Do we really need to change the INDUSTRY or our MENTALITY?

It has been a while since I wrote anything here that is really bothering me for too long now. I know that I was one of them people, who you can call an optimist. Being optimistic gives me the courage to march into impossible odds just to make my dreams reality. I'll always convince myself that everything will always turn out right if you are not doing anything wrong in the first place. That is why i followed my heart and became a comic book artist. For the longest time, I've never been anything but a comic book creator. I've tried everything from writing, penciling, inking, coloring and now even self-publishing. With every step I took, I am always happy to be a part of every title I've worked on. Because I love doing what I've always done, drawing. But being a professional comic artist is not how I started. I've been a READER of comics ever since. That is an essential part of how I understand comics, every part of it. Now, I've read a lot about the POSITIVE side and especially the NEGATIVE side of this industry here in the Philippines, and sadly, they are all true. Imagine going to a National Bookstore to find mangled local titles right in front of you. I gasped thinking they were RAPED!!!! I can only imagine how heart broken these creators feel when they see their hard earned money spent titles in this horrible state. I feel that way, for them and for me. That is how it is today, sadly. I've heard unfeeling comments from people who views themselves a reader, a customer, and the backbone of this industry. What do they have to say? Demands are more like it. Why is your title in english? why is it is Filipino? Why not weekly? Why this why that. But whatever we do to try and entertain the public? They come up with another complain. WHY IN THE HELL DO THEY DO THAT? Are we as a people so rotten not to think of all the hard work and money placed down on the table just to produce the titles they now read? Don't they ever consider how we feel? How we have to twitch and turn our bodies inside out JUST to print those babies? We are the parents of those titles, you tell us how you feel about it, we consider, we plan to give you what you'll need, ALL if we could. MOCK them, we bleed.

The industry is sick, needs medication. Beaten down by discrimination from both ends of the spectrum, the literary side and the artistic side. Yet, always taken by movies and television only to be RAPED yet again by their own brand of injustices. The revisions of unholy concepts just to play god on the poor creators who are trapped with a notion that who ever has the money are the boss. In this, we too suffer.

As for the big question why the price is way too high? I guess you have to find that out for yourselves. Just think about terms like PRINTING COST, DISTRIBUTION, DISCOUNT FOR THE STORE which could go as high as 40% or more. In fact, even if you've managed to sell half of the print run? All the expenses and the leg work done just for these books to make it to the readers is enough to STOP any small publishers, almost better let it die down and stop. Imagine again all the spoilage of mangled copies, not a pretty sight.

We do this out of love. So STUPID for so many to think other wise since, it is all very clear that there is no MONEY. Oh wait, you mean those mini magazines with 98% ads? sorry totally not COMICS to me. And the reprints of old comics running solely because of all the ads? Well, NOT our industry, non PINOYS are not included here. Just to be clear, I'm talking only about the local Komiks here.

With all these obstacle, how can one be optimistic? I know I am not, but that is not the point. It is a matter of principle. We let go now? IT IS OVER! Now, I know alot wants that. That should never happen, we fight! It is not the time to accept defeat. It is time to PUSH BACK! We hold hands as creators, not as individuals with personal grudges, as professionals. Tell them to learn from us, from these mistakes we hope to shape the next generation of Comic creators to be wiser, stronger, more adapt to every scenario.

I don't care if you are against or with us. This is not a request. If you are a komiks lover, by God Prove it! If you can't say anything productive... SHUT UP! If you hate because you are one sad individual... SHUT UP! But if you have solutions, stand up and be heard.

Tapusin na natin ang mga TALANGKA!