Under and Beyond

I had a great time at the 2009 Komikon, held last Sunday at Megamall’s Megatrade Hall. The weather was fine, thankfully, and the venue was more accessible than the previous one. There were still hordes of people in the afternoon and in the evening; it felt good to see many happy geeks in one place.

The horror anthology Underpass was finally released. My fellow creators and I were there for the press con and the signing. Signing autographs was nice; it’s been a while since I did that. We signed quite a number of copies, and said “Thank you!” about as many times to those who lined up.

My contribution to the Underpass project is art for the 12-page “Judas Kiss” story, by David Hontiveros and Budjette Tan. Dave and I worked together twice before, on Dhampyr and a backup Avatar story, both Alamat releases. I have to admit, and I did say this at the panel discussion during the ‘Kon, that I had some difficulty starting it because it’s quite dark. To elaborate on that, it was hard to do some implied violent scenes, and their immediate aftermath. Anyway, doing the rest of the pages was a breeze because the script was very specific and I felt comfortable translating it using a mostly monochromatic style. In the pic below, that’s the Judas Kiss Specter standee (the bloodied figure), taken from one of the pages.

So, on to my thank you’s:

To my fellow Underpassers, for the company and creative vibe. Joining them at the panel and the signing table was cool. Dave, ‘twas fun talking about music and Dhampyr again.

To Cris Zarate and Benedict, for taking pictures. Cris, thanks for looking after my bag, too.

To Miko (or is that Mico?), for bringing his copy of Lexy and asking me to sign it! That was a pleasant surprise.

To online contacts and old pals and acquaintances like Manix Abrera, Nick Yarte, Chris Costello, Harvey Tolibao, Oscar Alvarez, Ariel Atienza, Joseph Fouts, and the other generous Komikon visitors, for dropping by and buying copies.

To that college student with the glasses, for picking me to critique his work. If you’re reading this: I wish I had more things to say. Sorry I had to cut it short; the line was moving. I hope you keep drawing and practicing. Take formal art lessons, if you’re really serious with pursuing a career in comics or animation.

And, to the Summit people, for taking care of us.

So, yeah. I had a great time. I hope I can be part of something again next year. Oh, Underpass will be sold alongside other Summit publications, some time within the week. Do check it out.