Comic book artists marvels at his ethnic superheroes
By Patrick Raymond Olivares

He gave up a career in architecture-for comic-book illustration. Gerry Alanguilan, 28, feels happy to be doing something that he really loves and gets more money out of it. He’s working for Starfire Visuals which helped him get some international exposure.

 “Comics were just something that I packed up along with my childhood when I went off to college (at University of Santo Tomas),” the San Pablo, Laguna, native sheepishly admits. “I thought that I’d be successful architect, get married and have kids…you know, the usual. But when my elder brother came home one day and handed me a copy of ‘X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga.’ my notion about comics changed.”
 “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is a milestone in comic-book history that likewise solidified the X-Men characters as modern pop icons. The critically acclaimed story broke new ground with its themes of love, betrayal, revenge and suicide at a time when mainstream comics turned out cream-puff stories.

Career Switch
 It was around this time when Gerry would make the difficult decisions to switch careers.
 “My parents were understandably upset, as they didn’t send me to school to do something that was never in my curriculum.” he explains.
 “Besides, my parents – with my father having a master’s degree in literature – thought that comics were just kids’ stuff. But when I made him read Niel Gaiman’s ‘Sandman’ and ‘The Black Orchid’ he conceded that today’s comics are different from those of his day.”
 But they were still concerned about Gerry’s choice of work. Would he make any money at all?
 Well, I am definitely making more compared to my old job, but that doesn’t mean that anyone can just get a career in comic books. It’s also very competitive. I’m just fortunate to have hooked up with the right guys.”
 He would go to create the underground comic book “Wasted,” a moving story about a man’s descent into madness and insanity. Published and circulated via photocopy, “Wasted” mirrors Michael Douglas’ tragic character in the movie “Falling Down,” albeit more violent.
 While “Wasted Takes potshots at the various ills of Philippine society (at times with a bizarre sense of humor). Gerry is quick to counter that the various acts of mayhem are nothing more than pathetic “fantasies” that live on these pages, and by no means is the story’s central character, Eric, like him.
 “One person opined that only a product of a broken home could do such work. Hey, I’ve got a happy family, thank you!” says an amused Gerry.
 “Wasted attracted enough attention to be included in Comics 101, a locally produced collection of stories by different creators. Exposed to a larger audience. “Wasted” found a host of fans and supporters in Jessica Zafra (“I like It”). Pol Medina, Jr. (“Maganda naman ang ‘Wasted’”), Karen Kunawickz (“Do these hit the nail on the head or what?”).

Right Break
 Despite “Wasted” being an eight issue series. Gerry promises that one can find more of his “stories of numbing despair” in “The Dead Heart” an outgoing series.
 But if you think Gerry’s stories are only lamentations of loneliness, he’s also written and drawn ethnic superheroes (“Lakan” and “Timawa”, the latter can be found in Alamat 101), vampires ((“Dracula’s Wives.” serialized in the defunct UZI).
 Gerry’s first real break was given by Comics And Them Some Guru, Billy Lim-It, who ask him to provide ink on the first two issues of “Aster: The Last Celestial Knight”, the first locally produced comic book to be sold internationally.
 When Portacio returned to the Philippines last year, to set up his own studio, Starfire Visuals, Gerry was chosen along with Roy Allan Martinez to be the Senior Artists of the group, with several other aspirants working as apprentices.
 This duo has done the artwork for “Wetworks” No. 14 “Grifter” No. 10 and is the art team for “Hazard,” a book about enhanced bounty hunter.

Top-notch artists
 Though confined to the inking chores, Gerry is confident that he’ll got his chance to pencil a book. And under the tutelage of Portacio (who Gerry describes as “demanding but not overbearing and is certainly easy to work with), he feels he’s well on his way realizing his dream of becoming a top-notch comic book artist.
 “I just want to tell stories. I’m not here to preach or educate. These are just stories of hopes, shattered dreams and childhood fantasies. And I have a lot of them to tell.”
 Gerry pulls his chair closer to make sure I get his point.
 “In truth, I don’t do these stories for people to like them. That very much like life –you don’t have to like everything that comes your way. That’s just the way it is.”
 The fire in his eyes confirms his passion for his work.