ANG BATANG NAKASALAKOT (VICATAN KOMIKS)

Written and colored by : Lancelot Catan
Illustrated by: Carl Embalzado

Pinoykon.  Lakad lakad muna, then this komik really caught my attention.  ANG BATANG NAKASALAKOT.  Unang pumasok sa isip ko yun Buknoy ni Paul Merick Malunes, yung batang may mahiwagang salakot. "Anong meron sa salakot?" yan agad ang tanong ko kay Lancelot.  Then ikinuwento nya yun plot na ang bida ay may pangalan na Bernardo Carpio.  Hmmmm, naisip ko, parang dami na stories na ang bida Bernardo Carpio; like yun sa Sanduguan ni Gener Pedrina, o yun sa Skyworld, o yun sa PSICOM o iba pang kwento tungkol sa alamat.  "Ano ang special sa Bernardo Carpio mo?".  Talagang lalo ako na-intriga sa komiks na to.  Ano bang kakaiba ang maiihain ng komiks na ito?.

As describe above, batang Bernardo Carpio ang bida, pero hindi pala sya ang orig na Bernardo na nakagisnan natin mula sa mga alamat.  Ninuno nya ang unang Bernardo.  Isang katuparan na mula sa bloodline ng Unang Bernado Carpio ay may magmamana ng kanyang lakas.  Very interesting.  Pero itong unang issue ay isa palamang introduction ng characters, discoveries, and back stories.  Marami pang questions sa utak ko na di nasagot tulad ng "ano meron sa salakot?" o bakit naka-Haduken ang bida sa cover, namana rin ba nya yun superpower na yun?.

 Agad agad ko sya binasa nun nasa Pinoykon ako.  Napansin ko agad yun art, may feel na pinoy na pinoy, at parang napakagandang basahin in-colors.  Yun panels, medyo nakakalito at nakakahilo sa simula, yun iba kase hirap ng orientation kung pano sequence dahil overlapping pati yun ibang speech bubbles, pero later nasanay rin ako sa style nila.  Some speech bubbles are too large, natakpan na yun portions ng art na would look really nice.  Nagustuhan ko yun art, lalo na nun nakita ko yun ibang colored pages sa webpage nila, meron identity.  Also, napansin ko rin some of the typos, pati yun di nila paggamit ng space between sentences, which makes make it look crowded and confusing.  Di ko rin sure kung style nila yun pag-gamit nila ng punctuations; daming "period" instead na spaces or comma ang ilagay.  And some "exclamation maks" I think is unnecessary or over used.

Ganun pa man, I enjoyed this issue.  Agad ko sya pinuntahan and showed my appreciation and concern about sa mga na-observe ko as described above.  He is so nice naman to welcome my feedback and told me na aware sya sa errors involving the typos; little miscummunication daw regarding sa printing.  Gusto ko malaman yun mga susunod na mangyayari sa title nato.  He would not give me spoilers kahit na hints.  He just told me na may plan sila about dun sa salakot na I eagerly ask "ano meron sa salakot?"

Aabangan ko talaga to hanggang matapos and kwento. 

Lancelot is a very nice guy, I hope every komiks creator would be like him.  I also like na very suportive yun buong family nya, kasama pa nga palagi yun anak nya sa convention.  Congratulations Vicatan Komiks.

Lancelot Catan with his son and nephew

Of note, I admire this guy, kase nun sa Pinoykon parati sya nawawala sa table nya kase nauuhaw raw yun anak nya; bumibili sya ng tubig o shawarma, awww, hehe..

- Kristopher Dimaano Garello

My Frist Ever PINOYKON Experience

Paseo De Magallanes Makati City

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Jeffrey Benitez is one guy who have a real heart for Pinoy Komiks, even going beyond komiks.  Since late last year, I always see Jeff post on Toy Groups about the event and inviting cosplayers to participate.  He even managed to have GreattoysOnline and Neutral Grounds to partner with Pinoykon.  It was a great effort introducing komiks to other groups.

The venue is very accesible to most, and Jeff provide a detailed map and instructions how to get to it; you would not miss it given the event posters hanging around Paseo De Magallanes.

At around 9:00 am the entrance was opened for paying atendees.  For 50-peso fee, you will also get freebies like a wonderfully printed Pinoykon card featuring Kapitan Bandila and a little Bruho Barbero card, which would be nice to use as bookmark or bookplate.  Ticket holders also have a chance to win on raffles drawn throughout the event.

Adjacent to the ticket area, GreattoysOnline brought with them lots of Gundam kits, Figma, and other nice-to-have figures.

Chiseltown showcased great proudly-pinoy-made sculptures; characters form Street Fighter, Marvel, DC; notable were Green Lantern Hal Jordan vs Yellow Lantern Sinestro, and a nice Manny Pacquiao depicted from one of his matches.

There were also some toy displays like the one infront of the stage, Jeff's own collection of Hulks and other Marvel figures with his customized Junior doll.

Star Wars' armies of droids and troopers were present as well, with some custom-painted Autobots and Decepticons

A pinoy-themed diorama of Gundams playing pinoy games, selling taho and sorbetes, and in Bayanihan carrying a hut will surely get your attention.

Aside from the great dispalys of toys, there were also some toy exhibitors selling.  You will never miss Bayan Knight Talim creator, Omi Remalante's stash of Transformers, Spiderman figures, and rare Toybiz Marvel Legends particularly his sealed-in-box factory defect Daredevil.  Other sellers offers DC direct figures, Hotwheels, some wintage Star Wars dolls, anime figures, among others.

Left side of the stage, Neutral Grounds hosted a Heroclix tournament.  They also had demo on Vanguard trading card game and gave some freebies.

ComicsxHub also have some toys on sale along with bins of current and back-issue foreign comics.


There were also a couple of Cosplayers crashing to the event; Babman, the pugad baboy version of Batman, and a Green Dinobot cosplayer.  There were others, but not as remarkable as these two.

Mikey Soria shares his Old-School komiks in his Komiks Museum.  He knows every single Komiks he have and would gladly share it's history to everyone who passed by his table generating interest.  I remember him telling me about a chicken named Texas from early 1950's, a talking chicken just like Gerry's Elmer.



Mikey Soria


BLACKink comics had this nice promo; buy two and get 50% off on the thrid book.  Also they gave away free copies with a BLACKink baller to some bloggers.  Some BLACKink contributors were also present signing their books, particularly Jeffrey Marcelino Ong with his two freshly released books; Kalasag #1 and Hands of the Dragon #2.

The event introduced the Pinoykon Upstarts, a group of pinoy superheroes fighting to keep Komiks alive.  Among them that were present at the event were Ray Magbanua, (Luzviminda), Jaudaux Agdeppa (Ag Lugan), Carlo Valenzuela (Boy Bakal), Richard Arguila (Katrina), Lancelot Catan (Bernardo Carpio), Francis Martelino (Hotdog Prince), etc.

Jaudaus Agdeppa creator of Sinag

Bernado Carpio: Ang Batang naka-salakot by Lancelot Catan

Other Upstarts artist were also present separated from the Upstarts tables; Gilbert Monsanto, Gener Pedrina, Freely Abrigo, Gio Paredes, Rommel Estanislao, Jon Zamar, Jeffrey Benitez, etc.

with Gio Paredes, creator of Kalyaan

There were other nice Komiks titles like Vision of a Dust, Araknid, Crime-Fighting Call Center Agents, Melon, and Dayo comics by Jun Dayo.

There were also other artist doing doodles and making chibi.


Mobytoons, featuring the works by their contributors like Ariel Atienza and Rommel Estanislao, had the best promo; if you buy any two of their komiks, you will get a free Mobytoon mug plus a free Mission Ruby komiks by one of their contributors, also you will have a chance to see your photo on their website, and they will give you instructions how to register and get free mobytoon mobile app; WOW!!!

It is nice to see GTMACCon and Komikon people in support for Pinoykon

Kit Perez and Sherry Baet-Zamar

 There were a lot of guest artists, artists that were noted not only locally but even to other countries.  Gerry Alanguilan and Leinil Yu signing their comics.  Gilbert Monsanto doing sketches.  Artists like Jimbo Salgado, Roy Allan Martinez etc. were interviewed and shared their experience on-stage.  Dynamite artists were also present signing and doing sketches.


with Gerry Alanguilan, creator of Elmer

Norby Ela, Carlo Jose San Juan, Rommel Estanslao, and Gerry Alanguilan

THANK YOU Snapshot Photobooth for this wonderful Pinoykon souvenir. 

By 4:00 pm, It is still early and I intend to stay until the end of the event, but I decide to go home for some reasons I will try to discuss below.

I was already too tired and excited to read the Komiks I bought.  It would be nice if there where areas or a table aloted for attendees to sit, rest, read their newly acquired komiks, or maybe meet and chat with other Komik fans.

I was already covered in sweat.  It was a very sunny day and the Red-colored tent over the Red-colored table clothe made it feel and look like much hotter.

I was so thristy and having hard time looking for affordable food.  I should have brought with me some bottled water and food.  I thought there would be food being sold in the event as it appeared on the regularly updated event floor map.  Good thing that there was a small supermarket aside from coffee shops, restaurants, and pizza parlors.

I was not so lucky to win the Bring Me game.  Because I do not have the longest belt or brown socks, or smallest and biggest phone, or a 500-peso bill, and I am not macho or handsome.  hmmm.  They could have thought asking something event-related.

The program was somehow slow.  The interview for the guest artists started round after-lunch time.  Before that, winning tickets were drawn, some items were auctioned, there was the Bring Me game, and a lot of old-school OPM tunog kalye songs played.  Otherwise, I can say the event went well with it's purpose of bringing awareness that pinoy komiks is very much alive and inspire others to unleash their full potentials.  This is only the first PINOYKON, the next will surely be better.  Congratulations PINOYKON.

Thats all from my side.

- Kristopher Dimaano Garello