JAPANESE BAT

Continuing Bat-Month, meet the  Dark Knight of the Rising Sun.  Created by writer/illustrator Hal Santiago, Japanese Bat ran from 1988 to 1989 in Shogun Qualikomiks Magasin, published by Graphic Arts Service, Inc.

CAPTAIN CROSSBONE

Ahoy, maties! This day of September the 19th be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and for this edition of ye olde blog we take a gander at a bold buccaneer of our very own...

   

Captain Crossbone sailed through the pages of Aguila Qualikomiks (published by Graphic Arts Service, Inc.) in the year of our Lord 1986. Created by the finest illustrator on these southeastern shores, Hal Santiago, this valiant voyager took to the seas to avenge the (consensual?) rape and murder of his wife (but don't feel too bad for him, laddies. The faithless cold-hearted wench had it coming). 

 

THE BRAVE AND THE BOULDER

 If any of ye landlubbers caught the second Pirates of the Caribbean film, you might recall the scene where ol' Captain Jack battled atop a giant rolling wheel. Well, they ain't got nothing on this sequence from Aguila Qualikomiks #31 and 32 (October 4-11, 1986), as our fearless captain and his arch-nemesis dueled each other atop massive rolling boulders!

 

 

Worry not, fair maiden. The best man won.

KROKO - Takas sa Zoo

In 2007, controversial "komiks king" Carlo J. Caparas attempted to revive the flagging mainstream komiks industry by launching a new line of comic magazines published under Sterling Publishing. One of them was Klasik Komiks, which debuted on September 14, 2007. Among the anthology title's featured serials was Kroko: Takas sa Zoo ("Kroko: Escapee from the Zoo"), about a giant crocodile on a deadly rampage. Caparas himself wrote the series, which boasted of some incredible artwork from the rightfully-proclaimed Philippines' Greatest Illustrator, Hal Santiago.

CJC'S LOAD OF CROC

Klasik Komiks lasted for only 9 issues, while the rest of Caparas' komiks line likewise failed to catch on. As he is wont to do, "CJC" again leaves the local comics industry for the film industry, taking his creations with him. Last year, he produced and directed a TV adaptation of Kroko, which was broadcast on IBC 13. Unfortunately, Hal Santiago's magnificent monstrosity in the original comics was reduced to a laughably obvious fake rubber crocodile in the TV version. But it seems as though CJC just has an affinity for crocs (political acquaintances aside). Just last week, TV5 premiered a new television series, Bangis ("Fierceness/Ferocity"), which is supposed to be an adaptation of an earlier Caparas croc-comic, Pangil ("Fang" or even "Jaws"), itself filmed in 1986 as Matatalim na Pangil sa Gubat ("Sharp Fangs in the Forest/Wilderness"). The difference, however, is that Pangil was a straight-up thriller, while the fantasy-oriented Bangis is about the friendship between a young boy and a giant, friendly, TALKING crocodile. I watched a few episodes, and it's basically, meh. Gotta admit, though, the giant CGI crocodile looks kind of interesting.