To make room for his half-page komiks, PDI stopped publishing 7 other comic strips.
This includes Divine Comedy by Steven Pabalinas, Mikrokosmos by Jomike Tejido, and Love Knots by Elizabeth Chionglo.
The only strips left are Atomo and Weboy, Pugad Baboy, Kiko Machine, and Garfield (plus two others).
The question that came to my mind is this: How can a man save the Philippine komiks industry by replacing 7 existing comic strips with one?
Update: We have just confirmed from Elizabeth Chionglo that Love Knots will resume printing next week. I hope the other 6 gets the same. --------------------------------------------
I don't think Carlo J Caparas is to blame for the loss of jobs of the other artists, I mean, it is the decision of PDI. So, my message to PDI is, what are you guys thinking??? Do you honestly believe that one man's work is equivalent to 6-7 works from others and that singular 'komiks' by itself can revive the Philippine komiks industry?
The Inquirer also struck on a wild idea: To bring back readership and get a broader mass base, why not run komiks stories in the paper? Whats more, the two mass mediums would be helping each other.
And so the Inquirer went to Caparas. After all, the guy has written over 800 novels and short stories for komiks, and some 100 screenplays many of which he himself directed. You think people will buy Inquirer only to read the new komiks of Caparas? Firing 6-7 people who make comics, how is that helping the industry? What do you call the comic strips you have just stopped publishing when you said "Why not run komik stories on paper"? Haven't you been doing that already?
With no disrespect to Mr. Caparas, I mean, honestly, we acknowledge that he has done a LOT in the past, and I'm sure he'll do lots more in the future. BUT, is he the only one? Is PDI not recognizing any other younger talents?
Caparas says a commissioner from the Komisyon ng Wika has asked him to revive the komiks as it can greatly help people learn the national language. Don't we already know how to speak in Filipino? Do you mean to say we should speak in very deep Tagalog?
In the caravan he is doing with wife Donna Villa in the provinces, where he gives lectures and workshops on komiks writing and illustrating, he has seen how people have wanted the komiks to return.
Early this year, in a reunion of komiks writers, illustrators and various former employees of the defunct industry, he learned of the plight of his colleagues who lost their jobs. Out of 10 people na kinumusta ko, eight had already died (Out of 10 people I asked about, eight had already died), he recalls. Then I don't think Mr Caparas will appreciate what has happened to Jomike, Steven and the others.
And a revived industry, of course, would generate jobs. After all, the komiks has not really died. It was just in a three-year coma. Which time-frame are we using here? Is it really necessary that to generate jobs, we have to fire people first?
This is crazy. I think PDI just made a mistake. It's that or it's "OH MY GOD!! IT'S CRLO J. CAPARAS!! qUICK REMOVE THE STRIPS WE HAVE FOR HIM!!". Yeesh!
Di ko talaga gusto si CJ Caparas, kaya sobrang nagtataka ako sa mga nangyayari..
Kung may mga non-member na nagbabasa nitong thread, nililinaw ko lang po, walang kinalaman si Mr Lyndon Gregorio sa mga sinasabi ng mga forumites dito..
very well said...purely PERSONAL opinion. By the way, i e-mailed PDI and said that personally, i don't like what they did. It's like kicking out tenured six employees in order to make way for a famous celebrity who wants to work. Haaaay naku, ang iba, naghihirap mag-apply sa PDI, sasabihin nila kesyo walang space. Tapos eto si Carlo J. Caparas? Hay naku, the beauty of being famous.
see my other opinions on http://bugoytheman.deviantart.com/
"oh, the river is wide, the river it touches my life...like the waves on the sand...and all roads lead to tranquillity base...where the frown on my face disappears..."
Here's Jomike Tejido's (the creator of ousted Mikrokosmos) own take on the Caparas Massacre, as posted in the Artists Den mailing list:
Re: [artistsden] Re: Carlo J. Caparas replaces 7 comic strips in PDI
Hello guys,
i was given a notice nung 15 days bago na terminate ang comics ko. yung in- house artist ang nag email saakin and i asked why lang sa 2nd email. so nalaman ko nga na marami kami natanggal to be replaced by one big comic.
well, my reactions were in this order - gulat, badtrip and then soothed to "ok na nga lang" ... in this stage, my mind was clear. and since i was advised na kulang pa naman ako ng last ten strips, i decided to make the ten most kadiri strips!-joke! i decided to make a rational move and themed them as:
"if it were your last ten day here on planet earth , what would you do?" (of course they had to be related to my environmental theme).
so parang end of the world! last ten statements ko na rin to the country, with an all- barkada party at the end, where you spend your last day with the people you love!
o well i guess thats it for me and daily comics. I was able to compile one comicbook collection, so at least that's one lifetime-goal striked out! :)
nakakaiyak naman!!!! grrr.... this will surely be posted in my blog.. nakakabadtrip!!!!! Come to think of it, ang letter na yan galing lang sa isa sa mga natanggalan ng trabaho, how about the others? what do they feel now?
actually, it might be the same comics, but they are still different, in terms of target market and visual representation.. Also, Carlo Caparas is a comics writer, not the artist.
Anyway, as much as I'm miffed with the sacking of comic strip artists from PDI, i can 't help but be curious as to how the 5 new titles of comics by Caparas, that will be sold for 10 pesos, will be welcomed by the people. 10 pesos is indeed cheap, so I think I might buy, just for the heck of it, and see what it has to offer.
On the other hand, I love reading romance novels.. But it doesn't mean that I go and buy our local romance novels (those thin ones that you see in National bookstore that i think is less than 50 pesos?). I much prefer the thick saga-ish romance novels.. Not because they are in English, but because I think the story is much more interesting.. I do read Filipino novels, like Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag, Luha ng Buhaya, Bata Bata.., but I still choose which ones to read.
"oh, the river is wide, the river it touches my life...like the waves on the sand...and all roads lead to tranquillity base...where the frown on my face disappears..."
haaay.. the problem is, Caparas is the president's poster boy for the comics industry here.. i have nothing against how he writes and his material but if the concern here is to improve the comics industry by replacing the other works to make room for him,isn't that damage enough? the artists that he will be replacing represents the new breed of Philippine comics, thus supressing the comic industry further.. it doesn't help at all, i mean, how does THAT help! i guess the PDI is just sucking up to the current administration.. pfft..
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onLy UnfuLfiLLed LoVe cAn bE rOmaNTic..-maria elena (VIcky Cristina Barcelona)
whoever labled caparas as the "king of Komiks" is totally wrong. whoever said that komiks was in a 3 year coma, it was caparas who was in a coma and NOT KOMIKS. Where was caparas all this time? why did he re-appear perfectly in time during the senatorial elections? he admitted he couldn't revive it and now he's taking every opportunity to make himself seen.
it's hard enough for a local artist to have his/her comic strips published in newspapers because they choose to get syndicated foreign strips. How many times have newpapers told off artists "sorry, we don't have space for your strips." and with the magic words "Carlo J. Caparas", they remove 6 strips so easily.
Well be thankful he's no longer making massacre movies. Unless he makes a comic book anthology of them... We'd be praying the same way he prays in his movie subtitles.
"oh, the river is wide, the river it touches my life...like the waves on the sand...and all roads lead to tranquillity base...where the frown on my face disappears..."
"oh, the river is wide, the river it touches my life...like the waves on the sand...and all roads lead to tranquillity base...where the frown on my face disappears..."
A lot of people are going to hate me for what I'm about to say, but I have to.
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I am saddened by the fact that CJC's comic took out a lot of the local comic strips. I remember the first time I saw the newly revamped comic page, I thought I turned to the wrong page. When I realized that this was the new comics page, the first thing I did was to see if Pugad Baboy and Kiko Machine were still there. When I found them, I was relieved, and I thought nothing more of the new look.
When I read through this thread, though, I suddenly remembered Love Knots and all the other local strips that used to be in the Inquirer comic section. My first reaction was to be indignant, just as all of you are (rightfully) in this thread. But then, I looked at the revamp from a business standpoint, and it makes sense.
Assume that I'm the editor of the comic section. Assume that I have no connections or friends among the local comic industry. As an editor, I'd be on the lookout for opportunities to contribute to the selling of my newspaper (because that's what I'm there for and this is what pays the bills). Suddenly, Carlo J Caparas comes in and wants to set up shop in my comic page. Taking all assumptions into consideration, will I then tell CJC "I'd love to, but I have all these artists depending on me, so sorry, I can't accomodate you"? Or will I make space for the Carlo J Caparas, the so-called savior of Pinoy Comics?
Well, we all know what happened. Can you fault the powers that in in the PDI for choosing the way they did? Well yes you could, but then you'd be missing the point. It's a business decision. CJC is a far safer bet than a handful of artists not quite on the radar. Did PDI make the right choice? Only time will tell.
What strikes me was my initial reaction to the whole thing. As long as Pugad Baboy and Kiko Machine were still on that page, I couldn't have cared less what happened to the other strips. I want to feel guilty and sorry about that, but I can't. Why? Because I never cared about the other strips in the first place.
For those of you who are subscribed to my Multiply account, I have a post there on misguided patriotism (http://psychocow.multiply.com/journal/item/51/On_misguided_patriotism). To make a long post short, I'm patriotic, but not to the point that I will support anything with a "Made in the Philippines" tag. I have the right to choose the products I want to support. This goes for comic strips as well. I love Beerkada (duh) because it's funny and well-written. Same with Pugad Baboy and Kiko Machine. The others? What others?
The fact is, those other strips were either past their prime (Love Knots), or were not really that funny or good in the first place. If they were, they would have not been pulled out in the first place. Although I feel for all those who gotten the axe, I would like to look at this as a challenge for them to improve their craft. Take note, the comics aren't the only field that people get their walking papers just like that. You want a list of all the shows I did that gotten axed or never took off in the first place? Marami yun. It happens.
My point? If I were one of these artists who lost their space to CJC, I'd take it uopn myself to better my craft the same way Pol Medina, Manix Abrera, and (hay) Lyndon do. If you are fans of these unfortunate artists, continue loving and supporting them. They need it now more than ever. But if you're a true fan, you will extort your heroes to perform better because it's one thing to get axed, it's another thing to get another spot.