2018 NOVEMBER KOMIKON ANNOUNCEMENT #4

It's the 30th of October, which means tomorrow is the 31st.
So, here's hoping all you mighty fine folk have a Happy (and safe) Halloween!

It also means that we're eighteen days out from this year's November Komikon (November 17 & 18), and look!
Announcement number four!

NEW 'VERSE COMIC RELEASE

DAKILA: Legado 
Issue 2A (of 3)

David Hontiveros / Michael Urbano

Your name is Brandon Ramirez and you’ve been a geek your whole life: comics, movies, RPGs, cosplay.

And now you’re officially the world’s first superhero, as evidenced by the cape, the mask, the totally ripped physique, and those crazy-awesome powers.

Higher agencies seem to have conspired to steer you right into that skintight outfit.

We have only one question:

How’s that working out for you?

A reunion between fellow reprobated angels Raguel and Adimus turns contentious when Adimus' new "mission" is revealed.
Naturally, Dakila arrives just in time for the fisticuffs...

Dakila.

18 years old.
Cosmic champion.

All of a sudden, acne and getting a driver’s license are so not a big deal anymore.

So, yeah! Freebies!
Discounts!
And new releases!

And speaking of discounts...
Aside from the 'Verse packs (all completed story arcs available at a discounted price), we'll also be introducing 'Verse packets at NovKon.
Packets will consist of issues from unfinished story arcs that nonetheless still feature complete stories.
Like a group of one-and-dones (Dakila: Kapalaran issue 1 & Dakila: Buwan issue 1; art by Bibo Reyes and Jason Confesor, respectively)

and a complete two-parter (Dakila: Lumilim issues 1 & 2; art by Elmer Cantada).

So, discounts on compilations, discounts on packs, discounts on packets.
Discounts all around.

There you go.

Set the dates: November 17 & 18, at the Bayanihan Center on Pioneer.
Look for me (and the freebies and the discounts and the new comic book releases) at the Visprint booth!
And don't forget the ARTIST ALERT.

This post will also be, in all likelihood, the final post before NovKon. (Unless there's like a stealth ninja release that I am totally unaware of at the moment, which, as far as I know, there isn't.)
But please feel free to come back to the Iguana in these last 18 days before NovKon, just in case...

And please also feel free to spread a link to this post around, so we can get the word out.

#komikonph

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at NovKon!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

2018 NOVEMBER KOMIKON ANNOUNCEMENT #3

We're four weeks out from this year's November Komikon (November 17 & 18), and look!
Announcement number three!

DISCOUNTED COMPILATION

TATSULOK: A Vision of Dust Compilation

David Hontiveros / Xerx Javier

In the many rooms of the House that is the World, there are arelim and shedim. Most men know them as angels and demons.

Three individuals, each related to one race or the other, converge on the stage of Holy Week, 2009, for their own collective Passion Play of transformation and acceptance.

Collecting issues 1 to 4, this is a remastered TATSULOK: AVoD.

The page size is bigger than the previously released singles, which means, more art, because:

A)    You’ll get to see the art at a larger size; and

B)    With the captions and word balloons staying the same size, less of the art is now covered by those pesky, pesky words…

And a limited number of copies will be available at NovKon at the discounted price of 200 pesos!

So, yeah!Freebies!
A new release!
And discounts!

There you go.

Set the dates: November 17 & 18, at the Bayanihan Center on Pioneer.
Look for me (and the freebies and the new comic book release and the discounted compilation) at the Visprint booth!

And, while we're all here, I'd also like to announce:
ARTIST ALERT!

If you're an artist (or know one) who's interested in collaborating, then we'd absolutely love to hear from you.
If you're dropping by NovKon, then make sure and bring some samples to the Visprint booth, drop them in front of me, and we'll see what there is to be seen. (This is how at least one of the artists I'm currently collaborating with got on board the 'Verse train.)
Or, you can email us at verse.comics@gmail.com. (Subject Heading: ARTIST ALERT)

Please keep in mind though, this is not a paying/salaried/page-rated job.
As per the long standing Alamat tradition, the only possible financial compensation will come from royalties from sales, once the completed comics are published.
(Which is a whole other can of worms that needs to eventually be opened, but of course, the comics need to be completed first.)
This is primarily about our love of the comic book medium, and contributing to that medium what are, hopefully, stories of substance.
With lots of punching!

So, again, if you're an artist who wants to help keep the 'Verse train on track, then we can't wait to hear from you!

And come on back to the Iguana to check for any new NovKon announcements every now and then.

And please also feel free to spread a link to this post around, so we can get the word out.

#komikonph

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at NovKon!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

2018 NOVEMBER KOMIKON ANNOUNCEMENT #2

We're five weeks and two days out from this year's November Komikon (November 17 & 18), and look!
Announcement number two!

NEW COMIC BOOK RELEASE

BATHALA: APOKALYPSIS Issue 7 (of 7)

David Hontiveros / Ace Enriquez

Three and a half years ago, Bathala tried to avert the Apocalypse.

The whole world witnessed the hero engulfed by a cataclysmic explosion.

The whole world thought he was dead.

And it carried on without him, right down the path to damnation.

But now Bathala’s back.

Only to face the possibility of death once more…

For those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning…

It all ends here.

With “A Beast in the Theatre”.

BATHALA: APOKALYPSIS issue 7.

Launching at NovKon.

And with the release of the final issue, we're also offering a catch-up pack containing all the previous BATHALA: APOKALYPSIS issues, at the discounted price of P350.

So, yeah!
Freebies!
And a new release!

There you go.

Set the dates: November 17 & 18, at the Bayanihan Center on Pioneer.
Look for me (and the freebies and the new comic book release) at the Visprint booth!

And come on back to the Iguana to check for any new NovKon announcements every now and then.

And please also feel free to spread a link to this post around, so we can get the word out.

#komikonph

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at NovKon!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2019

Candidate #2

HOUSEWIFE

(September 2017)

“Let's go back to where it all began.”

After gracing the ¡Qué horror! 2016 rundown with Baskin, Can Evrenol is back with his sophomore feature, the English-language Housewife, which follows Holly (Clémentine Poidatz), who is haunted by a terrible childhood tragedy.

Things take a turn for the worse when Holly finds herself at the seminar of a “… crazy, world-famous cult that actually believes in the Apocalypse happening pretty soon.”

There’s only you and your dreams – ULM slogan

The cult, described as “… like Scientology with astral travel,” is called ULM (Umbrella of Love and Mind), and is led by Bruce O’Hara (David Sakurai), who comes out on stage at said seminar to the tune of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “I’m Your Boogie Man” (a homophonically apt title, natch).

It really isn’t much of a spoiler to say that the “rock star” entrance (with an umbrella, right, ‘cause, well… ULM) masks something far more sinister.

“Accept the mystery.”

In Housewife, Evrenol trades in most (but not all) of the batsh!t insanity of Baskin for a mystery cloaked in dream, memory, and cult madness, the deep psychological scarring of the eponymous protagonist, and some frank, adult sexuality.

It’s a truly excellent follow-up, that also serves as a tantalizing promise of more dark and disturbing visions from Evrenol.

“Let me take you to your destiny.”

Parting Shot: The female artist working in miniature in a horror film has apparently become a recurring motif these days.

Or what the kids would call “a thing.”

Hereditary, Michael Tully’s Don’t Leave Home, and now, Housewife.

Yeah.

“A thing”…

(Housewife OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2019

Candidate #1

INTO THE DARK

Season 1 Episode 1
THE BODY
(October 2018)

“Yeah, the one that was dressed as, ummm… uhhh… uhhh… Elsa from Frozen?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow! Marie Antoinette, you dipshit! Do you know anything about anything that’s not been made into an action figure?”
“I’m so sorry, Professor. I’m not an expert in Civil War history, okay?”

(Clears throat.)

“It has begun!” he exclaims in his best Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa*-as-Shang Tsung tones.

¡Qué horror! 2019.

And it begins here.

With Into the Dark.

In case you haven’t heard, Into the Dark is the latest horror anthology to hit the scene.

Brought to us by the unholy (but very, very welcome) alliance of Hulu and Blumhouse, what makes Into the Dark different from all the other horror anthologies out there is its structure: it isn’t one story told in serialized form over x number of episodes, but rather, a dozen distinct horror features brought to us over the course of a season.

And they’ve decided to kick off with Paul Davis’ The Body.

“I still can’t believe it’s him.”

“I know. Doesn’t he have like, 20 million Twitter followers?”

“Well… Not anymore.”

Based on his short of the same name, The Body follows a cultured and exacting hitman (Jekyll & Hyde’s Tom Bateman), who’s unfortunately inconvenienced on Halloween night, disrupting his plans of transporting the titular body of his latest victim (an apparently “famous person”) as part of his deal with his client.

Cue horror-comedy shenanigans.

“This is what death looks like, boy.”

But don’t let the word “comedy” fool you.

The Body is still very much a horror film. It just so happens to have some funny lines and some blackly comic situations baked into it.

With brief appearances by Sasha Grey and John Landis** (the Landis connection presumably stemming from Davis’ direction of the Beware the Moon: Remembering ‘An American Werewolf in London’ documentary), The Body’s a great way to kick off the Candidates list for ¡Qué horror! 2019, and if you’ve already checked out the 2018 rundown, then move smoothly onto this title for some awesome Halloween viewing.

“And why couldn’t he just kill like, Elijah Wood or someone small?”

* Who, incidentally enough, plays my hands-down favorite character on The Man in the High Castle, Trade Minister Tagomi.

** Interestingly, Landis’ An American Werewolf in London is a great example of the horror-comedy hybrid.

Parting Shot: Into the Dark presents me with an interesting conundrum. It’s a television series (or, well, “web television”) whose episodes are feature films.

So, in light of the ¡Qué horror! set-up, here’s how I’m planning to solve the conundrum:

I’m going to consider each episode as a feature film, so Into the Dark doesn’t potentially hog the TV Horror slot (since it’s going to have a dozen separate titles vying for that slot, as opposed to any other TV series, which faces the tricky and difficult task of having all the episodes in any particular season tie up into a single solid horror experience).

Considering Into the Dark as “television” here wouldn’t be fair to the other TV horror shows…

(Into the Dark: The Body OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

2018 NOVEMBER KOMIKON ANNOUNCEMENT

We're six weeks and one day out from this year's November Komikon (November 17 & 18), and look!
Announcement!

To help with the promos we're having for all you mighty fine folk this NovKon, you'll find me situated at the Visprint booth for the two-day event.
And that's because we'll be giving away a limited number of copies of some of the Visprint books that I wrote, with purchases of 'Verse and BATHALA comic books!
Yes, giving away.
For FREE!!!

Here's how that's going to work.

If your total comic book purchase comes to 150 to 249 pesos, you'll be getting a free copy of a Penumbra novella (mostly Parman



--which, incidentally enough, directly connects to the 'Verse--though there will be a few stray copies of Takod 



 and Craving available, at least while the supplies last).



If your total comic book purchase comes to 250 to 349 pesos, you'll be getting a free copy of Seroks (either Iteration 1: Mirror Man 

or Iteration 2: Once in a Lifetime).

And if your total comic book purchase comes to 350 pesos and above, you'll be getting two free copies of Seroks (your choice of Iterations, while supplies last).

So, yeah!
Freebies!
(Again, while supplies last.)

I'll be adding links to subsequent NovKon announcements to this post as we get closer to November 17 & 18 (and there will be more announcements in the days to come), so please feel free to come back to the Iguana to check for anything new every now and then.
And please also feel free to spread a link to this post around, so we can get the word out.

Freebies!!!

So there you go.

Set the dates: November 17 & 18, at the Bayanihan Center on Pioneer.
Look for me (and the freebies) at the Visprint booth!

#komikonph

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at NovKon!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

More Links! More Announcements!

Announcement #2 - New Comic Book Release

Announcement #3 - Discounted Compilation & Artist Alert

Announcement #4 - New 'Verse Comic Book Release & Discounted Packets

Parman excerpt

Craving excerpt

Takod excerpt

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2018

The Wrap-Up

And there we are, this year’s 10(+1) titles.

I can only hope that the next 12 months will result in enough Candidates to give us back our usual 13 slots.

In the meantime, those titles that I watched in the past 12 months that didn’t quite cross completely over into “horror” territory, but nevertheless deserve your attention.

THOROUGHBREDS

(January 2017)

“First it was borderline personality, then severe depression, now she thinks I'm antisocial with schizoid tendencies. She's basically just flipping to random pages of the DSM and throwing medications at me.

“But at the end of the day, I have a perfectly healthy brain. It just doesn't contain feelings. And that doesn't necessarily make me a bad person. It just means I have to work a little harder than everybody else to be good.”

Think of this black comedy as the brainier, more class-conscious cousin to Tragedy Girls.

It’s a laudable debut by writer/director Cory Finley, who’s got quite the cast here: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Anton Yelchin (R.I.P.).

MOTHER!

(September 2017)

“I’ll just… get started on the apocalypse.”

Aronofsky examines the deep, fundamental differences between men and women… by going totally nuts on domesticity!

(And that’s just one of the things this film is about!)

!

MINDHUNTER

(October 2017)

“If what we’re doing doesn’t get under your skin, you’re either more screwed up than I thought, or you’re kidding yourself.”

Diving deep into the toxicity of insanity and violence, Mindhunter is an excellent companion piece to Fincher’s masterpiece, Zodiac.

SANTA CLARITA DIET Season 2

(March 2018)

So.

Many.

Good.

Quotes!

But let’s go with this one: “If you f*ckers try to leave me somewhere I will track you down and give you so much sh!t it will make the time you didn’t take me to see One Direction feel like a walk in the godd*mn park.”

O, Season 3, where art thou?

SLICE

(September 2018)

“… once some people get an idea in their head, they just can’t shake it. Frankly, I still believe cats can speak English. They just choose not to.

“Heh. Clever sons’a b!tches.”

Delivered (har!) to us by writer/director AustinVesely, Slice posits a world where ghosts and humans co-exist (if by “co-exist” we mean, relocating all the ghosts to “fifteen city blocks of abandoned homes and businesses”--thereafter known as Ghost Town--all in the name of “beautification”).

Plus, werewolves, witches, and demons, too!

Vesely also gets plus points for unexpectedly sneaking in David Lynch; guaranteed to get my attention!

And so it goes.

Another October, another ¡Qué horror! rundown.

Let’s all have a Happy Halloween, yeah?

And if you’re in the mood for some Halloween viewing, feel free to check out this year’s batch.

(Thoroughbreds, Mother!, Santa Clarita Diet Season 2, Slice OS’ courtesy of impawards.com; Mindhunter OS courtesy of avoir-alire.com.)