AN UPDATE FINALLY/AND NOTE TO STUDENTS WHO EMAIL ME FOR INTERVIEWS

I would like to apologize to regular visitors of this blog for not being able to update it as regularly as I had wanted to. I've been quite busy lately scanning originals and old komiks materials for the future home of this blog..which is PilipinoKomiks.com.

Yes, I have decided to expand this blogsite into a website so that it will be more comprehensive and more accessible. So I hope you will understand my silence for a while..

Anyway, during the last few months I received emails and invitations for talks, interviews by various organizations, students with thesis, as well as Channel 7 ( for their Bakekang series). From this time on, however, I am no longer accepting any of these requests for interviews.

I think it is because I felt used by Channel 7 production crews who interviewed me three times in one week two months ago. All the while I was made to believe that they were going to present a nationally televised presentation of Philippine komiks history, so I generously welcomed them to my home where they interviewed me about the history of komiks, and let me haul from my shelves my old komiks collections for them to shoot and photograph. My neighbors were alarmed why Channel 7 crews kept visiting my house and they thought that I'm already a celebrity...duh???

And then when the production was shown on Tv, not a significant portion on komiks history was included...all that was included was about Captain Barbell, and his new costumes etc..obviously geared to promoting their Captain Barbell series...And to think that they interviewed me close to two hours about komiks history...

I am not assuming that students will do such thing...but no I cannot accomodate all of you for interviews...So I am making it clear and simple..send no more emails asking for interviews as I will not answer them.

If you want to know something about the history of Philippine komiks, you can go to my previous posts in the archive section of this blog. Those articles are by no means complete of course, ..(hint you have to research further in libraries or just google them).. Plus you can also browse GerryAlanguilan's wonderful website Komikero.com, which offers a fascinating section on komiks history in his Philippine Komiks Art Museum, as well as his previous wonderful articles on komiks history.

I also recommend you to read the classic "History of Komiks in the Philippines and other Countries" by Cynthia Arevalo, et al, as it offers a fascinating, albeit biased, overview of the komiks tradition in the Philippines.

As for libraries...well, I don't know any library that has a wide selection of Tagalog komiks materials but you can try the Lopez Memorial Museum located in Benpres Buiding in Ortigas Avenue.. They have a large inventory of rare Philippine cartoons from 1800s to 1930s, as well as complete set of the Liwayway from the earliest issues to the 1950s. They may also have a few pieces of Ace komiks materials.

The National Library has two or three tomes of bookbound komiks but do not expect to find rare ones..as they have disappeared long time ago because librarians usually discard komiks tomes annually because they felt komiks have no "research value".

FOR PEOPLE ASKING FOR XEROX COPIES OF OLD KOMIKS

I also receive frequent emails regarding photocopying of old komiks. I'm sorry but I only entertain illustrators(or writers) or their families to xerox their or their relatives' works...So if you are an artist who want to search for your early works and they happen to exist in my collection..I can photocopy with only a minimum charge, i.e. xerox and paper expenses..

6 comments:

 Reno said...

Same thing happened when they interviewed me, too, Dennis. Sabi nila all about komiks collecting ang feature, pero na-edit out karamihan dahil most of the time it was Captain Barbell that they wanted to feature on TV.

Pero sana naman you won't close your doors permanently to doing these kinds of interviews. Malay mo, maybe one day someone will get it right...

6:36 PM

 Dennis Villegas said...

Reno: I believe Gerry Alanguilan is quite capable of doing this long-needed film documentary about Philippine komiks. He ha done nice editing job in all his video blogs so I will not be so surprised if he will be the "Malay mo, maybe someone will get it right".

I'm thinking that through his video blogs, Gerry is just letting us have a preview of what he will eventually do: a film documantary of Philippine komiks...Of course I'm not suggesting that he must do it. But at the moment he is the one very capable of doing it!

3:46 AM

 Ner P said...

it's a good thing then that i also turned down their invitations to interview me then. baka nadisappoint din ako.

8:06 PM

 xLe said...

hi. i was wondering if you knew where i can find a copy of "a history of komiks in the philippines and other countries"? thank you!

8:02 PM

 Melissa Galauran Lacerna said...

Hi Dennis,