2018 NOVEMBER KOMIKON POST-KON POST

Another November Komikon in the rearview mirror, and, for all you mighty fine folk who dropped by on Day 1, let me extend my thanx for your support.
I hope you enjoy your comic purchases and freebies.

And for all you mighty fine folk who passed by on Day 2 to find me MIA, I extend my sincerest apologies.
I am so, so, SO sorry I wasn't in attendance on Day 2.
I'll spare you the details, but I had a fall Saturday night after NovKon Day 1 wrapped up, so my left knee and foot got banged up and swollen, so I couldn't attend Day 2, as much as I really wanted to.
I'm still recovering and need to ensure that all the injuries are healing properly, so I also need to keep this short.

Once again, SO sorry to anyone who passed by on Day 2.
Rest assured, I fully intend to resume all the discounts and freebies at the next Komikon (since there are still freebie supplies left over), so we can think of the next Komikon as a delayed NovKon 2018 Day 2...

Also, for any artists who might have dropped by on Day 2 in regards to the ARTIST ALERT, another round of apologies.
You can still email us at verse.comics@gmail.com. (Subject Heading: ARTIST ALERT)
As I've said before, we really would love to hear from you.

Okay, so I'll need to leave it at that for now.
Again, thanx to everyone who dropped by on Day 1, and apologies to everyone who might have dropped by on Day 2.
(Also, HUGE thanx to Nida and the Visprint Crew, particularly for having to deal with my Day 2 absence, and to Ace, who tried, but work got in the way...)

Hope to see all you mighty fine folk at the next Komikon, and please, continue to support local comic book writers and artists!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

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 #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

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.)

10 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[10 of 10]

A QUIET PLACE

(March 2018)

If you've seen the trailer, then you know the set-up: there are savage and lethal things that are attracted to noise, threatening to annihilate the human race.

To quote Elmer Fudd: “Be vewy vewy quiet.”

A Quiet Place, John Krasinski’s third directorial feature, ropes in Krasinski’s real-life spouse, Emily Blunt, as the pair portray the Abbotts, Lee and Evelyn, trying to keep their children safe and (heh) sound in this taut, tense, and at times relentless crackerjack title.

As finely crafted a horror film as this is though, what breathes life into the scenario is the cast--which includes the deaf Millicent Simmonds--who all need to convey emotion largely through expression and (subtitled) sign language.

So that’s a huge part of the draw.

Oh, and of course, the creepy-a$$ creature design by ILM.

In the words of co-screenwriter Bryan Woods, A Quiet Place was partially born from a desire “… to do a modern-day silent film that lived in the suspense genre.”

Well, sir, mission accomplished.

With a sequel currently in development, there’s no better time like the present to catch this one.

(A Quiet Place OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

10 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[9 of 10]

ANNIHILATION

(February 2018)

"Isn't self-destruction coded into us? Programmed into each cell?”

Alex Garland’s Annihilation (based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer) is heady, horror-tinged science fiction, the kind we need far more than the N^th iteration of some tired SF franchise.

And while some may wonder at its inclusion here, I think it’s quite clear to those who frequent the Iguana that my definition of “horror” has always been very broad, allowing for diverse moods and tastes, from quiet elegance to raucous bombast.

Think of Annihilation as the horror of science, of nature gone horribly awry.

And not in the ‘70’s “animals go wild, nature vs man” schlock cinema sense (though there are flitting shades of that sensibility here), but rather in the sense of the horror of chaos, of the terrible, maddening possibility of having everything we take for granted twisted into unnatural and terrifying shapes.

Garland captures a grotesque beauty here, the awful majesty of seeing the mundane transfigured into the bizarre and the alien, his vision helped along tremendously by the soundscape laid down by Ben Salisbury and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow (the duo also scored Garland’s Ex Machina and Black Mirror’s “Men Against Fire”).

Plus, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Natalie Portman.

Need I say more?

(Annihilation OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

10 Slots for the Best Horror I've Seen in the Past Year
[8 of 10]
The TV Horror Slot

And it's a tie!!!

CHANNEL ZERO: NO-END HOUSE

(September 2017)

"God! I keep... waiting for one of you to understand how magnificent this place is!

"All the gifts that it can give you! Because memory is a disease!

“And then this house is the cure! How can you not see that?!”

One of the most amazing things about Channel Zero’s sophomore season is that, though it still fundamentally feels like a Channel Zero story (in so much as the Channel Zero logo doesn’t look out of place in the opening credits), it does so despite the fact that it has a different kind of horror at its core, compared to the horror of Candle Cove.

With its central themes of memory and loss and instinct and co-dependency, No-End House is also surprisingly moving, balancing out the horror with genuine emotion, thanks in no small part to a commendable cast, which includes the excellent John Carroll Lynch.

CHANNEL ZERO:
BUTCHER'S BLOCK

(February 2018)

“... this is the city I come home to.

“When I walk here, I’m in two worlds at the same time. The one you see, and the one I remember.”

With both No-End House and Butcher’s Block making the cut this year, it has become pointedly apparent that Channel Zero is where the best of current television horror can be found.

“You were so scared of losing your mind and then you just gave it away…”

With the insidious spectre of mental illness and the desolation of sacrifice zones some of its preoccupations, Butcher’s Block is “… particularly inspired by Argento films, by Candyman, by Nicolas Roeg films” (in the words of Channel Zero’s creator and showrunner, Nick Antosca).

Directed by Arkasha Stevenson (who brought Lynch to the, ahem, table), Butcher’s Block makes it three for three for Channel Zero, and, once again, the ante is upped for its next season, The Dream Door, directed by E.L. Katz, no stranger to these parts due to Cheap Thrills.*

With reversals, a motley crew of protagonists, and a steady, occasionally hallucinatory build to a Grand Guignol climax, Antosca, Stevenson, and company have brought us a “… particularly bizarre flavor” of horror in Butcher’s Block.

Oh, and did I forget to mention?

Rutger flippin’ Hauer is in this one!

“You know, if you don’t eat enough protein, the body just starts to eat itself. Yeah, I read that in a Reader’s Digest.

“You just get so hungry, your heart will just up and eat itself! And then it moves on to your brain, and then it goes down to your spine, and suddenly, you’re just dead!

“Happens to vegetarians all the time.”

(Channel Zero: No-End House OS courtesy of impawards.com; Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block OS courtesy of dreadcentral.com.)

*Katz also directed “A is for Amateur” for ¡Qué horror! 2015 title, ABCs of Death 2, and was an associate producer on Adam Wingard’s A Horrible Way To Die, one of the Serial Killer Thriller runners-up on the 2012 rundown.

He was also co-producer on the non-¡Qué horror! title, The Aggression Scale, so, yeah… Katz has been ‘round these parts a lot, even when he wasn’t fronting a film.

Here’s hoping he comes back for The Dream Door…