OUT OF THE GUTTER (1)
David Hontiveros / Romnick Magbanua
For the record:
In the Far, Far Away Time
of the Long Ago, when Ian replied to my question of who was the bad guy he
wanted Kadasig to face with "the Seven Deadly Sins", I had to give
that a bit of a think.
Because I'd already previously done a version of the Sins in AVATAR.
During that period of consideration and deep dive research, the
idea of leaning into elements like color and animal associations with the
Deadly Sins seemed the way to go (since the approach I took in AVATAR was to anthropomorphize them).
In the end, I said
"Okay," and The Septet came into being.
So while Magalit (Anger) is the Red Bear, Masakim (Greed) is the
Yellow Frog.
(The full rundown of the Septet’s animal and color associations--as
well as the reason why their names all begin with “Ma”--can be found in one of the
in-between-chapters text pieces in the TATSULOK:
A Vision of Dust compilation, art by the mighty fine Xerx Javier.)
Meanwhile.
When the idea of a demonic, sentient horror movie first came
into focus, I immediately knew it would be an opportunity to nod towards a few
of the subgenres that I feel a deep horrorhead affection for.
Thus, in issue 1, you have spotlights shined on giallo and the slasher films
subsequently influenced by giallo, as
well as the “disembodied killer hand” subgenre, as typified by Oliver Stone’s The Hand (an adaptation of Marc Brandel’s
The Lizard’s Tail), Alfredo Zacarias’
Macabra (AKA Demonoid), Rodman Flender’s Idle
Hands, and of course, Sam Raimi’s Evil
Dead II.
(And though it’s a short fiction piece, it would be an insulting
oversight if I neglected to mention Clive Barker’s “The Body Politic,” from Books of Blood. I haven’t had the chance
to watch Mick Garris’ Quicksilver Highway,
in which “The Body Politic” is adapted, so I have no idea if it does justice to
the short story.)
But let’s step back and take a closer look at giallo, shall we?
When they hear the term, horrorheads will immediately think Argento,
Bava, Fulci… but the term giallo
originated from the world of literature.
And the meaning of the word giallo?
Yellow.
The term was used as a label for these pulpy mysteries and
thrillers because the backgrounds of the book covers were uniformly yellow.
So, yes, I loved the serendipity of Walanghanggan also being about Greed (as per the long-standing Art
Vs Commerce argument that has shadowed cinema since its inception), so that the
story arc that featured giallo
prominently within its narrative, would also happen to have yellow covers, like
an old school giallo paperback…
Serendipity.
Mwah!
The next OotG post should be about DAKILA: Siyudad issue 2, and will probably go live at some point in
the indeterminate future…
For now though, I should take this opportunity to note that one
of the characters introduced in Siyudad
2 speaks with a font designed by none other than the mighty fine Edgar Tadeo,
who drew the sh!t out of KADILIMAN: In
Their Silent Shadow Carnival. (Hey, Ed! Howzit?)
Guess that’s all for now.
Stay safe.
Stay sane.
you can’t drink just six,
Dave
The new ‘Verse releases KADASIG:
Walanghanggan 1 (art by the mighty fine Romnick Magbanua) and DAKILA: Siyudad 2 (art by the mighty
fine Pyotr Mutuc), as well as 5 other previously released issues, are all available
to order online at the Indies section of the Avenida website.
