 100% Filipino. Readers just don’t know where to find them.
Other than the comic books published by mainstream and indie publishers, the rest of the komiks community can be found only in local and regional comics events.It’s not that local comic book creators want to be hidden, it’s because there are very few opportunities to share their works and earn enough to make more and sustain their art.
In Manila alone, several local comic events to visit: the Komikon (April 16 and November 19-20 at Bayanihan Center, Pasig); and INDIEKET in August. If you’re lucky, you might meet authors like Manix Abrera, Rob Cham, Tepai Pascual, JM Valenzuela, Fhate Comics and more.
If you don’t know what comic book to buy from the hundreds of komiks to choose from, the best way to gage the right comic book for you is the genre and the art style. Comic book prices range from P20 to P500, depending on the size and number of pages.
But what you’re paying for isn’t just for the artwork and the storytelling. What every reader is buying is a part of the komiks creator’s life. It takes two to six months, some maybe even longer for the creators to think, write, draw, ink, edit and publish their work and finally to make it to the comics events.
The Filipino comic books are stories of this generation, a search for cultural identity, a gift of laughter and amusement, an escape to widen the imagination and to go beyond the limitations of the present day realities. Because despite the many struggles of an underappreciated art form, all the komiks creators truly desire are more readers to tell their stories to.
So it’s time. Time to pick up a Filipino comic book in a bookstore, or attend a comics event and meet the creators. Support a Filipino comic book today.