ALAMAT: ORIGINS

[Addendum 5]

As I've mentioned in the earlier addenda, I relettered the AVATAR issue, and remastered HORUS.

Doing so afforded me the opportunity to see the pages before printing proper.

I did not get the same chance with DHAMPYR.

So I got to see the DHAMPYR section at the same time most everyone else did: when they got their copy of ALAMAT: ORIGINS.

Now, for a bunch of reasons, I have yet to read through the DHAMPYR section page-by-page.

But while I was randomly flipping through ORIGINS, I did note that the page sequence of the DHAMPYR section was... wonky.

So, for those of you who may have been confused with the apparently teleporting/time-travelling characters blinking in and out of scenes, please refer to the page sequences below:

225-234 / 237-238 / 301-302 / 239-298 / 235-236 / 299-300 / 303-306

The DHAMPYR section in ORIGINS runs from page 225 to 306.

We're fine with the initial section (pages 225-234), then we need to jump to pages 237-238, then jump to pages 301-302, then back to page 239, all the way through till page 298, etc, etc.

(Just follow that string of page numbers to read the story in its correct sequence.)

I've made the pertinent parties aware of the wonkiness, and hopefully, these errors will be rectified in any subsequent print runs of ORIGINS.

For now though, if you find yourself scratching your head at the way characters blink in and out of scenes, then please refer to the page numbers string above, which should clarify things nicely.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

ALAMAT: ORIGINS

[Addendum 4] (3 of 3)

In prepping ALAMAT: ORIGINS, Budjette Tan conducted a trio of Q&A's with me covering AVATAR, HORUS, and DHAMPYR.

Some of the Q&A content made it into the story Intros in ORIGINS.

Most, did not.

So I'll be posting the Q&A's here, uncut, so you can all see what was left on the cutting room floor.

Third up: AVATAR.

1 Same question – what’s your elevator pitch for AVATAR?

 

A beloved hero’s “best friend” (ala Jimmy Olsen)/youthful sidekick, crippled during a brutal supervillain battle, is given a chance to become that hero, oblivious to the sinister machinations going on behind the scenes of his very own “origin” story.

 

2 At this point in time, you’d already written Horus (and maybe Bathala?) – what was your approach to writing another guy with a cape? What was the impetus that got you excited to tell the story of Avatar?

 

One of the many things I’ve learned over the years is to never question the inspiration.

If an idea presents itself, and I’ve kicked all the tires and deemed it sound enough to take out on the road, on a journey that appears worthwhile, headed towards an intriguing and interesting destination, then I just slam those keys home, rev the engine, and head out on that highway…

 

So when AVATAR popped into my head, I didn’t really stop to think, “Well, it has to be different from those other Superman archetype characters I’ve written”; that consideration comes later, in the molding of the material.

Trust the process is another thing I’ve learned, so you drive down that highway the inspiration has presented to you, and you trust that the journey will be different from those you’ve taken before.

 

Plus, AVATAR (one of whose core ideas is: what if someone whose ability to move freely had been taken away from him, was suddenly given a chance to fly*) came around after a significant amount of time in which I wrote nothing, a sustained period where no idea seemed potent enough to pursue. It was a creative wasteland I was tired of inhabiting, and AVATAR was the rescuing hand that took me out of it.

 

So, really, there was no second guessing about me writing “another guy in a cape”. It was actually me leaning in and embracing all of that, an attitude that I’ve adopted time and again since then.

 

* In retrospect, given the creative rut I was in at the time, that metaphor is definitely not lost on me.

 

3 If AVATAR reached up to issue 100, what would he be doing? How would you make that milestone issue super special?

 

I imagine issue 100 would be the culmination of the whole “Terra Armada” subplot, when the fact that Tiercel is really a manipulative SOB who’s positioned all these heroes as pawns and expendable pieces on his chessboard has become common knowledge to Avatar and Horus.

The war they’ve been unwittingly trained for should reach its end at that point, and, well, it really isn’t actually a happy ending, honestly…

Would that make it “super special” enough…?

:P

 

And there you go.

While I also re-lettered AVATAR, it was more for the sake of readability.

Because the original publication was oversized, it was essentially shrunk down to the dimensions/proportions of ALAMAT: ORIGINS.

If I'd left the original lettering as it was, the issue would have possibly been a difficult read. So it was a matter of increasing the font size, rather than a full-on remastering ala HORUS.

Additionally, since the request was for "first issues", that's what appears in ORIGINS; the main story in AVATAR issue 1.

But there's actually a Prologue chapter, which ran in the final issue of PANTHEON, with art by the one and only Carl Vergara, where we see Tiercel make the offer to the crippled Saul that turns him into (the new) Avatar.

Maybe (hopefully?) we'll get to see that one reprinted too, somewhere down the line...

I think that's all I've got for now...

Honestly not sure if I'll be back with more ORIGINS posts, but if you have any specific questions (about AVATAR or HORUS or DHAMPYR) then that would ensure my return...

So, any questions, please feel free to leave them in the Comments section and I'll see what I can do to answer them.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

ALAMAT: ORIGINS

[Addendum 3] (2 of 3)

In prepping ALAMAT: ORIGINS, Budjette Tan conducted a trio of Q&A's with me covering AVATAR, HORUS, and DHAMPYR.

Some of the Q&A content made it into the story Intros in ORIGINS.

Most, did not.

So I'll be posting the Q&A's here, uncut, so you can all see what was left on the cutting room floor.

Second up: HORUS.

1 Same [first] question – what’s your elevator pitch to get people to read HORUS?

 

You’re a gifted college athlete, and you wake up one morning with a tattoo on your arm, a tattoo that allows you to change into a freaking SUPERHERO!

Crazy-awesome insanity ensues!

 

2 What inspired you to have twins as your main characters? And what kind of tension did you have in mind by having only one of them get the powers?

 

I’ve long been fascinated by the Beloved Executioner motif; the idea of betrayal coming from a loved one, like a brother, or more pointedly, a twin. It’s an idea I revisited in BATHALA, where I took it to some dark conclusions.

My end point for the Daly twins in HORUS is certainly not as dark as what we see unfold in BATHALA, but it would have hopefully been a torturous emotional wringer for both brothers to undergo before emerging on the other side.

Some of the bones of contention between the brothers begin to rear their ugly heads in the published HORUS stories, one seed in particular foregrounded in the story reprinted [in ALAMAT: ORIGINS], while the static of growing up unable to escape the shadow of a more popular sibling (a twin! So why aren’t we exactly alike?!) plays constantly through the narrative background.

 

3 Which version of Superman inspired you in your writing of HORUS?

 

Definitely Superman: The Animated Series, from the second half of the ‘90’s. (I’m also really enjoying My Adventures with Superman, BTW.)

The fact that I gave the main character the last name Daly (after STAS Superman voice actor Tim Daly) is a dead giveaway.

 

For those of you who were with Alamat from the early days, you may note that HORUS is really TATTOOED, but filtered through an Egyptian myth/STAS lens.

I loved the foundational idea of TATTOOED so much that I thought it would be interesting to take that core concept and apply it to a more all-ages title, and thus, we have HORUS.

 

4 If HORUS could have a cross-over with any comic book character, who would it be and what would they do?

 

Given the STAS influence, definitely Superman, who has become, over the decades, the comic book/spandex archetype of the Solar Hero (among many other things, of course).

They’d settle into a mentor/mentee set-up (one of the many things I frequently return to in my comic writing) and battle some darkness/shadow-themed villain, probably Set… 

 

And there you go.

Since the opportunity to re-letter HORUS presented itself, I took that shot to effectively remaster the story, polishing up the text (or, in some cases, writing new material), to further underscore plot points or themes.

So even if you'd already read this issue in its original incarnation in PANTHEON #1, the story as presented in ALAMAT: ORIGINS should hopefully be a more fulfilling read.

BTW, on page 339 of ORIGINS, the cover Tony used for HORUS is actually the back cover of AVATAR #3, art by Kai Legaspi. (Since we didn't have an actual HORUS #1 cover.)

Plus, on page 340, the creator credits should read David Hontiveros and Carl Vergara.

And, having mentioned AVATAR (also co-created by Carl!), the Q&A for that should hopefully go live sometime in the coming week.

If you have any questions about HORUS (or DHAMPYR), please feel free to leave them in the Comments section and I'll see what I can do to answer them.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

 ALAMAT: ORIGINS

[Addendum 2] (1 of 3)

In prepping ALAMAT: ORIGINS, Budjette Tan conducted a trio of Q&A's with me covering AVATAR, HORUS, and DHAMPYR.

Some of the Q&A content made it into the story Intros in ORIGINS.

Most, did not.

So I'll be posting the Q&A's here, uncut, so you can all see what was left on the cutting room floor.

First up: DHAMPYR.

1 For new readers, what’s your pitch that would get them interested In DHAMPYR?

 

You’re a half-human, half-vampire hybrid, who’s become quite adept at hunting down those blood-sucking freaks.

But you’re really looking for one freak in particular: your father…

Family reunions can be such a pain in the neck.

 

2 Aside from Vampire: The Masquerade, what inspired you to create these characters and that world of vampires?

 

As you’ve noted, Vampire: The Masquerade (and by extension, White Wolf’s World of Darkness RPG universe) was the main inspiration for DHAMPYR.

A key inspirational element here was the Vampire campaign I ran with a group of players that included none other than Carlo Vergara himself. DHAMPYR’s setting (that very particular Goth-drenched San Francisco spectacularly brought to (un)life by Oliver) was also influenced by that Vampire campaign.

 

Beyond that RPG inspiration, I also wanted to write about family dysfunction, and I felt that if I could write something fantastic, where you could actually strip away all the genre markers (the vampire/occult stuff) and still have a functional narrative (a son trying to come to terms with an absentee father and the wreckage of his family caused by that person), then I could possibly have a story worth telling.

 

3 If you created Dhampyr today in 2024, do you think you would end up with a different set of characters, a different layout for the world?

 

Interesting question.

Two ways to answer that.

 

One: if, for whatever reason, the specific idea for what eventually turned out to be DHAMPYR came to me today, it would then be a period piece, in that, there’s something very particular about the Goth scene in the ‘90’s, when the ‘80’s (and Goth’s “birth” in the late 70’s) were still a recent memory, before the drift of certain elements of the subculture towards the mainstream (see: emo).

 

So I can’t quite see that DHAMPYR narrative set in the present day, without having its, ahem, fangs filed down, certainly from a visual/aesthetic standpoint.

So the story we told in DHAMPYR, characters and all, would still probably be set in that time frame.

 

The other way to answer your question: if a general idea came to me to write about a half-human, half-vampire hybrid in the year 2024, that story would definitely not be the story we told in DHAMPYR, but another beast entirely…

I highly doubt that it would have that Goth aesthetic, either… so, at the very least, the characters wouldn’t look the same…

 

4 What do you remember from the night the book was launched in Synergy, during Halloween?

 

That sea of PDBs (People Dressed in Black).

So awesome.

:D

So there you go.

After all this time, I am still extremely proud of what Oliver and I were able to achieve with DHAMPYR.

The fact that DHAMPYR was the title that made the Manila Critics Circle establish a Comics Category is still both mind-blowing and humbling for me. Sure, we didn't win, because the Circle has a rule that the voting of the judges needs to be unanimous for a book to be considered a "winner", but that doesn't take anything away from the reality that DHAMPYR was the inaugural title for the Circle's Comics Category.

It broke through the ceiling.

Boom. 

The next Q&A (probably HORUS) should hopefully go live over the weekend?

If you have any questions about DHAMPYR, please feel free to leave them in the Comments section and I'll see what I can do to answer them.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

ALAMAT: ORIGINS

[Addendum 1]

So I got my compli copies of ALAMAT: ORIGINS (thanx so much to Rome for the coordinating) and wanted to note a few things.

Firstly, that this will hopefully develop into a series of posts centered on ORIGINS and the stories between its covers that I had a hand in writing. Random notes and observations to hopefully put those stories in the bigger context that they're a part of.

Secondly, in Karen's Afterword, she notes a conversation in which an "un-God" is mentioned.

Now, time and memory will do this to you, but I, for one, do not recall this conversation.

Time and memory.

And age.

It happens.

I do want to point out however, that the "un-God" is certainly not my idea at all.

Fans of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol will recognize the description as that of the Decreator. (Still one of the most chilling things Grant has ever written, that sadly, did not quite make the translation in the TV adaptation.)

So, I dunno... maybe time and memory did the same thing to Karen (three decades ago, man! SMH.), but the "un-God" is not an idea I came up with.

The Decreator... that's all Grant.

Anyhoo.

Hope you picked up (or intend to pick up) ALAMAT: ORIGINS, which chronicles our early efforts at comic book writing.

Hopefully I'll be around here again soon with some more ORIGINS Addenda.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

INDIEKET 2021 (ONLINE) [Updated! With Schedule!!]

INDIEKET 2021 (ONLINE)
[Updated! With Schedule!!]

Among the Creator Connect talks scheduled for this year's online edition of Indieket on August 7, we've got one in which a half-dozen of the mighty fine artists I've had the privilege to collaborate with are gathered to talk komiks collaboration...

Thrill! At this Sneak Peek!!!

For the record, those half-dozen are:

Michael Urbano [Top Left]: URIEL: Hekhalot; DAKILA: Legado Issues 1 & 2A

Marvin del Mundo [Top Right]: DAKILA / Fr TRESE: Iunctura

Carl Corilla [Middle Left]: DAKILA: Makadaot

Pyotr Mutuc [Middle Center]: DAKILA: Siyudad Issues 1 to 3

Ace Enriquez [Middle Right]: BATHALA: Apokalypsis

Reno Maniquis [Bottom Center]: MASKARADO / DAKILA: Silver Like Dust

More details here.

We've got the 5th slot, from 4 in the afternoon to 5:30.

(More details here.)

You'll note from the Sneak Peek that Yours Truly was not on the Zoom call (long story short: technical issues prohibit me from Zooming at the moment).

Regardless, you should still most definitely check the talk out, coz these mighty fine gentlemen discuss komik collaboration, and I also still managed to answer questions over email, so I believe some of my answers will be read out loud during the call...

Or something.

Anyhoo, just check the talk out if you've got the time and the inclination. (August 7, 4PM to 5:30PM.) 

Your viewership and support will be greatly appreciated.

And please feel free to check out any (or all) of the other Creator Connect talks...

"See you" at the Indieket.

you can't drink just six,

Dave

OUT OF THE GUTTER (5) DAKILA: Siyudad Issue 3

OUT OF THE GUTTER (5)

DAKILA: Siyudad Issue 3
David Hontiveros / Pyotr Mutuc

and

KADASIG: Walanghanggan Issue 2
David Hontiveros / Romnick Magbanua

Note:

This post is, by its very nature, spoiler-y.

Hopefully you've already ordered and read these new releases and are here to check out this OotG post for some additional insight into these issues.

If you haven't read these issues yet... you have been warned.

 

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere: the fact that the 3 separate stories that were worked on by their respective artists during lockdown in TFNY 2020 (the DAKILA “Siyudad” story arc, the KADASIG “Walanghanggan” story arc, and the one-shot “That Kind of Hunger” for TRESE: BLOODLINES Volume 1) were all about greed, was one of those random intersections of circumstance.

 

What wasn’t random though, was the work that went into the “Siyudad” and “Walanghanggan” scripts.

The “Walanghanggan” scripts came first, and it was, in fact, during the writing of them, that I realized I could very well launch into another title, one that would be decidedly more spandex superhero-ey than KADASIG was.

That title, of course, became DAKILA.

 

And as I started to write scripts for DAKILA, the idea for the “Siyudad” arc came.

Among other things, “Siyudad” serves to encapsulate some of the conflicted feelings I have towards Makati being a center of commerce.

Because sadly, where commerce is, greed isn’t too far behind…

 

Clearly, there was the narrative connective tissue between the two arcs, since the DAKILA and KADASIG backstories bleed into each other (as we see in the “Walanghanggan” arc).

But, there was also clearly some serious thematic connective tissue, with greed being central to both arcs.

So a number of conscious creative decisions were made in the course of writing “Siyudad” that would serve to mirror certain aspects of both arcs, in turn reinforcing each of the narratives taking place in those arcs.

 

For example:

Certain creative demands resulted in both arcs featuring an analogue/stand-in for Masakim/Greed, instead of the Real McCoy.

And since the frog is the animal associated with Greed, in “Siyudad,” we have the thus far unnamed frog thing that rose from the diabul swamp in issue 2, and of course, in “Walanghanggan” issue 2, we have the giant yellow frog (one of the “myriad forms” of Masakim disciple, Lester Arkadio).

 

Now, when it became clear that “frog” was going to be a central element in “Walanghanggan,” and the narrative had organically moved towards the plot point that Kadasig would be forced to transform himself into the fictional Filipino superhero he once played onscreen, I could not escape the undeniable fact that the key elements “Filipino superhero” and “frog” were in such close proximity to each other.

It would not take very much to add “battles” and “giant” to those elements, so I could honor the venerable “Filipino superhero battles giant frog” convention.

It was an opportunity I could not afford to let pass.

Which is why we end up with a giant yellow frog in “Walanghanggan.”

 

There was also, as I mentioned above, the conscious decision to mirror certain aspects in both arcs.

Thus, we have the hero actually held captive inside the Masakim analogue, calling back to the visual of Greed as a hollow thing.

In “Walanghanggan,” the hero is tortured* for an indeterminate amount of time, but in “Siyudad,” the “Greed is forever hollow, no matter how much stuff you throw into it” idea is taken a step further, as the analogue actually uses the hero’s own life force to power itself.

All we see is what appears to be a hollow rib cage, without any internal organs.

In a fundamental sense, the hero--trapped in its rib cage; get it? Rib cage?--becomes the analogue’s internal organs, their own strength, power, and life force forced to flow throughout the analogue’s body.

The hero himself becomes the analogue’s beating heart.

But still, the analogue desires more…

But then again, that’s Greed, right? Always wanting more…

I could go on, but maybe let's leave it there for now...

In the meantime, if you haven't gotten your copies of these new releases and still read this spoiler-y post, then please click on down to the Indies section of the Avenida website so you can do just that, and then see what it is I'm blathering on about here...

 

That should be all for now, all you mighty fine folk out there…

 

Stay safe.

Stay sane.

 

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

* Subjecting the hero's super-hearing to a super-noise barrage of giant frog borborygmus was my own spin on PSYOP warfare sound torture...

The new ‘Verse releases DAKILA: Siyudad 3 (art by the mighty fine Pyotr Mutuc) and KADASIG: Walanghanggan 2 (art by the mighty fine Romnick Magbanua), as well as an assortment of previously released DAKILA and KADASIG issues, are all available to order online at the Indies section of the Avenida website.

Click on down there to support self-published local comics.

'VERSE UPDATE 2021 (1)

Aaaaaaand we're back...

With two (count 'em, two!) new releases:

DAKILA: Siyudad Issue 3 (of 4) [New Release]

David Hontiveros / Pyotr Mutuc

B&W / Wraparound cover / 24 pages / 6.5 x 10 inches / 160 pesos

 

While Maleck does what he needs to do in the diabul, Dakila buys some time by keeping that monster frog thing busy…

The young hero is about to find out just how expensive that time actually is… 

KADASIG: Walanghanggan Issue 2 (of 3) [New Release]

David Hontiveros / Romnick Magbanua

B&W / Colored cover / 24 pages / 6.5 x 10 inches / 190 pesos

 

Kadasig, Bagsik, Elias, and Lintik are now part of Walanghanggan’s ensemble cast…

But Kadasig needs to be someone else inside the sentient horror movie: SPOILER!

Grab a seat and some blood-drenched popcorn and see how that bit of spandex-y improv turns out!

 
So there we go.
 
Please click on over to the Indies section of the Avenida website for more details (and preview pages), and, you know, to do the ordering…

Both new releases should be on the top row.

For those of you who've already ordered the previous issues of these story arcs, then here are the next chapters.

For those of you who haven't checked these arcs out, go for it!

Support independently produced local comics!

There should be an Out of the Gutter post on the new releases soon...
 
Meanwhile, please stay safe and sane, people!

you can't drink just six,

Dave

 TRESE: BLOODLINES Volume 1

TRESE: BLOODLINES Volume 1 is now available to order on Shopee.

I had originally intended to make that announcement in a new Out of the Gutter post where I was going to talk a bit more about one of my contributions, but alas, some Personal Life Upheaval stuff raging, so I'll try and get around to that particular OotG at some point.

For now, my contributions are as follows:

The Fr. Matthias Trese case, “That Kind of Hunger” (art by the mighty fine Brian Balondo) and

the Fr. Trese and Dakila Deviation, “Iunctura” (AKA DEVIATIONS Issue 1; art by the mighty fine Marvin del Mundo).

If "Iunctura" makes you want to see more Dakila (and I really hope it does), then kindly click on down to the Indies section of the Avenida website, where you'll find these 'Verse goodies...

Support independently published local comics!

In the meantime, let's continue to trudge through this liminal space, leaving the massive dumpster fire that was TFNY 2020...

Hopefully, 2021 will be kinder to the human race...

With that said:

 

Stay safe.

Stay sane.

 

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

TRESE: BLOODLINES Volume 1

The anthology title TRESE: BLOODLINES Volume 1 is now available for preorder at the Avenida website.

It's 20% off for preorders, which should be paid by December 17, 2020 (that's this coming Thursday).

Shipping will start on December 21, 2020 (next Monday, a week from now).

There's a complete rundown of the contents of Volume 1 at the Avenida preorder link.

My contributions are as follows:

The Fr. Matthias Trese case, “That Kind of Hunger” (art by the mighty fine Brian Balondo) and

the Fr. Trese and Dakila Deviation, “Iunctura” (AKA DEVIATIONS Issue 1; art by the mighty fine Marvin del Mundo).

There should be an Out of the Gutter post or two about "That Kind of Hunger" that will hopefully go live here soon-ish...

In the meantime, while you're down Avenida way to preorder, it would be greatly appreciated if you also click on down to the Indies section, where you'll find these 'Verse goodies...

With that said:

 

Stay safe.

Stay sane.

 

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

OUT OF THE GUTTER (2) DAKILA: Siyudad Issue 2

OUT OF THE GUTTER (2)

DAKILA: Siyudad Issue 2
David Hontiveros / Pyotr Mutuc

In the process of character creation, one of the key steps is getting to the core of the character.

I tend to think of this step as something similar to the Inside-Out actor’s approach to building up their character (as opposed to the Outside-In approach, which essentially utilizes the external, the character’s physical appearance, wardrobe, etc., to establish the character).

Getting to the internal core of the character will tell you who that individual is, and will serve as the foundation for the active inner life that characters need in order to hopefully achieve a well-rounded believability.

But when you’re talking about entities like the Seven Deadly Sins, getting to the core of, say, Greed, can afford a host of interesting possibilities you wouldn’t normally have access to if the character you were creating was a normal human being.

 

For the purposes of The Septet, I imagined Greed to be this bottomless hollow, just a pit that you could keep on filling with stuff, but would never actually get filled.

Its personality would possess it to compulsively acquire and hoard, and yet never be satisfied with what it already had, instead wanting still more, and more, and more.

(Which actually sounds like some “normal” human beings out there, but, hey, that’s a whole other conversation entirely.)

 

This bottomless hollow imagery will get a closer inspection in issue 3, as well as in KADASIG: Walanghanggan issue 2.

Both of these new releases should be available to order online sometime early next year.

At that point, we’ll return to this train of thought.

 

In the meantime, you’ve hopefully already picked up Siyudad issue 2, so you know what the plotz I’m talking about.

And if you haven’t, then please click on down to the Indies section of the Avenida website.

 

That should be all for now, all you mighty fine folk out there…

 

Stay safe.

Stay sane.

 

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

 

The new ‘Verse releases DAKILA: Siyudad 2 (art by the mighty fine Pyotr Mutuc) and KADASIG: Walanghanggan 1 (art by the mighty fine Romnick Magbanua), as well as 5 other previously released issues, are all available to order online at the Indies section of the Avenida website.

Click on down there to support self-published local comics.