Komiks (from the English “comics”) is an illustrated humorous story. This popular visual art form consists of a series of frames or a single frame with figures of people or animals. Conversation is indicated by means of “balloons” containing words and is often accompanied by an explanatory text. Komiks is also called cartoon (from the Italian “carton,” sketches done on cardboard in preparation for a mural). However, in the Philippines the term “komiks” is generally used for entertaining pieces. “Cartoon,” on the other hand, includes the editorial cartoon or the single-frame drawing which comments on current events or satirizes the foibles of political leaders and institutions.
In 1885, Jose Rizal, on a visit to Juan Luna, illustrated the tale of the monkey and the tortoise in 34 plates which he drew in an album belonging to Luna’s wife. Because of this, his illustrations of five Andersen tales which he translated into Tagalog, Rizal is often considered the first Filipino cartoonist.
Precursor of the komiks, the editorial cartoon began to appear in newspapers and magazines in the late 19th century and were generally critical in character. Ignacio del Villar’s lively lampoons of middle-class lifestyle were published in the 1885 to 1887 issues of Manila Alegre.These featured parades at Luneta, bullfights, fiestas, theater, courtship, marriage, and shopping in Quiapo. Other cartoons published in the same illustrated magazine were J. Arestegui’s caricatures of celebrities and F. Lazaun’s Ayer, Hoy, y Mañana (Three Ages of a Woman). El Temblor of 1885, Manililla of 1898, El Caneco of 1890, El Bello Sexo of 1891, El Ejercito of 1892, La Moda Filipina and El Telegrama of 1893 were other periodicals which carried notable examples of the genre.
Political cartoons appeared in magazines, labeled as “periodicos festivos,” “revistas tradicionalistas,” and “revistas comicas, joco y satirico.”
El Chiflado, circulating from 1885 to 1889, published anti-Spanish cartoons. The Escuela Permanente depicted the crumbling Spanish empire in the Philippines and Latin America. Resurrexit, Surge et Ambula and La Fruta Cadaciada Oregine del Pecado were antifriar graphic works.
Colonizacion is an enlarged drawing of a lean Caucasian figure while other personifications are dwarfed: Actividad, a sluggish man; Industria, a Chinese balancing two pails; Agricultura, a housewife tending a garden patch; Moriencito, a tranvia pulled by turtles; Ciencia, a monkey in toga; and Prensa, a kettle drum.
El Cinefe of 1894 fearlessly published antigovernment cartoons, such as Cuestion Palpitante and En Alza. Te Con leche of 29 October 1898 published a work, signed Cobrian, which showed Uncle Sam entertaining with a monkey and a bag of tricks, labeled American Amusement: Always Protecting. It also published cartoons by V. Tur, such as Vida es Pesadilla, and La Mision de la Prensa which attacked the censorship of the time.
La Restauracion of 1898 and El Tio Verdades in 1899 published editorial cartoons critical of national and international issues, warning the Philippines of American imperialism. In the early 1900s the politically oriented magazines Telembang and Lipang Kalabaw consistently featured cartoon caricatures of political figures. In Lipang Kalabaw, illustrators used pseudonyms like Makabuhay, Sirom, Lipay, Makahiya, Tik Tok, and Tagakadlagan, to escape arrest by the Americans. These cartoons are recognized as the forerunners of present day komiks.
The formal history of komiks began in 1929 when Antonio S. Velasquez and Romualdo Ramos came out with the first issue of Mga Kababalaghan ni Kenkoy (Kenkoy’s antics). An instant hit, Kenkoy was serialized in Liwayway and its sister magazines. In 1928, he created Kenkoy, which ran until 1941 when the Japanese clamped down on all media. Liwayway magazine and its vernacular versions— Bannawag in Ilocano, Hiligaynon in Ilongo, Bisaya in Cebuano, and Bikolnon in Bicol—were the leading outlets for other cartoonists. Philippines Free Press, established before World War II, also included an editorial cartoon with every issue.
After World War II appeared the first comic book, Halakhak, a 10-issue series inspired by English comic books brought over by American GIs. These combined novel writing, painting, and cinematographic elements in one work. On 27 May 1947 Don Ramon Roces and Velasquez organized Ace Publications which put out Pilipino Komiks, featuring the komiks of Velasquez, Jose Zabala Santos, Damian Velasquez, Larry Alcala, Vicente Manansala, Tony Roullo, E.D. Ramos, Fred Carillo, A.Y. Manalad, and Hugo Yonzon. Because the komiks were so popular, Ace Publications put out other comicbooks in rapid succession: Tagalog Klasiks, 1949; Hiwaga Komiks, 1950; Espesyal Komiks, and Kenkoy Komiks, 1952. These comicbooks flourished for more than a decade.
In the 1960s Alcala, Mauro Malang Santos, Corky Trinidad, and Danilo Dalena were most active in the field. Alcala’s Kalabog and Bosyo and Gorio were very popular. Nonoy Marcelo’s Tisoy appealed to young urban adults. Trinidad, who is now based in the United States, often drew caricatures of world leaders, like Ferdinand Marcos. A number of his cartoons have been collected and published in anthologies. Dalena’s searing caricatures appeared in Philippines Free Press in the late 1960s and Asia-Philippines Leader in the early 1970s. Alcala’s Asyong Aksaya was best known during martial law years. In the 1980s, Jose Tence Ruiz created very insightful sketches on social problems published in the Manila Chronicle and Observer magazine. Notable cartoonists of the period include Jess Abrera, Arnel Mirasol, Esmeralda Izon, and Ludwig Ilio.
The komiks has several formats. The first is the daily strip, usually consisting of three or four frames. The same form has also been used for long narratives parcelled out four frames at a time. The second is the full-page strip appearing in weekly magazines. Serial novels or short completed stories, called Wakasan, have also appeared in full page. The third is also full page, but rather than being divided into frames, is spread over the entire page. This kind was popularized by Alcala, in his Slice of Life, and by Zabala Santos, in his Lifestyle. Comic strips can also occupy several pages in magazines. This is the most common form of serialized komiks novels from which films are derived.
There are generally three kinds of komiks according to content: humorous, narrative, and instructional. The first category, humorous comics or the “funnies,” are of two groups: human caricatures and animal comics. These were both influenced by American comic strips—the first, by such strips as Dagwood and Blondie, Li’l Abner, and Peanuts, and the second, by Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat, among others.
In the Philippines the first humorous comic strip using human caricatures was Kenkoy, which first appeared in Liwayway on 11 January 1929. Kenkoy included a family—with Mang Teroy, Aling Matsay, Rosing, Kenkoy’s rival Tirso, and other colorful characters such as Talakitok, Talimusak; and later, in separate strips, Nanong Pandak and Ponyang Halubaybay. Mars Ravelo followed suit with Rita and related characters Gorio and Tekla, Engot and Ipe.
Komiks caricature, which involves the exaggeration of physical features, is a common device to elicit laughter. This can include the manner of dressing which can be comic or satirical. Komiks humor also stems from the language. The very names and epithets can be funny, such as Ponyang Halubaybay and Kurdapya— names which explode social pretensions. Linguistic humor can also be found in the melange of vernacular languages, English and Spanish, thereby reflecting the country’s long colonial experience. The comic strips of Alcala and Nonoy Marcelo freely coined and popularized words such as “pahatset-hatset” (eating away) and “jeproks” (way out, rugged). Humor can also arise from the spelling of English loan words, e.g., “bes preng” (best friend), as well as from the manner of speech of the characters, e.g., “Haya, hayik sa kamay ng yoya” (Go on, kiss grandma’s hand). Humor also arises from the situations themselves. Many situations puncture the pretensions of the characters, as when Kenkoy in coat and tie is chased and bitten by a dog.
The second category, narrative komiks, may be grouped into six kinds according to content: stories drawn from or modeled after the old awit and korido, such as the artist Francisco Coching’s Don Cobarde and Haring Ulupong; fantastic adventures in tropical jungles or in distant lands, such as Pedrito Reyes and Francisco Reyes’ Kulafu, Coching’s Hagibis; supernatural or strange wonders, such as Ravelo and Elpidio Torres’ Dyesebel; love stories, such as Gilda Olvidado and Joey Celerio’s Sinasamba Kita (I Adore You) and Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin? (Should You be Loved?); historical narratives or biographies, such as Coching’s Vibora, and Fred Alcala’s Yamato, based on incidents of World War II; and realistic stories based on social problems, such as Ravelo’s Roberta.
The narrative or story komiks has two drawing traditions, the romantic and the realistic. The first was dominated by Coching. The style is characterized by dynamic curvilinear lines and tonal modelling with a fluid, undulating effect. The leading male characters are stalwart in build, and of handsome mestizo or Malay features, with curly hair and rippling muscles. The female leads are beautiful, graceful and usually with long curly tresses. It is a style that gives life to the myths and legends of yore and to fantasies of love and adventure. Aside from Coching, Nestor Redondo, Federico C. Javinal, Mar T. Santana, Hal Santiago, Steve Gan, and Nestor Malgapo also work in this tradition.
The realist tradition, on the other hand, is prevalent in komiks which deal with contemporary issues and problems or expose the true conditions of society. Many of the narratives are drawn from real life and so are the characters who are ordinary people without extraordinary qualities. The style, even and detailed, were based on a keen observation of reality. Outstanding examples of this tradition are Ravelo’s Roberta and Pablo Gomez and Nestor Redondo’s Batang Bangkusay. Working in the realist tradition are Celerio, Redondo, Entes Magpusao, Fred Carrillo, Fred P. Alcala, and Ben Maniclang.
Instructional cartoons are those which illustrate an analysis or point of view regarding a social or political issue. To this type belong editorial cartoons made by artists like Marcelo, Dalena, Abrera,Edgar Soller, Corky Trinidad, Tence Ruiz, Mirasol, Net Billones, Norman B. Isaac, and Izon. Marcelo, creator of Ikabod Bubwit, still uses this character for editorial purposes. Ruiz and Dalena did insightful drawings on social and political issues which were as powerful as their larger paintings. Abrera lampooned social issues in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Trinidad and Soller have gone on to doing editorial cartoons for international publications. Mirasol and Izon continued to illustrate ideas in their cartoons. To sum up, editorial cartoon straddles various drafting styles, from stylized animal images to sketches that have a painterly effect.
Instructional komiks are usually produced by institutions and cause-oriented groups. They often refer to contemporary issues and events from which lessons are derived and basically aim to develop social awareness. The drawing style may be realist or nonrealist, depending on intention.
Editorial cartoons have played an important role in social movements in the Philippines. underground papers have reproduced illustrations done by underground artists as well as above ground artists sympathetic to their cause. Common themes of these cartoons are the oppression of the peasants and workers, US imperialism, and the Philippines depicted as a woman battling the many-headed dragon representing social problems. • A.G. Guillermo and I.
Cajipe-Endaya
References
Roces, Alfredo R. and Alfred McCoy. Philippine Cartoons: Political
Caricature of theAmerican Era 1900-1941. Quezon City: Vera-Reyes
Incorporated, 1985.
Roxas, Cynthia et al. A History of Komiks of the Philippines and
Other Countries. Manila: Islas Filipinas Publishing Co., Inc., 1984.