PROJECT: LIGHTNING


(Art by Jonas. Colors by Laya Garcellano.)

And heeeere's Ate Carol!

She was originally supposed to be Kid Zeus' yaya (nanny), but later decided to make them brother and sister because I thought it would be easier for them to get on each other's nerves if they were siblings.

They were also originally supposed to be called "KIDLAT AT KAROL", because I wanted that whole "thunder and lightning" motif. (If I did my research right, karol is "thunder" in one of the Filipino dialects.)

And since somebody already owns the character "Kidlat" and "Kid-lat" is Peque Gallaga's character in the movie BATANG X, I had to give the kid a different super-hero name. So, I made a list of words that were electricty-related. "Zeus" came up and seemed to fit quite well with "kid". Hence, the title of the comic strip.

So, visit Jonas' blog for more sketches and maybe even get to see the first page by next week.

UPDATE! Call for comic book ghost stories

New ghost story anthology open for comic book submissions

Danton Remoto is editing a new anthology of ghost stories in English. Aside from prose, writers may also submit comic book scripts, 8 to 12 pages long.

Your story needs to be approved first before you can start drawing it or before you pass it on to your artist. The writer can choose his artist, but the artist should first send one or two sample pages so that publishers can check if art style fits the book’s editorial slant. (Black&white artwork only.)

The writer and the artist will get P2,000 each.

Deadline for stories and script: September 30, 2005
(Deadline for artwork will be set after your script gets approved. )

Submissions can be sent to:
dremoto (at) ateneo (dot) edu

Danton Remoto
English Department
Ateneo de Manila University
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
1108

New blog about Pinoy Komix

Found this new site set-up by "Aklas Isip".

http://pinoykomixbiz.blogspot.com/

He said the blog is: A candid and personal examination of the Philippine comics scene from a social, cultural, economic and business point of view.

In his first blog entry, he posted: "Aklas isip here from Manila, Philippines. In this blog, data on the history and business of comics publishing will be collated. It will serve as a guidepost for personal reflection. If any of you out there share the same interests and aspirations appearing on this blog, your posts are most welcome. Thank you. "

Glad there's an additional site out there that chronicles and comments about the Philippine komix scene.

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"Healing America by beating people up"

Wouldn't you be curious and pick up a comic book with that kind of a tagline? Yup, that's the promo line for Marvel's new comic book NEXTWAVE. Of course, having Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen guarantees that I'll pick up issue #1.

I've always been a sucker for new team books. Right now, the only series that I'm buying are NEW AVENGERS, YOUNG AVENGERS, and THE ULIMATES (which is still about the Avengers).

I usually subscribe to the "Chris Claremont School of How to Put Together a Super Team". You must have the leader guy, the wild/rebel with claw guy, the strong guy, the mature leading lady type, the naive school girl who's just discovering her powers, the comic relief guy, and that guy who'll get killed at the start of the series.

Which is why it surprised me when I saw Bendis' roster for the NEW AVENGERS. Two Spider-people? A strong guy? Another super strong guy? The leader guy and the tech guy? Plus, the wild guy with claws?! Strangely, Bendis has actually made this team work. It's actually a fun read, in that fanboy sort of way.

Anyway, Ellis has a a good track record with his team books like StormWatch and The Authority. So, I'd like to see what he's going to do with this bunch of characters. Once again, he's taken a mish-mash of almost forgetten characters, so he can do whatever he wants with them. This should be good.

If you want to know more about NEXTWAVE, just click on the links below:

Warren Ellis talks about NEXTWAVE

Stuart Immonen talks about NEXTWAVE

Hmmm... a team book. Now that's an interesting thought. :-)