On Comic Books

I used to remember when comic compilations or lengthy comics were called trade paperbacks. I was not an avid comic collector till I was introduced to it by my friends in high school. And even then did not get into to it till my late college years.

Before my serious comic collecting days. I bought comics that were on sale. My first comic book was the Spanish version Katzenjammer Kids trade paperback. There were of course the B&W comics revival of Tom & Jerry, Little Lota, and company. Majority of my comic reading came from the comic strip section of the local paper The Bulletin Today. Of course local comics with the exploits of Zuma, although I was only able to get to read those comics seldomly. My first serious collection was Nonoy Marcelo's Ikabod. And of course Mad Magazine.

My comic collecting in late college because of two reasons. A friend, Gobbie, introduced me the hobby and I had an income. I mainly collected DC comic stuff, Batman and a couple off-the mainstream titles - like Etrigan and Sandman, some eventually became DC/Vertigo titles.
Two things I like for when choosing a comic book. The story and the art. Maybe that is the reason my collection expanded to other comic books within and outside of the DC universe.

Then I stopped.

This was the day when Neil Gaiman's run on Sandman ended. I still buy from time to time, months will go by till I buy a new comic book, trade paperback or what they call now graphic novel.

My favourite comic books:

Ikabod, Dagang Sosyal
Barefoot Gen (lettered in Tagalog)
Batman: The Killing Joke
Bloom County
Sandman: Ramadan
Sandman Vol 6: Fables & Reflections
Grendel: Devil by the Deed
Ranma 1/2
Crying Freeman
Groo
MAD
Dilbert
Watchmen
Illustrated Classics: Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary
Baron & Rude: Nexus
MadMan

A great number of these comic books I still have and while the others seem to have slipped through the curtain of time. Borrowed and never returned or went missing or sold.
Still some recovered or re-bought, if such a term exsists.

I did buy a graphic novel during Neil Gaiman's visit. Maybe I will look again in a month or two or even three.

Comics are a wonderful and informative form of fiction, a blend of art and literature. In the past I used to encounter people who viewed comics as something juvenile and pedestrian, oh well that is their view on it. My take on it is they have not yet sampled the works of Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller or Alan Moore or Nonoy Marcelo or Keiji Nakazawa. Well, as they say to each his own. All I can say is they are missing a lot.

Neil Gaiman at Rockwell

I mentioned in my other posts that I went to the Neil Gaiman "Gathering". It was a pain in the gluteus maximus but it was worth it. I have selected the better pictures in the lot.

People viewing the entries to the art competition.


Neil Gaiman talking about the video clips from Mirror Mask.

Dracula by Bram Stroker

It is one of the few epistolary novels that I have read. A epistolary novel is a novel that uses letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings and others to tell the story. Epistolary is derived from the word epistles or letters.

Another example of a epistolary novel is Pierre Choderlos de Laclos novel "Les Liasons Dangereuses" (Dangerous Liaisons) first published in 1782.

Both Dracula and Dangerous Liaisons have been re-interpreted in cinema. The movie Dangerous Liaisons was critically accliamed and starred Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer and Keannu Reeves. The tale was re-interpreted in Sarah Michelle Gellar , Ryan Philippe, and Reese Witherspoon's movie "Cruel Intentions". While the story of Bram Stroker's Dracula has seen several cinematic interpretations through the years. Starting with FW Murnau's "Nosferatu". Unable to get rights to Bram Stroker's work Murnau simply did some changes to the story, one of them involved the changing of the name from Count Dracula to Count Orlok.

Dracula of course was not the first Vampire fiction. There was of course Dr John William Polidori's The Vampyre, published April 1819. The origin of this story came out of an idea of Lord Byron, who suggested on a June night, after he and his guests (which included the Percy Shelley, Mary Wolfstonecraft Shelley, Claire Clairmont and Polidori) was reading aloud from the Tales of the Dead, that they write a ghost story. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein while Byron wrote and abandoned a fragment of the story that became the basis of The Vampyre. Polidori's main character was a vampire called Lorth Ruthven, loosely based on Lord Byron himself.

There is also the James Malcom Rymer's (or was it Thomas Preskett Prest's) story of Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood.

Bram Stroker's Dracula though is still popular up to the present. The actors essaying the roles have become icons. Bela Lugosi's is the archetypal Dracula with the cape and the accent while Chrisopher Lee has became the visceral and sexual representation of Count Dracula.

Despite the movie and the different spin-offs including the film Blackula: Dracula's Soul Brother, how can you not enjoy this movie? Dracula's soul brother. The original story can stand on its own.

The epistolary style provides the reader with the different views of the situation from Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker and Dr Van Helsing writings. Fresh blood is injected to the story as news clippings and notes from other characters are added.

Reading Bram Stroker's Dracula is similar to doing retrospective search. As if you are taken back in time to conduct an investigation of the whole affair. The journal entries, letters and news clipping gives the reader a genuine and up-close feel for the horror.

Audio Books

In one of my posts mentioned the huge amount of audio books on sale at National Book Store. In that post I revealed that I was able to buy a small bag of audio book.

What is an audio book?

Well as far as I know audio books. Are recorded narrations of literary works, fiction or non-fiction.

My first encounter with this type of audio book was a tape containing the recorded narration of Richard Lederer's Anguished English. A book about the idiosyncracies of the English language. The book was of course a hilarious read and suprisingly the audio book was as funny. The narrator was of course the author Richard Lederer. Often times the audio book is narrated by the author but there are also instances when an actor would be the reader/narrator or storyteller if the book dealt with fiction. Most of the audio books readers I encountered were British actors - Stephen Fry, Tim Currie, and Imelda Stanton.

Most of the other audio books you see in the bookstore today belong business and self-help literature. Im OK Your Fine tome or the leadership secrets of Atilla the Hun (slash and burn). These do not appeal to me, unless they are perhaps portrayed in a funny manner.

The other type of audio book is the radio play. These are the dramatisations of stories. Before Internet, cable TV and TV there was radio. There were even variety shows on radio. During the onset of Martial Law I regularly listened to Gabi ng Lagim and Simatar on local radio.

One the best hoaxes ever done was Orson Welles radio teleplay of War of the Worlds. He shifted the story from England to the US and modified the form of storytelling to make it look like a live broadcast. And people believed it a lot of people panicked. And naturally were not thrilled when Welles announced that the radioplay was a prank.

Radio plays are entertaining. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy first came out as a radio play. And even Tolkien's Lord of the Ring Trilogy was completey adapted to Radio predating Jackson's version of the trilogy. Ian Holm , who later played Bilbo in the movie, was Frodo and Bill Nighy, the funny and eccentric rock star in "Love Actually", played Sam.

By now you might have an inkling of what audio books I bought. Well it was shall we say an odd bunch of Radio Dramatisations. The two audio books I listen to often are Yes Minister and Old Hal's Game.

Yes Minister are the audio recordings of the BBC satire of British Politics and Government. Filled with sarcasm, repartee and wit it is unabashedly funny. It does however give one's pause about the merit of a parliamentary system

Old Hal's Game is a comedy set in Hell. Satan tortures sinners and by an odd set of luck is plagued by scientist who initially does not believe he is hell. Throughout the series Satan punishes with satiric impunity, survives a rebellion, tries to find an assistant. Its cast include the killer dolphin chuckles and Nigel the almighty.

Yes, I do like audiobooks, both readings and dramatisations.

What to read during interesting times: Animal Farm

The Chinese have a curse that goes,"May you live in interesting times". I first heard the phrase a few years before EDSA I and now I think the quotation is also apt. Whether you are pro, anti or non of the above Philippine politics is in a chrysalis. My assessment of the situation is that despite the stormy nature of the body politics is that it is in a process of consolidation.

Below the office I work in I could hear the drums of the rallyists. The political opposition has made a promise to muster around a million people. In today's world and in particular in the Philippine setting political foes use people rather than armies to fight their wars. Its the number of people one can muster for a rally or an election that counts and like before it is the alliances and loyalties between political leaders that count. And like any society the Army and organised religion have their role to play.

The more one studies history the more one understands that the story of man follows a basic outline. One can see history repeat itself from age to age.

The Roman Republic suffered several civil wars between warring Tribunes and Pro-Consuls before stability was restored. And our country although we have not suffered nationwide civil war, the problem Muslim Separatists is more area oriented while the Communists have became a quasi-bandit force, have undergone the pain of civil disobedience mixed military intervention. The psychological strain on both the Republican Romans and Filipinos are nearly the same. Well, it could be the psychological strain we feel right now seems to be akin also to the strain carried by the English from the time of Charles I, Cromwell and Charles II. England underwent the eradication of the monarchy, then the rule of a Lord Protector and eventually settled in restoring the monarchy. Cromwell's , the Lord Protector, body was dug up and quartered immediately after Charles II was restored. In the end whether in Stuart England or the Roman Republic after the stormy struggle came a consolidation. Again I think we are at this point.

With that aside one book that I really liked reading in terms of politics is a book written by George Orwell.

The story is about a group of animals who liberated themselves from an oppresive farmer. And it also tells the tale of what happened afterward.

A fairy tale written by George Orwell as a criticism of the romantic view of Communist revolution but I think more important for us it is a reminder to us not to be carried away by the romantic notions of revolutions or change.

How does this tie in with our present situation and my notion of consolidation? Well its quite obvious given the present circumstances that we are in that we should not be taken by the romantic aspects of revolution and change. As far as consolidation goes its the same as revolutions although stabilizing one should look at carefully...very carefully.

The name of the book is Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George Orwell, first published in 1946.

The Weekend Neil Gaiman came to the Philippines

This weekend saw the seesaw battle in the realm of Philippine politics. However, it was also the week that writer Neil Gaiman came to the Philippines. One has to thank the Almighty also for small blessings. Although the event might be viewed as trivial by some given the current political impasse, but I think its important also to remember that politics is not the sole preoccupation of a person and there is a need to step back and enjoy the roses so to speak.

Saturday, I had just reached Rockwell from Greenhills where I was checking out the price of this Mazinger Z die-cast metal toy at a shop in Shoppesville, the price for this less than six inches figurine was one thousand four hundred and thirty or eighty pesos. The event was scheduled to start at around 3:00 in the afternoon at the tent, since there is only one tent in Rockwell it would not be difficult to find. Meandering through the mall one notices several people cruising around. This was a weekend. Although were they there also to escape the news of politics? Retreating from the drumbeat of political discourse. GMA had not yet resign. Whatever one’s opinion is about this woman one had to admit she is resolute and strong willed.

The restaurants were full to the brim, it was lunchtime, and so it took some time before I was able to eat.

It was fascinating to see other people reading a lot of Neil Gaiman books in front of me. Sales must have really picked up. At one coffee shop I espied a burly man reading Stardust. Inside KFC were a group of Filipino Goths carrying their copies of Gaiman’s “Death: The High Cost of Living”. And then there was this guy who seemed to have stepped out of comic book, black cape and all. Not it was not a cape but a black gown, the one what one wears during graduation. Maybe he was about to graduate.

Needless to say, there were a lot of people outside the tent. Unfortunately there were no lines. So nearly everyone was massing up the single entrance to the tent. Among the mass of people assembled I overheard a lot of people complaining about the signing mechanics, especially the ones who had bought books from the store. Maybe Fullybooked should look into this the next time they have a book signing event. Just before 3 in the afternoon the doors opened and the crowd like water rushed in and quickly filled up the place.

Inside the tent were the stage, a few kiosks selling food, souvenirs and of course books and comics. No seats were provided except for two or three rows near the stage and were secured from the crowd by a small white fence. The crowd inside was an odd assemblage of people, comic book fans, Goths, geeks, artistic types and a few others. There were also some who seemed to have just recently embraced Gaiman’s work and also purchased his stuff a few moments before the event took place. I hope they enjoy the book, because they did not get it signed that day.

A rock band opened the event for Neil Gaiman. It seemed odd to me the whole event had the touch and feel of a concert. People even screamed when Gaiman went on stage. Gaiman told us that we, the crowd, were noisier than the Brazilians. Not livelier but nosier. He read a passage from his new novel Anansi Boys, showed a preview and a documentary about Mirrormask , and answered some questions taken from the egroup, maybe they asked him why does he always prefer to wear black shirts. In between that and after the events Neil Gaiman was signing books, around 500 to 700 people obtained signing passes for that day. The book signing lasted up to 1 in the morning. And then there was of course the raffle. Well I did not win the raffle but is a one in a million shot right. For me I was just happy to see one of my favourite authors in the flesh and get to hear him talk about his work.

The crowds for the book signing last Sunday and yesterday were legion and the lines serpentine..

One thing I brought home from the Gaiman event though was the colds. I ended up convalescing a cold until Monday with tea and calamansi juice, which Neil has taken a licking to . I still am happy though I was part of the event. Now thinking about buying the soon-to-come-out novel the Anansi Boys.

Neil Gaiman: Book signing mechanics - July 9 to 11

I have been a fan of Neil Gaiman's work since I came across the Sandman storyline "Season of the Mists. After I had finished reading of Morpheus and his quest to free the woman he loved and condemned to hell (in the process inheriting Hell and resolving what to do with it), I tried to get all his comic books. I completed most of the Sandman stuff by buying the HC/SC tradepaperbacks, acquiring four comic books in Singapore when I went there, and by luck finding an old special Sandman tale from Filbars. This was the time when they just released Image comics and comic shops were sprouting like mushrooms all over the place.

I liked Neil Gaiman's tales because they took me not only to realm of fantasy and magic but he also interweaves them with the mythologies from different ages and continents. It was not-uncommon then for the Norse god Loki, Thor and Odin to meet the Egyptian Gods or the deities created from comics likes the Lord of Order and Chaos.

Do not get me wrong I also collected other sorts of comics and manga. The Killing Joke and Watchmen are still on list of top favourite comics, along with Nonoy Marcelo's Ikabod and Tisoy or Larry Alcala's Still Life. However, whenever I saw Neil Gaiman's name printed on the cover my attention seems to be drawn to that comic or magazine.

He wrote good stories. Eventually though he had to move on and although I still collected comic books my drive waned to the point of buying once in a blue moon, compared to before when I was buying every week.

I never got to buying his novels. Some of my friends says its good and some say otherwise. I do not know I have not read them. Call it my infantile loyalty to his works in comic books, they call it Graphic Novels now but its still comic books.

It would be interesting how his visit will turn out. Will he get carpal tunnel syndrome from signing all the books? Does he have screaming fans like Chopin had? Its hard to imagine women swooning and fainting while Chopin played the piano, or is it? What other sort of things will happen? What will be his impression of the Philippines and Filipino Society?

One thing is certain this is a good marketing and money-earning gimmick for Fully Booked. But it is a win-win situation.

I have bored you enough so here are the details for the book signing event.

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Source: gaiman_fullybooked-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

ADDENDUM TO THE NEIL GAIMAN BOOK SIGNING PASS:

To the members of the "Gaiman in Manila Yahoogroup",

We want to thank you for all the feedback we have been receiving. It has been a great help to us in terms of making this event as good as it should be for Neil and for you all. So, we are happy to announce that THE BOOK SIGNING WILL BE OPEN TO EVERYONE since we want as many of you to enjoy and be a part of all the activities.

No book pass will be necessary if you want ONLY ONE (1) ITEM signed. Should you wish Neil to sign more items, the mechanics are as follows:

1. Beginning from June 15-July 11, 2005, for every purchase of any Neil Gaiman book in any FULLY BOOKED (The Powerplant Mall, Gateway Mall and the Promenade Greenhills- soon to open), BIBLIARCH (Glorietta 3 and Waltermart (Pasong Tamo)) and SKETCHBOOKS (Greenbelt 3) branch, you will be receive a book signing pass. The maximum number of passes you may use at one time is 3 (for 3 items).

2. You may use the book-signing pass at any of the book signing venues:

July 9 (Saturday)- 3:00 pm at the Rockwell Tent, The Powerplant Mall
July 10 (Sunday)- 2:00 pm at Fully Booked in the Promenade Greenhills (open on July 8)
July 11 (Monday)- 4:30 pm at Fully Booked in Gateway Mall

3. Each book-signing pass has a one-time validity (it will be marked and returned to you to keep as a souvenir).

4. Each book-signing pass will have a corresponding raffle ticket, giving you the chance to get to know Neil Gaiman over dinner on July 11, 2005.

5. Summary of Mechanics:

No pass- One (1) item signed
1 pass- Two (2) items signed
2 passes- Three (3) items signed
3 passes- Four (4) items signed


Thank you and we look forward to seeing you then!
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There will also be a raffle for those who bought Neil Gaiman's books or comics. To qualify you have to at least buy one comic book, cheapest is around 900 pesos, or two novels, around 900 pesos also.