Komiks

Komiks, as entertaining as it is, has been a commodity, a phenomenon, an industry that caters to the taste of thousands of Filipinos nationwide. It offered the pulse of the masa. Created and distributed to and for the masses, its audience simply answers why this visual form of art, literature and entertainment has spread like wildfire like the omnipresent sari-sari store. Published once or even twice a week, the potential of an illustrated flat colored “book” with an amusing tale to tell is endless.

With the Filipino’s passion for their daily dose of hilarity or melodrama, komiks is the remedy. Komiks characters have become fitting metaphors in a filipino’s life of daydreaming, struggling and eventually defeating numerous adversaries and slaying one’s own demons. Varied interests are satisfied with the range of stories the industry offers. Moreover, prolific komiks writers get money for their works when movie companies show interest in bringing to film their stories. Local movies based on komiks are said to be considered sold since. This simply confirms how the komiks industry has influenced even the silver screen. Komiks writers, bigtime ones and illustrators alike earn a fortune with P85.00 per page. Consequently, to earn a living on this industry, one has to produce a lot. The problem with this is that satisfactory stories and fine illustrations cannot be reproduced without sacrificing quality. It is unfortunate that quality has to suffer for the sake of money-making. Along with this, the monopoly of the industry dictates the standard for fees.

From illustrated stories to educational and religious comic books, komiks has been the medium preferred to entertain and preach. In the late forties and early fifties, much brouhaha was given to this uncharted territory. Passion can be seen from the works of the pioneers of komiks. Because of its promise of numerous readership and easy reading attributes, komiks has a high potential as a medium of expression. Unfortunately, because of the growing demand from its audience, the passion has been replaced by a survival to survive. In the advent of television addiction and other various media, the komiks that was popular back then remains to be a souvenir of the past today.

National hero Jose Rizal was captivated with komiks that he drew a fable. National Artist Vicente Manansala was even caught under its spell. These two men along with thousands of komiks addicts were drawn to this entertaining but worthwhile piece of art and literature. The problem lies now on the themes that constantly appear on komiks. Considered as the Pablum of art appreciation, Filipinos and publishers alike should step forward in making komiks grow as an art. If only komiks can be developed both in content and form, we Filipinos could have an art that is distinctly ours to be proud of.

Innocence and Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo

The first career retrospective of the great Archie comics artist.

Dan DeCarlo was one of the greatest artists working in humor comics in the latter half of the 20th century. He was without a doubt the most prolific, and for that reason was often referred to as “The Jack Kirby of humor comics.” But he might have been likewise compared to pinup artist Gill Elvgren for his ability to render the female form in a way that was at once funny, charming, and unbelievably sexy. DeCarlo worked mostly on wholesome all-American features like Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica and My Friend Irma, but he populated these innocent stories with his irresistibly attractive women. This unique blend of hilarious homespun humor and libido-sparking art made DeCarlo’s work outshine the competition.

For nearly six decades, DeCarlo entertained the world with his special talents. Though best known as the definitive Archie Comics artist and creator of Josie and the Pussycats, DeCarlo also brought his unique style to dozens of other characters including Millie The Model, Willie Lumpkin, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Big Boy, Batman and even The Simpsons.

In 2005, Fantagraphics published The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo, a beautiful two-color knock-out of a collection featuring his best pin-ups from the 1950s/’60s Humorama digest. With Innocence and Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo, Fantagraphics Books presents a fitting tribute to the life and art of one of the world’s all-time best cartoonists in a wider-ranging career retrospective. DeCarlo fan, friend, and fellow cartoonist Bill Morrison has written and produced the ultimate book on this remarkableartist, lavishly designed with over 300 illustrations. Included are rare World War II-era cartoons, original Humorama pinups, seldom-seen newspaper strips, examples of his justly famous commercial comics work, and of course, lots and lots of those fabulous DeCarlo girls!

Reading Comics Online

If you love your Sunday comics then you should be aware that they can be found online as well. One of the places I go to read them is Yahoo! News. There is such a nice list of comics to choose from I haven’t even begun to read them all. Especially since you can go back roughly a week and read what you missed. When you click the link you will see a random comic. Scroll down to choose the comics you want to read.