komikon 2013

Yikes, late post.

Well, as far as I can remember, the last Komikon I attended was the Summer Komikon held in my alma mater, UP, at the Bahay ng Alumni. I mentioned this to comics creator Paolo Fabregas and he said: “That was years ago!”

I know, dude. I know.

Why did it take me so long to return?

I am lazy. And I hate the heat. Really. I think you’d hate it too if you happened to meet me during the summer and I left a streak of sweat on your book.

And I don’t have a lot of cash. Sad face.

But, November is relatively cooler (relatively!), and I’m curious about the Bayanihan Center, and I have some books to sell, and I like the idea of attending the Komikon not just as a reader but as an author. With a seat behind a table! (Even though I don’t have a comic book!) And a free lunch! 

However, my face doesn’t scream Author. I sat behind the table and I think got more questions about Budjette’s and Manix’s books (“Magkano ‘to, ate?”) than autograph requests. I’ll stamp my name on my face next time. Haha! Kidding! (Or not?)

Then there were those who dropped my books as if they were infected when they learned that they were not comics, but prose. PROSE. GASP! How dare I bring prose to a comics convention?

Again, I joke. (Or not. I will remember your faces!)

I had fun. I really did. I talked about books with seatmates Paolo Fabregas and Carljoe Javier, and heard some inside scoop about book selling and book production from Carljoe and Ms. Nida. I sold out five copies of Unseen Moon in less than an hour. And my books were selling so well that they had to sell the browsing copy of Project 17. When I left, around 5 pm, there were only two copies left of A Bottle of Storm Clouds, including the browsing copy.

So thank you, readers, for making this author happy. And thank you to the ladies and gents of Visprint, as always.

I lined up to have stuff autographed by Rob Cham and Gerry Alanguilan, but I was too awkward to start a meaningful conversation with them. (I just left each of them a card. Uh. Hi po.)

My little loot, mostly comics from Carljoe’s Comic Book Writing class.

Next con: the Readercon! See you on Dec. 7!

Oh, and I’ll tell you a secret: I’m working on a comic book script! I have an outline, around 23 pages written, and I’ve contacted the artist. I want to finish it first. (I know some writers pass along script pages as they write – I can’t do that, I’ll break out in hives.)

I’m having fun, though I keep referring to the Internet to find the proper term to describe a scene. Memories of my Film 101 class!

Let’s see how it goes. I’m excited to see the words come to life as art.