SIM by Gerry Alanguilan

Title: SIM
Read from: UNDERPASS
Writer: Gerry Alanguilan
Artist: Gerry Alanguilan

The graphic anthology UNDERPASS starts with an eight-page story (nine if you count the "cover") from Gerry Alanguilan tackling one man's intriguing journey that begins when he serendipitously finds a sim card while riding a jeepney. Burning with curiosity, the guy inserts the sim into his cell phone and immediately gets a distressed call from a woman. The man (obviously with nothing much to do) goes on a wild goose chase trying to find this woman whom he believes is "hot". There is also an ominous "picture" viewable from the cellphone that gets clearer as the man nears his journey's end. Since this is a horror-centric graphic anthology it's disclosed in the end that the woman has long been dead, that the guy trying to find her resembles her ex-boyfriend, and that the picture getting clearer is actually the man lying in a pool of blood. In horror, the guy tries to run away from his assumed fate and gets hit by a jeepney in the process. His cellphone gets shattered and the story ends with a cliffhanger notion of another guy finding the "cursed" sim.

A couple of nitpicks with the story: Can you actually store photos in sim cards? if not, then where did the picture come from? Also, this guy must really be desperate. Being obsessed is one thing but wasting a whole day just trying to find someone leaving cryptic phone calls? Don't get me wrong, the story fits the whole horror genre to a T but it's just a problem of mine when I get jarred away from the story with these small details.

Art wise, the style is the same as what you can expect from a Gerry Alanguilan comic. From his art work on Timawa to Elmer to Humanis Rex and even bits and pieces from Wasted, you can see it all here. However, I do have a comment with the over all coloring done here. One of the benefits of actually using color in comics is that areas of interest or places where you want to lead the reader's eyes can be emphasized. However, in this comic the coloring was just flat. It's like the hand and the cellphone and the background is all in one plane. You really don't need to use grads or airbrush effects to highlight areas of interest within a panel. Even with a flat coloring style you could still lead the reader's eyes but you will have to adjust the tint / shade / tone of other areas accordingly. This comes as a nitpick actually because the coloring can be attributed to the artist's over all style. However, I'm just pointing out that colored comics made in the Philippines are few and far between and any comics released in color should at least try to make use of the full benefit of coloring.

Overall, "Sim" does not disappoint. With an easy to follow art style and a story that draws you in until the end, it's a pretty solid start for the UNDERPASS graphic anthology. This story is a definite plus to the whole is-it-worth-buying category. Hopefully the other stories do not disappoint.

UNDERPASS

UNDERPASS appears to be the initial offering of Summit Media Graphic Novels and similar to other Philippine comic book endeavors, this anthology of four horror / suspense comics gets an A+ for presentation and effort. UNDERPASS is composed of "Sim" by Gerry Alanguilan, "Judas Kiss" by David Hontiveros and Budjette Tan with art from Oliver Pulumbarit, "Katumbas" by David Hontiveros and art by Ian Sta. Maria and finally, "The Clinic" by Budjette Tan with art by Kajo Baldisimo.

At the get go, the graphic anthology is gritty, with a cover that sets the mood for the four stories contained within. All the comics are in color and printed on high quality glossy pages. It is remarkable in that it comes close to the look and feel of imported comic books particularly American comics. Unfortunately, the high production values comes at a price and when this graphic anthology first came out, it was priced at PhP 250.00. For a 52-page comic book, the price is comparable to American comics with the same number of pages. But comparing the price to what's available at the magazine stands here in the Philippines this is definitely too steep to attract new or casual readers and may even hinder the genuine comic book fan from grabbing it immediately. Recently this graphic anthology was marked down and now carried a price tag of PhP 175.00. It's still a little bit too steep compared to other magazines which range from PhP 125.00 to PhP 150.00 but definitely an improvement from the initial cover price and the appeal of comic books makes it good enough for purchase.

I'll be reviewing each story for the next few days starting with Gerry Alanguilan's "SIM".

After the challenge

And that's that for The Philippines 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge. I was really rooting for Cev Ruiz' entry, Ang Boksingero but I guess a couple of your friends really isn't enough to win a popularity contest. I really do believe, however, that he had a story going within his entry and given the chance to polish it I think it might still be one of the better comic books out there. In any case, congratulations to the Top 10 and hope to see you all next year (hopefully, this event will be an annual thing).

So. after the challenge, what now?

How about I review / critique regular comics then? You know, the ones that actually come out in the market / book stores / comic book shops? In fact, I have one right here. It's called UNDERPASS and it's an anthology of four short comics focusing on horror and suspense. Will post reviews / critiques tomorrow so be sure to check it out.

As always, thanks for visiting the site and please do leave a comment or two. Help spread the word about my site while you're at it, why don't you? Thanks!!!

Tobie Abad's Deadline

DEADLINE by TOBIE ABAD

One of the few comics in this contest that is cohesive in art and story. The art style is easy to follow. Although from my point of view some pages are essentially "cheats" meaning it's just the same graphic again and again and word splashes like the tick-tock for the clock. However, these aren't "cheats" per se because they are all used to serve the story. Nit picks: Page 17 has the main character crying because she was supposedly called a liar which I couldn't follow. It kind of jars you away from the story, kinda suspends your suspension of disbelief. The story revolves around a young girl who needs to finish her assignment and calls a supposedly scary creature, the Bloody Mary, to help her. She stacks up on matches to keep lighting the candle that seems to call the Bloody Mary creature. And she does all this to get help for her assignment which is, you've guessed it, "Bakit Astig Ang Pinoy?" In a good way the comic relates back to the theme of the contest but somehow I was more hoping for a comic book with a story that actually shows the theme rather than tell it to my face. Still this is one of the more polished results of the contest and deserves to be in the Top 10 more so the Top 5.

Rating: 4/5

Teddy Pavon's Worth Dying For

WORTH DYING FOR by TEDDY PAVON

Let me get a few things out of the way first: I don't like anime/manga art. I want my art dirty, sketchy, madumi. Secondly, if you're using digital lettering there's less of an excuse for wrong spellings and what not. This entry doesn't really appeal to me and it sure was a let down when it became a bit preachy near the end. Still I think it deserved to be in the Top 10. The art is anime / manga inspired. Splashes of Kingdom Hearts and Naruto (?) here and there and perhaps Monster Allergy? The art is clean, easy to follow, just two pages of "cheat" pages where it's just all text. Story wise you will have to suspend more than just your disbelief. It has huge potholes but I suppose that's what you get in return for being able to send a message related to the contest's theme. One big plus for this entry: you don't see the words "Bakit Astig Ang Pinoy?" in any of its iterations at all.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (Should be a 4 but sorry, I'm really sick of anime / manga art)

Tatong Jurolan's Sampaguita

SAMPAGUITA by TATONG JUROLAN

Another anime / manga inspired entry. Starts in English which the author seemed to be uncomfortable with and shifted to Filipino in the guise that the main characters are Filipino. No biggie there except somewhere near the end they shift to English again and you begin to understand why the shift in language in the first place. Again if you're using digital lettering it won't hurt to stop for a second and check grammar and spelling. I can't say much for the art on this one because as I've mentioned before I don't like anime / manga art. Although kudos to the creator for money shots (like the jeep toppling over) and the good use of shadows that pops out the characters. Story wise big plot holes like why the pursuers suddenly pulled back. I feel the creator had good intentions like adding comedy or something like that but you do have to remember that any story is an art of suspending disbelief. Don't knock back your readers with silly U turns and instructions to go to the grocery. Some pages may been used better to clear the setting and the plot but was relegated to talking heads that doesn't really move the story forward. Still a good entry nonetheless and a definite Top 10 if not a Top 5 contender.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (again the art and story brings it down from a 4 but the comic as a whole lifts itself up from a 3)

RH Quilantang's Astig

ASTIG by RH QUILANTANG

Earlier I mentioned that this was one of the entries that had good art. Unfortunately. it's mostly just a bunch of talking heads. Well, it does include a body and a leg from time to time. It's self deprecating to a point too. I mean, the creator doesn't want it to be cheesy but goes the cheesy way anyway and tries to justify him/herself that with such a way of shooting his/her point across, his/her entry is going to be judged as cheesy. You follow? In any case same point as many of the other entries that Pinoys are astig because of this and that. Falls into the trap of just using the words instead of showing it through art. Well okay, there's a graphic for the heroes, the sports champion / boxer (wait, there's an entry about a boxer, right?), OFWs etc. but it's still too...out there...too said out loud than effectively implied. Still with the good art and straight forward connection with the theme this should be somewhere in the Top 10. Unfortunately, I'll have to go all Simon on this one and say it's on the verge of being "forgettable".

Rating: 3.5 / 5