Origins

A sample of Jose Rizal's illustration of The Turtle and the Monkey (Ang Pagong at ang Matsing or Si Pagong at si Matsing)

While the first indigenous cartoons may be traced to José Rizal's illustration of the fable "The Tortoise and the Monkey" (1885), the origins of the mainstream komiks industry would not arise until after the Spanish–American War. Rizal's illustration did not incorporate the use of speech balloons; instead, the characters' conversation were written under the panels.

In the 1920s, Liwayway magazine began running comic strips under the direction of Romualdo Ramos and Tony Velasquez, such as the still-running Mga Kabalbalan ni Kenkoy (The Misadventures of Kenkoy). Velasquez is considered the father of Filipino comics.^[4]

Golden Age

During the World War II, American GIs brought comic books with them for entertainment. After the war, Filipino publishers began publishing material in the serialized comic book format.^[1]

Mars Ravelo created a number of Filipino superheroes, several of which had been adapted to multiple films and television series. His characters like Darna and Captain Barbell became sources of escapism and hope post-war. Ravelo also created Bondying and like Kenkoy, the word "bondying" has entered the Filipino language.^[5]

Pablo S. Gomez wrote for Pilipino Komiks and Tagalog Klasiks before founding PSG in 1963. Most of his works were adapted into films and television series, some of which are Inday Bote, Machete and Bunsong Kerubin.^[1]

Evolution

Originally inspired by American comic strips and comic books left behind by American GIs, the medium steadily diverged, and by the 1950s, drew more inspiration from other forms of Filipino literature such as komedya, as well as Philippine mythology. Many komiks were evidently inspired by specific American comics, such as Kulafu and Og (Tarzan), Darna (Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman), and D. I. Trece (Dick Tracy). The predominance of superheroes has continued into the modern day. However, other characters such as Dyesebel draw more from traditional folklore.

Breaking into the American comics scene

Filipino artists broke into the American comics industry in the 1970s, drawing for such companies as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Pendulum Press, and Warren Publishing. The Filipino artists worked mostly on fantasy, horror, and Western titles, most actively in the period 1970–c. 1985.^[1]

Tony DeZuniga was the first Filipino comic book artist whose work was accepted by American publishers, paving the way for many others.^[6] Beginning in 1970, DeZuniga became a regular contributor to DC Comics' horror and Western titles. In 1971, DC editor Joe Orlando (who had first hired DeZuniga) and DC publisher Carmine Infantino traveled to the Philippines on a recruiting trip.^[7][8] Alfredo Alcala, Mar Amongo, Ernie Chan, Alex Niño, Nestor Redondo, and Gerry Talaoc were some of the Filipino komiks artists who went on to work for DC.

A similar trip to the Philippines by Pendulum Press editor Vincent Fago in 1970 led to a great number of Filipino artists working on the Pendulum Illustrated Classics series, which were black-and-white comic book adaptations of literary classics. Fago teamed with Nestor Redondo to recruit Filipino artists for Pendulum.^[9] In addition to the work of Redondo, who illustrated more than 20 books in the series, the Pendulum Illustrated Classics featured the artwork of Niño,^[10] Talaoc,^[11] Vicatan, Rudy Nebres, Jun Lofamia, Nestor Leonidez, and E. R. Cruz. (Redondo's brothers Virgilio and Frank also illustrated books in the series.)

At Marvel Comics, Steve Gan became highly regarded for his artwork on both Conan titles Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan from 1974 to 1979. From 1975 to 1979, Tony DeZuniga organized a group of New York-based Filipino komiks artists who inked various Marvel comics under the collective pseudonym of "The Tribe." Members of the Tribe included DeZuniga, Alcala, Nebres, and Chuck Nanco. In 1977–1978, the group of creators — which now included non-Filipino artists like Ken Landgraf, Andre Gordon, and Ed Monji — became officially known as Action Art Studio, an operation co-owned and managed by DeZuniga and his wife Mary. Titles worked on by the group in 1975–1979 included Marvel Classics Comics, Conan, Ghost Rider, Master of Kung Fu, Nova, Sons of the Tiger, and Tarzan, as well as various specials and one-shots.^[12]

Beginning in 1978 and lasting until about 1983, the black-and-white comics magazine publisher Warren Publishing also utilized the talents of a number of Filipino artists, including Niño, Nebres, and Alcala.

From the mid-1980s on, fewer Filipino artists found work in the American comics industry, the exceptions being DeZuniga (co-creator of Jonah Hex), Chan, Alcala (who drew and inked for Swamp Thing and He-Man and who had the distinction of having his original comics, Voltar, published internationally), and Talaoc.

Popularity

At one point, between 33 and 40 percent of Filipinos read komiks, but this number has since dwindled somewhat due to competition from other media forms.^[13] More recently, comic artists have begun producing what is often called "Pinoy Manga,"^[14] inspired largely by Japanese anime and manga, which have been widely available in the Philippines since the 1970s.

PhilPost released a series of national stamps based on komiks on November 15, 2004. Among those featured were Gilbert Monsanto's Mango Comics Darna #3, Nestor Redondo's Darna, Francisco Reyes' Kulafu, Francisco V. Coching's Lapu-Lapu, and Federico Javinal and Coching's El Vibora.^[15][16]

Modern Age

Characters and stories by Coching, Ravelo and Gomez are still being adapted into films and television series.

Citations

Sources

• Reyes, Soledad S. (1997). "The Philippine "Komiks": Text as Containment". Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science. Brill. 25 (1): 81–81, 85–87. ISSN 0303-8246. OCLC 9982710804.
• Reyes, Soledad S. (2009). "The Komiks and Retelling the Lore of the Folk". Philippine Studies. Ateneo de Manila University. 57 (3): 389–390. ISSN 0031-7837. OCLC 9975776944.
• De Nobili, Lou Brad N.; Taguba, Phillip Daniele; Tayag, Olivier (December 2021). "Competing with the Television: The Decline of The Philippine Comics Magazines Industry in the Nineties under the Lenses of Media Displacement Theory through Functional Equivalence". TALA: An Online Journal of History. 4 (2).
• Arriola, Joyce L. (2016). "Visual Artists as Literary Artists: Fantasy and Folklore in 1950s Komiks-to-Film Adaptations" (PDF). Plaridel. University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication. 13 (1).
• Lent, John A. (1998). "Comic Art in the Philippines". Philippine Studies. 46 (2): 236–248. ISSN 0031-7837.
• The Philippine Comics Art Museum
• Celebrating 120 Years of Komiks From the Philippines I: The History of Komiks, Newsarama, October 19, 2006
• Celebrating 120 Years of Komiks From the Philippines II: The Future of Komiks, Newsarama, October 21, 2006
• Lent, John A. (2009) The First One Hundred Years of Philippine Komiks and Cartoons. Boboy Yonzon.
• Roxas, Cynthia and Joaquin Arevalo, Jr. A History of komiks of the Philippines and other countries, with contributions by Soledad S. Reyes, Karina Constantino-David, Efren Abueg; edited by Ramon R. Marcelino