Although Ace Publications dominated the Philippine komiks industry in its early years, it did not monopolized komiks production because other publishers began to venture into komiks publishing as well, inspired by Ace's sucess.

The first publisher to break Ace’s monopoly in komiks publishing was Silangan Publications. In early 1950, it published the Silangan Komiks, the fourth komiks magazine in the Philippines, after Halakhak Komiks (1946), Pilipino Komiks (1947), and Tagalog Klasiks (1949). The Silangan Komiks was a few months older than the Hiwaga Komiks.

One morning in May of 1947, Tony Velasquez received a call from Don Ramon Roces, publisher of the Liwayway. The publishing magnate wanted to publish comics-magazines, and he wanted Velasquez to manage it.

Said Velasquez: "I did not give him a chance to change his mind. I immediately jumped at his offer. Even before his call, I was already toying with the idea of publishing komiks-magazines. So I thought Don Ramon was heaven's reply to my dream"