the neXt men (and women)
Agenda Magazine, Issue #8, 1997
You all know Darna, Panday, Dyesebel, and Zuma, those superheroes and mega-villains who are staples of Filipino pop culture. What you didn’t know is that they have spawned either twins, cousins, or children: Metalero has his Sword of Justice to match Panday’s kris. Xandara owes her powers to a magical gem, just like Darna. Kamandag keeps company with icky, green snakes, the biggest of which is Zuma. Izzabelle is the child of Dyesabel.
Of course, these twins/cousins/children are products only of artists from the Alamat Group of Comics, that brave bunch of Pinoy comic book artists whose avowed mission is to elbow out Marvel and DC from the shelves. “It’s hard but we’re doing it, inch by painful inch,” Alamat president Budjette Tan. Well here’s giving them another of those inches.
IZZABELLE
Izzabelle is the child of Jezzabelle, queen of the mermaids and Arthur Santos, a Philippine Navy sailor. When Izzabelle’s father was killed by pirates in the Philippine Sea, she dedicated her life to seeking out her father’s murderers. Izzabelle swims as swift as a dolphin and can communication with all forms of marine life. (Art by Arnold Arre)
XANDARA
By swallowing a magical gem and shouting “XANDARA!” Sandra gains the powers of flight, super-strength, invulnerability and the ability to project solar beams from her hands. Sandra is the third woman to receive the power of Xandara. The magic gem which grants this power has been passed on from mother to daughter for the past three generations. (Art by Arnold Arre)
KAMANDAG
Kamandag was the God of Snakes worshipped by the pre-Hispanic Filipino tribes. Two thousand years ago, he was trapped in a pit by the God of Rats.
Kamandag was unleashed on the modern world when the pit was dug up during the construction of a condominium. He now roams the streets of Manila, feeding on the evil found in the hearts of criminals. (Art by J.B. "Taps" Tapia)
METALERO
Fernando Perez’s simple life was a construction worker was thrown into chaos when the ghost of his great-grandfather entrust him with the Sword of Justice. Fernando must now battle the evil forces of Kagabota, creatures from the nether realm who threaten to destroy the world. (Art by Bow Guerrero)
FOOT NOTES:
The first two paragraphs of the feature was written by the editorial staff. And I honestly don't remember saying that quote. Although, at the time, I'm sure I would've been quoted saying stuff like, "We're going to rule the world! It's the Year of the Comic Book! It's the Year of Alamat!" Yeah, I think we were too drunk with idealism way back then. And being drunk is not all that bad. Except when you start to puke it all out and you see the, oh, nevermind, anyway, back to this article--
I got a call from Karen Kunawicz that Apol Lejano, the editor of AGENDA, wanted to talk to me about a comic book project. I met up with Apol and she pitched to me the idea of a doing a revamp of Filipino komiks characters for their magazine. So, I called up Arnold, Bow, and Taps, pitched to them Apol's idea and a couple of days later I got their artworks.
I was supposed to submit the art the next day, when I wondered what kind of copy would fall on these pages. Not wanting to get sued by the creators of Darna and company, I came up with the bright idea of doing analog versions of the characters. So, I fired up my trusty WordStar program and hacked away. This is the first time I've ever the "secret origins" that I wrote and am laughing at myself, not knowing what possessed me at the time.
Re: IZZABELLE
Bwahahaha... I guess I just wanted to make her name sound exotic. Her secret origin is, of course, a rip-off of Aquaman and Batman's. Hahaha! Apologies!
Re: XANDARA
Is it possible that Arnold was able to predict the coming of StarCircleSandara? Well, I can still claim copyright over the name Xandara! Hahahaha!
Re: KAMANDAG
This is a very rare J.B. Tapia artwork. You just don't know how much pleading it took to make Taps draw anything. I think I ripped-off Kamandag's origin from Zuma and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "God of Rats"??? Yeah, I think I was watching too much TMNT at the time. Hahahaha!
Re: METALERO
I'm not so sure who came up with this name. I think Bow did. Marco loves this name. Might still use it sometime. Don't you just love the name Fernando Perez? Hahahaha! And what the heck are the Kagabota??? Bwahhahaha! Again, that was my attempt to make them sound weird and threatening. Kagabota-- sounds like some Japanese construction company.
So, kids? Do you think a comic book version of these so-called NEXT MEN would've sold? I'm just wondering how many issues we could've done before we got slapped with their first law suit. Hahahaha!
Anyway, Apol later called up and wanted to do another comic book feature. Hence, BATCH72 appeared in full-color in the pages of AGENDA.
Well, that was fun.
Time for me to go home.
Agenda Magazine, Issue #8, 1997
You all know Darna, Panday, Dyesebel, and Zuma, those superheroes and mega-villains who are staples of Filipino pop culture. What you didn’t know is that they have spawned either twins, cousins, or children: Metalero has his Sword of Justice to match Panday’s kris. Xandara owes her powers to a magical gem, just like Darna. Kamandag keeps company with icky, green snakes, the biggest of which is Zuma. Izzabelle is the child of Dyesabel.
Of course, these twins/cousins/children are products only of artists from the Alamat Group of Comics, that brave bunch of Pinoy comic book artists whose avowed mission is to elbow out Marvel and DC from the shelves. “It’s hard but we’re doing it, inch by painful inch,” Alamat president Budjette Tan. Well here’s giving them another of those inches.
IZZABELLEIzzabelle is the child of Jezzabelle, queen of the mermaids and Arthur Santos, a Philippine Navy sailor. When Izzabelle’s father was killed by pirates in the Philippine Sea, she dedicated her life to seeking out her father’s murderers. Izzabelle swims as swift as a dolphin and can communication with all forms of marine life. (Art by Arnold Arre)
XANDARABy swallowing a magical gem and shouting “XANDARA!” Sandra gains the powers of flight, super-strength, invulnerability and the ability to project solar beams from her hands. Sandra is the third woman to receive the power of Xandara. The magic gem which grants this power has been passed on from mother to daughter for the past three generations. (Art by Arnold Arre)
KAMANDAG
Kamandag was the God of Snakes worshipped by the pre-Hispanic Filipino tribes. Two thousand years ago, he was trapped in a pit by the God of Rats.
Kamandag was unleashed on the modern world when the pit was dug up during the construction of a condominium. He now roams the streets of Manila, feeding on the evil found in the hearts of criminals. (Art by J.B. "Taps" Tapia)
METALERO
Fernando Perez’s simple life was a construction worker was thrown into chaos when the ghost of his great-grandfather entrust him with the Sword of Justice. Fernando must now battle the evil forces of Kagabota, creatures from the nether realm who threaten to destroy the world. (Art by Bow Guerrero)
FOOT NOTES:
The first two paragraphs of the feature was written by the editorial staff. And I honestly don't remember saying that quote. Although, at the time, I'm sure I would've been quoted saying stuff like, "We're going to rule the world! It's the Year of the Comic Book! It's the Year of Alamat!" Yeah, I think we were too drunk with idealism way back then. And being drunk is not all that bad. Except when you start to puke it all out and you see the, oh, nevermind, anyway, back to this article--
I got a call from Karen Kunawicz that Apol Lejano, the editor of AGENDA, wanted to talk to me about a comic book project. I met up with Apol and she pitched to me the idea of a doing a revamp of Filipino komiks characters for their magazine. So, I called up Arnold, Bow, and Taps, pitched to them Apol's idea and a couple of days later I got their artworks.
I was supposed to submit the art the next day, when I wondered what kind of copy would fall on these pages. Not wanting to get sued by the creators of Darna and company, I came up with the bright idea of doing analog versions of the characters. So, I fired up my trusty WordStar program and hacked away. This is the first time I've ever the "secret origins" that I wrote and am laughing at myself, not knowing what possessed me at the time.
Re: IZZABELLE
Bwahahaha... I guess I just wanted to make her name sound exotic. Her secret origin is, of course, a rip-off of Aquaman and Batman's. Hahaha! Apologies!
Re: XANDARA
Is it possible that Arnold was able to predict the coming of StarCircleSandara? Well, I can still claim copyright over the name Xandara! Hahahaha!
Re: KAMANDAG
This is a very rare J.B. Tapia artwork. You just don't know how much pleading it took to make Taps draw anything. I think I ripped-off Kamandag's origin from Zuma and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. "God of Rats"??? Yeah, I think I was watching too much TMNT at the time. Hahahaha!
Re: METALERO
I'm not so sure who came up with this name. I think Bow did. Marco loves this name. Might still use it sometime. Don't you just love the name Fernando Perez? Hahahaha! And what the heck are the Kagabota??? Bwahhahaha! Again, that was my attempt to make them sound weird and threatening. Kagabota-- sounds like some Japanese construction company.
So, kids? Do you think a comic book version of these so-called NEXT MEN would've sold? I'm just wondering how many issues we could've done before we got slapped with their first law suit. Hahahaha!
Anyway, Apol later called up and wanted to do another comic book feature. Hence, BATCH72 appeared in full-color in the pages of AGENDA.
Well, that was fun.
Time for me to go home.
Comments