Well, it seems my Tales from The Big City strip did appear in the first issue of PULP after all. The first issue of this new Philippine music mag (from the Publishers of the Fookien Times Year Book), was first released and launched last December 13 at the Glorietta in Makati.  It's available at Tower Records and at major magazine and book stores.

Over on the left there is the cover to the first issue, and below that is a thumb from my strip. Click on it to see a larger sized version of it.  I have also finished the 2nd installment for the strip, which should be printed with PULP#2 in January.  I think I'll be doing this thing monthly from now on.  It's short and really fun to do. I get to share stories that I have on a monthly basis which I think I can pull off without much difficulty. Plus it pays well so I'm happy!

A Day in the Life of An Inker about
to Send a Fedex Package.

It was Monday, December 20. I just finished inking a bunch of X-Force pages over Whilce Portacio and I was getting ready to leave to Fedex them.  Unlike in the US or even in Manila where you can request pick up of your package, here in San Pablo I would need to go to Manila to send the package myself.  There is a mailing service here in San Pablo which also offers Fedex delivery, but my insticts tell me to go to an "official" Fedex outlet, at least for the sake of my own peace of mind.

The nearest branch that I can go to is the one in Festival Mall in Alabang, just an hour and 15 minutes north of San Pablo.  But I needed to go to Megamall in Mandaluyong, a 3 hour trip from home, to go get my copy of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's FROM HELL compiled edition from Comic Quest. There were several Fedex branches in the area, one in Robinsons, and another in Megamall itself.  Since I don't drive, I took a bus with a Cubao route, which would take me right in front of Robinsons. This was already 12:30 in the afternoon.  45 minutes into the trip, the bus broke down. We had to go down and transfer to another bus of the same line.  I thought briefly of just going to Festival Mall, drop off the package there and head right back home. I'll get my FROM HELL book later as I still needed to finish the 2nd installment of "Tales of the Big City" which was needed by that Wednesday. But when another Cubao bus came by, I got on and decided to go on to Robinsons. 

By 3:30pm I was there.  Much to my dismay, they did not have a large box, which was necessary for transporting art pages. No problem, I thought. There were a lot of Fedex branches around. The clerk called the branch in Megamall and asked if they had a large box. They didn't.  He called 2 other branches in the area. None of them had it. I thought, what the HELL?! What is going in here? They all can't have run out!  The packgage had to go out that day or it will never make it to Marvel by Christmas. I had to go, and I had to find a way to do it.  I thought briefly about making my own box. The clerk said that it was possible, but I would need a lot of tools and space to do it. There was no place in the mall I could do that. I can do it at Leinil Yu's place, which wasn't too far from there, but I didn't know exactly where it was and  wasn't able to bring his phone number and I had no way to call him. I could do it at Whilce's place, but it was too far.  I decided to just head back to Festival Mall. If they didn't have a box there, then another Mall 30 minutes away from there, SM Southmall, surely must have one. I then went to Megamall first to get my comics.  When I passed by the Fedex branch, I asked them if they could call the Festival Mall branch to see if they had a large box. I didn't want to go there if they didn't have a box.  They said that the branch there didn't have a phone, so OK, I'll risk it.    I first went to Comic Quest, retrieved my copy of FROM HELL, said hello to Mike the owner, and bolted out of there.  By that time it was already 4 in the afternooon.

I got an another bus running the Alabang line. I took the route that would make less stops and take me there the fastest.  I got to Alabang at 5:30pm.  Since it was already rush hour, the traffic was really bad. By this time it was already getting dark.  I got to the Fedex branch and was nearly exhausted. I asked the clerk if they had a large box.  The woman said that they had just run out and she pointed the box to me that was just used by someone who had just left.  I asked her to call the SM Southmall branch to ask if they had one. She did, and they didn't have a box as well. (It turns out they actually had a phone). She called their main branch in Paranaque as well but much to her disbelief, they themselves did not have a large box available.  It was too unbelievable.   By this time, I pretty much zoned out. I stared away at the wall, blank stared and drifting off to space. I was so tired. I wanted to cry. I told the woman my sad sob story. Apparently, she took pity on me and said that she will dig around. A large box may be lying around that she hasn't seen yet.  While she was busy doing that, I sat down and tried to think of what I will do next. I could make the box and return the following day. But the following day was reserved for doing Pulp's Tales #2.  But no, Marvel had to take precedence. I will buy the boards now, make the box that  night and return the following day. "Hey sir, you're in luck!!" the woman suddenly said. She found a folded large box behind a bunch of medium boxes. I tell ya, I could have kissed her right then. So the package went off. I decided to call the branches first next time I send something, and if they had no stock, I think it's best if I have my own self made box ready, just in case. I  strolled around the mall, decided to give myself a christmas gift for all the aggravation (Beatles Anthology Volume 1). Got a gift for my nephew, and then I bused on home.

Not only that, here in San Pablo we exprience power failures rather frequently. Sometimes it's just five minutes a day, but it's still annoying when it happens.  But the other day, the power failed and it didn't return for 8 hours. And a few hours after that, the power failed again and didn't return for another 8 hours. The first power failure, it turns out, affected a third of the country. Officials said it was caused by a massive school of jellyfish which clogged something at a power generating plant.

It had been raining a lot this December and the bad weather has caused a plane to crash here, killing all passengers.  A lot of people now have started to ask:

Are these events signs that the world is coming to an end?
Is God finally so pissed off at humanity that it's time for Judgment Day?

I say grow some brains and think. 

Man is so concieted it's making me puke. How old is earth? Billions of years old. BILLIONS.  Ever since the world began there have been earthquakes, most of them far FAR stronger than any that man has ever experienced.  Same goes for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and meteors.  They have been here billions of years before we even existed and they will be here shaking the earth billions of years after we are all gone. In comparison, modern man has been on earth for how long? Scientists say 200,000 years. When talking eons, that time span is nothing but a blip. If the entire existence of earth has been compressed into a day, man has been here for less than a millisecond.  And now there are these people who are telling me that God is causing earthquakes because of man's sins? How narrowminded. How absolutely medieval. Earthquakes don't care about us. They don't care less that we are on the world. It's not even aware that we exist.  They have been here shaking the earth for billions of years, and they will go on shaking billions of years into the future, with or without us.

And what's the deal with the world ending in the year 2000? NOTHING. 2000 is just a number, nothing more. It's just a number invented by man to tell the passing of time. How can something like that determine the fate of us all? It can't. And it won't, at least as far as my life is concerned. If the world ends tomorrow or on Dec. 31, I couldn't care less. I'd go on as I always have, living my life according to my own thoughts using my own mind.

And speaking of the year 2000, you know, in the past we all saw the year 2000 as something in the far future. We have set out science fiction stories there.  We attributed all kinds of technology and knowledge humanity would have to that far distant time. And you know, it just dawned on my that the year 2000 is actually just a couple of weeks away. Man! The future is here!!