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a WASTED introduction

Below is something I wrote three years ago and it was supposed to be the introduction for the second printing of WASTED. Three years later, WASTED : THE FINAL EDITION finally sees print and my introduction isn't anywhere in those pages. I guess Gerry decided to use the intros written by Barbie and Karen because they're prettier than me. (Just kidding, Ger.) It's okay, Gerry thanked me in his afterword "just because". So, not wanting this piece to go to waste, I post it here.


The first time I ever saw Gerry’s artwork I didn’t know it was Gerry’s artwork. I was in the dimly-lit office of Uzi, a short lived tabloid that actually devoted three pages to comic strips and comic book stories. On one of the walls of that office, I saw a very detailed pen-and-ink illustration of two tribesmen running from very menacing mananaggal. And I said, “This is how komiks should be drawn!”

The second time I saw Gerry’s art was in one of the issues of Uzi, where he drew a one-page, multi-paneled story called DRACULA’S WIVES.

The third time I saw his art, I was applying to be the scriptwriter for a comic book called LAKAN. One of Gerry’s best pages was a splash page where the heroes discover the Pillar of Sin, a thousand-story tower held together by wires and circuits and human bodies! And I said, “Oh, wow! I get to work with this guy!”

The fourth time, the editor of LAKAN showed me this Xeroxed comic book/zine entitled WASTED. The art was simple, if not crude. The story was dark, depressing, and down-right hilarious! At the end of that eight-page issue, the lead character had shot an annoying door-to-door preacher in the head. The editor whispered to me, “I’m worried about Gerry. There might be something wrong with him.” And he said this while I looking at the page where the preacher’s head gets blown off.

Now, at this point, I still had not yet met Gerry. Since Gerry included his address at the back of the book, I sent him fan mail and invited him to be part of COMICS 101, an anthology I was putting together with friends from college. Days pass-by and I do not get a reply from Gerry.

On the day we were preparing the lay-out of COMICS 101, a package from San Pablo, Laguna arrived and it contained the original art of WASTED. Gerry said that he left it up to the gods of the postal office if his art would ever reach me or not. And that’s how WASTED saw print for the first time.

It took Gerry two years to finish WASTED. In the middle of writing and drawing each issue, he did work for Marvel and Image Comics. In the process, he was able to exorcise the demons of his heart. In fact, during the last two or three issues/chapters of WASTED, Gerry was already getting worried that he might not finish it because he didn’t feel that hurt or anger anymore.

One time I told Gerry how much I envied him, how he could take his pain and misery and turn it into art. I deal with my pain but seeking out comfort food: extra-thick milkshakes, big cheeseburgers, chips and dips, blue Tobleron, grande frappucinos!

This is Gerry’s bleeding heart, cold sweat and tears.

So, consider this book as therapy.
It’ll make you laugh.
It’ll make you cry.
It’ll make you see how lucky you are in life.
Misery loves company and Gerry makes great company!



WASTED: THE FINAL EDITION is now available at Comic Quest, Megamall.
Soon, in Comic Quest, SM City and Festival Mall.
You can also order copies by calling up the PULP office (tel # 687-1709).







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