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

Norby Ela's Weather-Weather Lang

WEATHER-WEATHER LANG by NORBY ELA

This entry revolves around an English language teacher/tutor and his Korean student caught in one of the storms that floods the student's house. In the beginning of the story the Korean has some animosity with his teacher even outright saying that he doesn't like the Philippines, Filipinos, and that he is just being forced to learn English here. The storm floods the house and the two are forced up on the roof to share the harrowing experience of being left under the rain. A kindly neighbor helps them with some food and blankets. Eventually they are saved and the Korean student is reunited with his mom and dad. At this juncture the Korean realizes that the Philippines is great because of its people. He even lets his teacher in on it. The story is stable enough and the language barrier/banter between the two characters provides some comic relief. At least this entry succeeds in relating with the theme without being too overt. It would have been better if the Korean student didn't say what makes the Philippines great and just implied that it's because of Filipinos like the teacher that make the country great. There's nothing much to be said about the art, however, since it is appropriate for the story with a couple of cheats here and there. Definitely worth a Top 10 shoe in.

Rating: Not too bad. 3.75 / 5

Noel Cervantes' Brewed Coffee Dilemma

BREWED COFFEE DILEMMA by NOEL CERVANTES

The art here is solid enough with proper inks and actual black areas that make it pop out. The comic starts strong both art-wise and story-wise even if it does follow the same route of directly chronicling (is there such a word?) a guy's journey in completing his 24 hour comic book challenge symbolized by a superhero in cape and tights flying around the Philippines witnessing the various traits that Filipinos are known for. However, it is revealed that it's all a dream and the guy wakes up to hurriedly finish his entry. If it weren't for the short comings in story and the obvious cheat pages starting from page 17 right till the end I would have wholeheartedly recommended this for the Top 10. As it stands however, it feels as if this entry is just 16 to 18 pages long. It tries to pull itself together right at the end by bouncing the question Bakit Astig Ang Pinoy? back to the readers but by this time it's all too late. The art is solid enough but the story does fall short.

Rating: 2.25 / 5

I'm sorry but I can't let several pages with just a drawing of a sheet of paper slide. But maybe others might be more forgiving.

Mikko Marcelo's Essay

ESSAY by MIKKO MARCELO

This entry was a little hard to follow. The art is consistent. It's not the best and you see the degradation in the art as you go through the pages. Page 2 is particularly worthy of note / praise because it's a nice full blown artistic / symbolic page. If only the participant was able to make the art and the story more cohesive. The story (or lack thereof) is hard to follow. It's confusing from the beginning. You just get a sense of what's happening when you're told that the main character is just writing an essay (guess what the title / theme of the essay is supposed to be...yep, "Bakit asting ang pinoy?") and sticking true to mañana habit, wastes time playing computer games and smoking. He even gets enough time to win a computer game contest. In the end he finishes his essay with one sentence. I'm telling you, it's either the one who made this was on something or you need to be on something to appreciate this comic. I mean there's a story in it but it just shifts too much and doesn't really get to the point. It feels like he/she had multiple points to push across in mind but flutters around from point to point like something about Filipinos going abroad, something about winning computer games, something about identity. This could have been a great entry and it probably still is but it's just one that I don't appreciate that much.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Sorry it's just not for me. Maybe it's a 3 or even a 4 for others but not for me.)

Mary Ranises' The Tree of Life

THE TREE OF LIFE by MARY RANISES

A silent comic with mostly three panel grids. The art is good enough. The basics of storytelling are there. A bit preachy but aren't they all? The story is a little confusing at first since there's a thought balloon in the protagonist's head that always contains a rock? A coconut? From the title itself it's about the Tree of Life which refers to the coconut and it also follows the path of the main character as he studies in a city and falls prey to bad friends and teaches him drinking beer and wasting time. The deus ex machina is when the main character is mugged and left for dead. Fortunately, he survives and his parents bring him back to the province where he plants the tree of life again. At least he's still alive which relates back to the contest's theme.

Rating: 3/5

Kevin Justing Ang's Part of the Job

PART OF THE JOB by KEVIN JUSTIN ANG

I'm sure it was a big gambit starting the comic in color. I guess the participant was really confident that he could finish it that way. And unlike Ammathorn's entry this one gets colored all the way. Of course the coloring is simple enough, but it does help in elaborating the art without having to put down the detail in pencils and inks. The characters' faces would be really simple in black and white but by putting down color it gives it a more three dimensional look saving time in toning / crosshatching / shadows etc. So there's really nothing that can be said about the art especially if it's going to be compared to the other entries. However the story's unsteady at some places especially with the whole expository monologue in page 16. A little too melodramatic that wasn't really that necessary. I mean, if the main character's mother was sick, why don't you just show that through the art? And I'm not sure I agree with the story at the point where the main character ditches the job interview that he supposedly really really needs just to help a complete stranger. But of course, if you can believe the challenges the main character goes through like riding the jeep and the lrt and wading through that flood then you can probably believe that he'd help the kid. But still the nitpick here is that you established a character this way and suddenly he does a full 180 and forgets what he needs to do. In other words it's like as if he had forsaken his family and himself just to help a complete stranger. I just can't accept that, I suppose. And the story ends predictably enough with a happy ending. Kid's reunited with her mom, main character gets the job. All's well that ends well?

Rating: 4/5 Numero Uno contender for the top spot. In fact, the question is if Espresso Comics can publish this in color or not.

Jazz Carmona's Ang Huling Salong-Bola

ANG HULING SALONG-BOLA by JAZZ CARMONA

Right off the bat you'll notice that this entry offers something special, art-wise. The illustrations particularly the faces and the anatomy are brilliant. Unfortunately with the 24 hour restriction you see the deterioration quite fast as well. Also among the four main characters two of them look quite similar and it was confusing at some point whether who was speaking to whom. The story is quite straight forward. A group of fishermen get trapped at sea with one of them dying and the rest fighting for the last piece of clothing that they deemed edible. At the last moment they are saved by some mysterious helicopter and the entry relates to the theme in some way / sense by saying that the Philippines is similar to a boat that gets caught in tragedy and everyone helps one another to rise from that tragedy. One nitpick with this entry is that the whole thing feels like it's being controlled by the narrator. The narrator says that the engine dies and it does. The narrator says there's a huge storm and there it appears. In a visual medium you have to be confident especially since the art for this entry was good enough that readers don't really need to be told what's happening since they can see it for themselves. Also the dialogue doesn't seem to be apt for the age of the characters. If they were really that hungry how could have had an old man defeated two younger guys? The reason for holding on to the last piece of clothing is quite ridiculous as well as the reason for them eating it but I'm suspending my disbelief on the latter. There's too much deus ex machina to the story especially since there's suddenly a mysterious helicopter that has come to save them. Still however, this entry has 24 solid pages and the art is good enough if you can forgive some points in the writing.

Rating: 3 / 5 Could have been better. The creator has lots of potential.

Raipo Toledo's Tsong, Astig Ka Ba?!

TSONG, ASTIG KA BA?! by RAIPO TOLEDO

Is this like a choose your own adventure comic book? Because if it is then wouldn't that fall under the 24 page requirement? Or does that actually make it more than 24 pages because there are a couple of "paths" you can take that would make more than 1 comic? Anyways, can't really say much of the art since it's sparse with one major art work for each page and the rest of the space is spattered with word balloons and letters. As for the story, the premise is there's some word balloon speaking to the main character and it asks questions related to the contest's theme and the reader can actually follow through on which answer they want to follow. Pretty ingenious actually.

Rating: 2/5

Jaime Quiaño Jr's Happy Monthsary

HAPPY MONTHSARY by JAIME QUIAÑO JR

The art is actually good in this one. It grows on you the longer you keep reading. However, again, it kinda cheats the contest with its 2 page spreads which shouldn't really count as 2 pages because...I don't know. It just feels like a page to me although it still serves the story and that's good comic book storytelling there. Nitpicks: it's a good thing that the creator is aware of certain Filipino cultural phenomenons such as "jejemon" text speak and using it actually solidifies the story and puts us in the character's place or point of view and it supports the story overall but while reading, it becomes distracting and while you want to get into the story you're stumbling around trying to figure out the words which may or may not have been intended by the creator. Story in any medium needs to be easily understood and this one pulls the reader away through the jejemon text speak. It kinda works but it also kinda doesn't. Still kudos for the sci-fi twist at the end. Who would have thought it was the end of the world already?

Rating: 4/5

Freely Abrigo's Bakit?

BAKIT? by FREELY ABRIGO

I mentioned earlier that Freely Abrigo's entry was 5/5 with respect to art and it still is because it's clean and consistent. It's like the creator really put in time and effort to make the art shine. Unfortunately...there really isn't much of a story in this comic. And there are lots of cheats. Total page count is 24 which is the requirement for the contest. BUT it has 3 cover pages, the actual one and the other one at page 2. The third cover page is on page 9. Page 1 is actually like a copyright page or something. Page 22 is just a short creator's biography and Page 23 or the "back cover" is just like an advertisement for Freetoons Comics. The story, if you can call it that is divided into two parts. The 1st part is contrasting the contests themes with what is actually done by Filipinos like "Matapang" is interpreted as crossing dangerously through highways instead of using the overpass. The 2nd part is just an old Filipino joke where in various nationalities try to one up one another but of course the Filipino always wins. It's a shame. If there was an actual story with that clean consistent art this would have been a real contender. It might still be a contender depending on the judges decision and it's popularity of course.

Rating: 3/5 (Should be 2/5 but the art really pulls it up)

Cev Ruiz' Ang Boksingero

ANG BOKSINGER by CEV RUIZ

The art feels too sketchy as if the whole thing was a hodge podge of impromptu sketches or story boards cut and pasted together to make a comic. It's in Filipino so it doesn't really cater to a large enough audience. Some bits are hard to understand and it feels like some captions were left out like in page 5 and page 7. Sometimes it feels like there are missing pages like after the boxing match you're suddenly in page 23 and the main character's holding a cross. Where did that come from? Story wise it juxtaposes the contest's theme of "Bakit Astig Ang Pinoy?" in the life of a boxer and the twist in the end is that the protagonist doesn't win which I guess was foreshadowed when he did the deed with his wife(?) prior to the boxing match. It continues with the theme that even if the boxer loses he still continues training which is a cheat page since it was basically page 1 again.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Ammathorn's Y2KILL FILIPINOS

Each entry was listed in alphabetical order based on the participant's name or in this case, their pseudonym. Click on the title below to view the comic book.

Y2KILL FILIPINOS by AMMATHORN

Solid 24 pages, even started out with color until the creator ran out of time and decided to go with black and white instead. Good enough premise (sci-fi centric, machines vs. human beings, etc.) although a bit overused. The story is in the visuals itself and you'll have to follow the visuals in order to know the actual story because the written words are like a preacher's soliloquy exonerating how much survivalists Filipinos are to the verge of being "mayabang" but I guess the creator was aiming for being bold.

Rating: 3 / 5

The 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge - Philippines

The challenge is simple enough: create 24 comic book pages in 24 hours. The results can be seen at the official blog of The Philippine 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge. The contest is of particular interest as one my partners in crime, Cev Ruiz, actually had the galls to join and to finish an actual 24 page comic book.

The contest may soon be over with 15 entries listed as those that actually met the 24 pages in 24 hours prerequisite but the Top 10 is still up for grabs with winners for best story and for best art to be determined by a panel of three judges.

It's interesting that though I was primarily drawn to the contest by my friend I felt that it would be only fair if I went through all the entries which I found myself doing and in the process coming out with actual reviews of each entry. I'm reposting each critique / review entry here and a link to the comic book just to give everyone a heads up how I will be doing this in the future.

We all love comic books. Or at least we care for them passionately. From creating them to reading them to criticizing them to collecting them. As long as there are people who have the passion and the conviction to care for the art form that is comics, it will never die. Albeit it has a long and prosperous future ahead.

Enjoy!