If there’s a Whilce, there’s a way

MANILA, Philippines - In a time where Marvel and DC movies rule the box office and comic/manga geekery is now more “accepted” as the status quo, replacing High School Musical and Mean Girls as cultural guideposts, there’s no place more exciting than the Asia Pop Comic-Con. While you may not have a selfie with Millie Bobby Brown (a tragic matter, but you’ll get over it), it’s not the end of the world. There’s so much more to APCC than meeting your favorite celebrities. If anything, it’s a celebration of everything and anything creative. From cosplay competitions to comics artists, it’s a haven for superhero, anime, and pop culture enthusiasts in Manila.

The influence of the shows participating in the convention makes me wonder where it all came from. There is often one brain behind the creation of a comic universe, but it takes a village to execute it. We got to see three of these, er, villagers at the press conference: comic artists Kevin Lashley, Mike Zeck and our very own Whilce Portacio. They have all contributed to the international comics scene immensely and their works definitely transcend generations. They draw, color, ink and make covers for the superheroes we have come to know and love.

But what I’ve come to appreciate is how these artists manage to insert their individuality into what they do. We sat down with Portacio to talk about comics, creativity and Filipinos in the global comic landscape. Here are some things I learned from our group conversation.

• “I’ve done both digital and traditional. I’ve used every system. So I’ve learned it’s not a matter of the branding. It’s just a matter of what you need to do what you need to do.”

• “Right now I’m directing an online digital book. My main figure guy is doing it digitally. My backgrounds are hand-painted and we scan those in. (We do that) because that’s the world I wanted to make. I want this soft, warm nice world and to bring edgy, animated characters into that.”

• “Everything has a tool. You do what you need to do with what you need to do when you need to do it. Do what you can with what you can.”

Cover story: One of Whilce Portacio’s most recent work is a cover variant for Uncanny X-Men June 2016.

• “We have a lot of talent here (in the Philippines). We have everything that we need. We have the stories and the creatives. It’s just that we gotta get down and sit and do it seriously.”

• “To the younger artists trying to get into comics: Don’t worry about the rates you’re going to get. I don’t care if you’re going to get a dollar per page. You know why? I say, ‘Okay if you’re going to give me a dollar a page, you have to promise that you’re going to publish this.’ Because if they publish that, guess what? A real editor is going to look at that and go, ‘Let’s contact this guy.’ And when that editor finds out that I’m making a dollar, he’ll say, ‘I’ll give him 50.’ That’s the point. If it gets published, people see it. Then another editor will come and give you $100 for it.”

• “Say somebody stole your stuff and copied it. And then a company calls that person and says, ‘Great, I love your stuff and I want you to do something else for us.’ Guess what’s going to happen: hindi nya kaya, di ba? So that company’s gonna learn that they found the wrong guy. And then they’ll find the right person. If you have talent, don’t worry about it. Just get it out there.”

• “Superman is Superman. The Hulk is The Hulk. If you want a female character who is that powerful, then do it. But do it like she’s female. Think about what is strong and powerful about the female psyche and do that because that will differentiate her from Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Make (your female superhero) her own character. The worst thing that you can do to create a character is to just say that ‘Oh, you’re just a female version of this famous character.’ I think if that female Hulk was real, she would rather be known as who she is.”

• “When you read and see these strong characters, there are some aspects you can relate to but then you see that they do what they want to do and they feel that’s right. That resonates. You take a character of who we are, take that feeling and that psyche and make him/her a superhero.”

• “It’s about what scares us, what inspires us. If you do that, I promise you, the world will love it more because it’s something different and unique to them. And they’ll want to learn about us.”

• “Let yourselves be proud of your work. Give yourself the strength to let people listen to your stories.”