Velasquez recounts: "I did not give him a chance to change his mind. I immediately jumped at his offer. Even before his call, I was already toying with the idea of publishing komiks-magazines. So I thought Don Ramon was heaven's reply to my dream,"

However, Don Ramon, was a little apprehensive about its success as a business.  Only a year before, the first regularly-published Philippine komiks-magazine,  Halakhak Komiks, closed for business after only ten issues, its publisher financially ruined.

"I am not sure if this will last, but I want you to give it a try." Don Ramon said to Velasquez, "Just see what you can do about it."

"It will last, Don Ramon. I guarantee you that it will last." replied Velasquez.
The magnate was impressed with the confidence and enthusiasm exuded by his favorite cartoonist, and from then on, he knew he had chosen the right man to handle his pet project.

Don Ramon gave Velasquez 10,000 pesos as initial budget for the company.
A small office in one of the vacant rooms in the old Liwayway building in Sta. Cruz was provided, and there Velasquez started his new company which he called Ace Publications.

"Ace Publications started out with one office table and one typewriter." Velasquez recounted in his memoirs.  "We occupied a miserable corner in the ground floor of the Liwayway building in Calero St., Sta. Cruz.  It was a one-man enterprise atfirst. I was editor, proofreader, retoucher, illustrator, advertising manager, messenger, and solicitor rolled into one. I don't recall having a janitor then, so I used to clean the office too. I remember working with my pants rolled up to my knees because our little office got flooded when it rained."

Indeed, this was the humble beginning of what would be the largest comic book publisher in the Philippines.

"It was just after the war..." Velasquez continued in his memoirs, "...my cartoonist friends were not so busy so I recruited them to join me in Ace."

Velasquez appropriately entitled Ace's first komik-magazine Pilipino Komiks. The font for the word komiks, which symbolized only Tagalog komiks, Velasquez himself designed.  Pilipino Komiks was destined to be the first of the big komiks magazines that will dominate the mass media entertainment in the Philippines.

The first issue hit the streets on June 14, 1947 with initial print of 10,000 copies. Published forthnightly, at twenty-five centavos a copy, Pilipino Komiks was easily affordable even by the man on the street and the first issue sold like hot cakes.

Included in the first issue was one of the longest-running serial komiks novels in the Philippines, DI-13 (a take-off of the famous American cartoon Dick Tracy) authored by Tony's brother Damy Velasquez and illustrated by Jesse Santos. Also included were Vicente Manansala's washed paneled story of Prinsesa Urduja, Amadeo Manalad's Makisig, Cris Caguintuan's Lagim, Fred Carillo's Daluyong, Larry Alcala's Kalabog, and Zabala Santos' Lukas Malakas. Velasquez had his own contribution in Nanong Pandak's two-page strip.

As a partial homage to Liwayway where Velasquez  started as a story illustrator, Velasquez included a short hilarious prose by E.D. Ramos, called 
“Si Tibong at si Tibang”.

On the eighth issue of Pilipino Komiks, Francisco V. Coching joined the staff of illustrators with his cartoon strip Paloma, his first comic strip in Ace Publications. 

THE SUCCESS OF THE KOMIKS

“The Pilipino Komiks prospered and the initial capital of 10,000 was increased up to 100,000 plus a little cash dividend enjoyed by the stockholders. "Fortunately, I was one of the original stockholders!” remarked Velasquez.

Ten issues later, the print order for Pilipino Komiks reached 25,000 copies. This, plus the regular whole page advertisement of Pepsi-Cola and several other small advertisers, managed to pull the publication into a height not equaled by Halakhak Komiks. For some time Pilipino Komiks monopolized the comic book market and had no competition.

Eventually as Ace Publications expanded and more staff were hired, they got “...somewhat cramped up in our little corner at the Liwayway Building. So we acquired temporary accommodations in the sprawling compound of the Capitol Publishing House, Inc. where we paid a rent of P1,900.00 a month.” Recalls Velasquez.

“As we hired additional personnel,  I lost my job one by one as proofreader, advertising agent, retoucher, and janitor, although fortunately, I still retained my job as General Manager.”, smiled Velasquez.

Pilipino Komiks was, and still is, the Philippines best-selling comics magazine. From its pages came the most memorable comics stories and serialized novels the Filipinos had grown familiar with like El Indio, Darna, DI-13, Bondying, Dyesebel, Kalabog en Bosyo, to mention a few.

By 1957, a mere ten years after the initial issue, Pilipino Komiks had a print order from its distributors of 120,000 copies. Not bad for a once lowly comics that had an initial print of only 10,000.

Two years after its first issue, Pilipino Komiks was not only still earning well but it was increasing its circulation as well. Indeed, Tony Velasquez proved that Don Ramon’s apprehension that it would not last long was unfounded. 

The success of Pilipino Komiks was brought about by what the previous Halakhak Komiks did not have: big capital, a printing press, and an effective distribution network (the nationwide agents of the Liwayway took the job as the Pilipino Komiks distributors).

Inspired by the success of Pilipino Komiks, Velasquez created the second komiks-magazine produced by Ace Publications, Tagalog Klasiks,  in 1949, 
Unlike Pilipino Komiks, which featured original story materials by Filipino komiks writers, the first issue of Tagalog Klasiks contained Tagalog reprints of American comics classics such as  Arabian Nights, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and some other works mostly from stories illustrated by the American king of comics, Jack Kirby.

In its later issues, however, Tagalog Klasiks switched to original materials by such young writers as Clodualdo del Mundo, Pablo S. Gomez, Virgilio Redondo and Mars Ravelo. One of its more memorable runs was the komiks adaptation of Severino Reyes’ Lola Basyang stories, as rewritten by his own son Pedrito Reyes and illustrated by Jesus Ramos, and later on, Ruben Yandoc. Another popular series was Clodualdo del Mundo’s “Buhay ng mga Poon”. Tagalog Klasiks also became the venue for Mars Ravelo’s classic novel, ROBERTA, which went on to become one of the biggest box-office movies in 1951.

In 1950 another Ace Publications komiks was born, entitled Hiwaga Komiks. This komiks featured works by budding artists like Nestor Redondo and Alfredo Alcala. It contained mystery stories, as its title implied, as well as fantasy and horror stories. In this komiks, Virgilio Redondo and his younger brother Nestor would team up for the fantasy novel “Ang Signo” a tale comparable in story to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Another Mars Ravelo hit during the early issues of Hiwaga Komiks was "Berdugo ng Mga Anghel", which was marvelously illustrated by Elpidio Torres.

IGoaded by the great success of his earlier titles, Velasquez created the fourth komiks of Ace Publications, which he entitled Espesyal Komiks in 1952. This komiks concentrated on action and detective stories. Particularly noteworthy among in its earlier issues was “Reyna Bandida” again by the Redondo brothers, and "Binibining Pirata" by the perennial team of Clodualdo del Mundo and Fred Carrillo. 

In 1959, Kenkoy Kojmiks, the fifth komiks-magazine of Ace Publications was born. This was published in pocket size, the first of its kind in the Philippines. In its later issues, however, Kenkoy Komiks was enlarged to regular-sized komiks magazine because elderly readers complained they could not read the smaller fonts. Some even joked they could not use it anymore as pambalot ng tinapa (salted fish wrapper), or pambalot ng dumi, since most Filipino homes during those times do not have private lavatories. Anyway those were just petty complaints. Tony Velasquez acceded to their request to transform it into a bigger size komiks.

The five-walled kingdom of Ace Publications was thus formed with the completion of the five komik books that Velasquez created for Don Ramon's publishing empire.

For a time, there was a sixth komiks-magazine by Ace Publications, called Educational Klasiks Komiks, also published in pocket-size. This educational komiks was intended as a supplementary reading komiks magazine for private and public schools (Again, the first of its kind to be published in the Philippines). This komiks contained only stories that have related to history, health, mathematics, science, and so on. This komiks did not last long however, as it failed to gain the support of the government to make it  cumpolsory reading material in schools.

Tony Velasquez, the Father of the Philippine Komiks Industry

In 1962, Ace Publications was plunged into a crisis. Office and production staff of the company held strikes in front of the Capitol Building. These workers demanded that they be given the same high salaries earned by komiks illustrators and writers. Since writers and illustrators were being paid in a per input manner (writers per story, and illustrators per page), the demand of the office and production staff was highly unacceptable. Don Ramon urged the workers to go back to work, but the latter held their ground.

In the following days, komiks production was virtually stopped, and Don Ramon was forced to close Ace Publications.

Thus was passed into the archives of history the greatest Filipino komiks-publications of all time.