Sonny Trinidad Gallery of Original Comic Art

Sonny Trinidad is one of the all-time great illustrators in Philippine comics history. As one of Marvel Comics' mainstay Conan artists in the early 1970s, Trinidad proved himself one of the favorite Filipino artists of the great John Romita Sr.(then editor of Marvel Comics) and John Buscema, whose pencils he frequently inked over.
This present gallery of Conan pin-ups, Sarkhan, barbarians, and women warriors, is actually a preview of the forthcoming portfolio of Trinidad comic art to be published later this year.
/>Super Double splash page: Conan to the rescue

Barbarian women

After the drinking spree

Battling the Turks

Barbarian Queen

Conan the Barbarian in a classic pose

Sarkhan rescuing the slaves



Duel to the Death

Sonny Trinidad: Self-Portrait

Emilio Rodriguez' Moses:Elevating the Art of the Comics

I consider Emilio Rodriguez' comic adaptation of Ang Kasaysayan ni Moises(The Story of Moses) one of the finest illustrations in the history of Philippine comics. Indeed, even Tony Velasquez, the Father of Philippine Comics, said that he considered Rodriguez at the top of his form when illustrating the Moses series.
All in all, Rodriguez illustrated eleven Bible series, Kasaysayan ni Abraham, Isaac at Jacob, Noe, Haring David, Ruth, Sta. Maria, Samson, Propeta Eliseo, Samuel, Moises, and Josue. All of these were brilliantly illustrated, but in Moses, he simply surpassed himself.
In fact, Rodriguez entered one of the splash pages of Moses (the page where Moses parted the Red Sea) as entry in the first art contest of SPIC( Society of Philippine Illustrators and Cartoonists), and won unanimously against some of the more veteran Filipino comic artists, including the greats Nestor Redondo and Fred Alcala.

Although Rodriguez was unable to complete the Bible series because of his going abroad, yet this series would be the one true mark of his genius as an artist.
Born in Sorsogon, in the Philippines, Rodriguez attended the University of the Philippines' School of Fine Arts where he graduated Summa Cum laude. Upon graduation, Larry Alcala, then Dean of the UP College of Fine Arts, hired Rodriguez as professor in the college. During this time, Rodriguez experimented with abstract paintings which he mainly give as gifts to friends and colleagues. Sometime in the late 1950s, Alcala recommended Rodriguez to Velasquez to work in comics.
Impressed by the young man's superior drawing skills, Velasquez assigned him with the Bible series being adapted into comics by Angel Ad Santos. The Bible series was a hark back into the olden days of making comics, devoid of conversation ballons that too often clutter in the panel.
In the middle of the series, however, Rodriguez was granted Fulbright scholarship, which involved further studies to the United States.
Unable to finish the Bible series, the job was handed over to Rubeny Yandoc, who was highly influenced by the drawing style of Rodriguez. Rubeny, for his part, excelled in his own way in this remarkable series, a can be seen in my previous post on him.

In the United States, Rodriguez worked for Gold Key and Treasure Chest publications, but soon found other more high-paying jobs in car companies like Chrysler and Rolls Royce, where he designed cars. He then retired from drawing comics. (source: Tony Velasquez' memoirs; and my interview with Rico Rival, Sonny Trinidad, and Hal Santiago, Rodriguez' friends, fellow artists, and contemporaries in the Philippines).

Joemarie Lee, a veteran Filipino comics writer and a compatriot of Rodriguez, informed me that Rodriguez became increasingly reclusive and was not heard of again even by some of his friends in the Philippines. Even now, some friends are still trying to get in touch with him but no one knew where he lives.


Reprinting the Originals in Graphic Book Form

I am planning to publish these original works as complete graphic adaptations of the Bible if my finances allow it in the near future, or if I can strike a deal with some interested publisher, who can market it in schools. The originals of Moses are complete (50 pages)and each page is in a high state of preservation.
I will feature in this blog the complete Moses series as illustrated by Emil Rodriguez at the height of his drawing prowess. His lines are simple yet beautiful and dynamic, his renderings intricate, and his compositions peerless. Indeed, this is comic art at its best.

Splash page of Moses


Detail of the Splash Page



Detail II

Page 2

Page 3

Detail of Page 3

Page 4

Detail of Page 4

Last Page

TO BE CONTINUED

Alex Nino Comic Art Gallery 3

Malagim na Wakas (Horrific End) Writer: Tennessee Francel(pseudonym of Dadie S. Gomez); Illustrator: Alex Nino. These are original comic art pages. Complete story.

Published in the United Komiks #139, 1969 as part of the very popular series “Mga Kuwento ni Bruhilda” (Tales of Bruhilda the Witch).

Synopsys: The setting is the town fair or “Perya” or “Karnabal” in the Philippines. A holdupper kills a man and he is chased by the police. He finds that the best way to hide is to mix himself with the throng of people in the karnabal. The police still managed to see him though and the chase is resumed.
The holdupper finds a perfect hiding place in a storage room of the circus magician. He hides inside a chest used by the magician for one of his tricks, the one being pierced by several swords.
As the holdupper felt he was perfectly safe in his hiding place, two men enter the storage room, discussing the magician’s superb trick. One of the men, mystified how the chest trick was done, raised a sword and inserted it into the chest instantly killing the holdupper. They heard a scream but thought it came from the karnabal, never knowing that they have accidentally killed an evil man.


Page 1: The setting of the story is the town fair or "Karnabal"

Page 2: A holdupper kills a man and is chased by the police. The holdupper finds that the best place to hide is the karnabal where he can mix with throngs of people.

Page 3. The police managed to see him though, and the chase is resumed. The holdupper finds a perfect hiding place in a magician's storage room. He hides inside the magician's chest, the one being used with the sword trick. The police did not see him.

Page 4: Two men enter the storage room, discussing how the magician was able to insert several swords into the chest without killing the apprentice. Mystified by the trick, one of the men raised a sword and struck it in the chest, not knowing that there is an evil man inside. The holdupper is instantly killed. A horrific end for an evil man.

Ruben "Rubeny" Yandoc Comic Art Gallery

All the images that appear herein and my earlier posts on are photographed from my collection of original comic art. I still don't have a big scanner that would fit originals with the size of 11 inches by 14 inches. Some of my Yandoc originals are super double splash pages (14x23 inches) that would take a lot of scanning to produce the whole image. So if you see that some of the images are a bit cropped or badly lighted, please let it be known that these images are not scans, but photographs of comic art originals. The originals themselves are well preserved and taken cared of in a smoke-free environment.

Cover art for Manila Klasiks Komiks #64, 1953.

Splash Page for issue #2 of the Bible series "Prophet Daniel". I consider this series as one of the best output of Yandoc as illustrator.

Barbarians in the thick of the battle.

Meshach, Shadrach and Abed Nego-friends of Daniels's- are ordered thrown into the pit of burning fire and sulfur by King Nebuchadnezzar. The angel of the Lord rescued them and not a hair or skin of them were singed by the fire. The King ordered them out, recognized the Lord's awesome power, and gave the three high positions in his government.

Ruben Yandoc's superior composition make him into one of the most exciting illustrators in the history of Philippine comics. Indeed, when it comes to period pieces such as the Bible series in Kenkoy Komiks, Rubeny Yandoc is simply peerless.

A super double splash page from "Prophet Daniel" series in Kenkoy Komiks. 1961.

Another super double splash page, this time from the book of "Eliseo".

Alex Nino Comic Art Gallery 2

Si Dante at ang Kapre(Dante and the Kapre). Written by Carlo J. Caparas, illustrated by Alex Nino. This story was published in the United Komiks in 1968, and was part of the very popular series called "Mga Kuwento ni Bruhilda"(The Tales of Bruhilda).

Note: In Philippine lower mythology, the Kapre is portrayed as a gigantic tobacco-smoking creature that usually resides in large bushy trees, terrorizing people who happens to come close during nightime. People who go into wake or haranas are usually the ones who see Kapre at night.

Synopsis: Barrio X is being terrorized by a Kapre who demanded that they give him a monthly tribute of tobacco or he would wreak havoc in town.
The townsfolk reported the Kapre to the local authorities but the Kapre was clever to hide when the police came to town. After the police had left, the Kapre kidnaps Biday, the daughter of the Barrio captain and made her his slave.
Dante, Biday's fiance, was determined to rescue Biday, even if it meant risking his own life. One moonlit night, he intrepidly sought the Kapre's hideout, and made a pact with the Kapre that he would bring the latter a monthly supply of good-tasting tobacco, in exchange for his permission to visit Biday in captivity.
The Kapre loved the tobacco presented to him by Dante, and he demanded more, not knowing that Dante's tobacco was filled with opium. In short, Dante plans to make the Kapre a dope addict, and thereby making him slave to his every wish.

Page 1. The Kapre terrorizes Barrio X, demanding a monthly tribute of Tobacco from the townsfolk

Page2. The townsfolk reports the Kapre to local police authorities, but the clever Kapre did not let himself be seen during the police's arrival. After the police left, the Kapre kidnaps Biday. Dante plans to rescue Biday.

Page 3. Dante makes a pact with the Kapre that he would bring the latter a monthly supply of tobacco in excahnge for his permission to visit Biday regularly. The Kapre loves Dante's tobacco which, unknown to him, were filled with opium as a clever plan of Dante to destroy the Kapre.

Last Page. The Kapre becomes a dope addict.... hehe. Dante knows that it is only a matter of time before the Kapre succumbs to self-destruction.

Published in the United Komiks, 1968.

Alex Nino Gallery of Philippine Comic Art

Agwat ng Pag-Ibig (Love Differences) written and illustrated by Alex Nino. One of the few Alex Nino stories to have been published in Philippine comics, this story proves that Nino is also a great story teller. The art has the usual flair and impressive rendering which is a hallmark of a Nino artwork. Published in the Planet Komiks, 1968.

Synopsis of the story: Pekto long suspects that his wife Lucia is having an affair with another man(Delfin). It was proven one day when, upon arriving arriving at their house, he found that Lucia had eloped with Delfin.
He discovered that the two were hiding in a villa owned by Lucia's sister Magda, who explained to Pekto that he and Lucia are really not suited for each other because of the great difference between them. The difference lie not in material wealth (as was wexpectd by the reader) but in the fact that Pekto was aswang, while Lucia(and her sister Magda and bethrothed Delfin) was a vampire.

Page 1. Pekto discovers that his wife Lucia had eloped with Delfin



Page 2: Lucia and Delfin seek shelter in Lucia's sister Magda's villa

Page 3. Pekto confronts Magda and demanded Lucia return to her. Magda explains that even in the beginning Pekto should have known that he and Lucia were really not suited to one another.

Last Page. Indeed, Pekto and Lucia are not suited for one another because he is an aswang, while Lucia (as well as Magda and Delfin) was a vampire.

Komiks and the Movies Update

Here are some of the new finds for my ongoing research on Philippine comics and movies. Some are Filipino movie posters, ads, and flyers. I found that the best sources for these things are old Filipino movie-magazines called "Ilang-Ilang", "Silahis" and "Literary Song-Movie Magazine". All these magazines are now defunct, but my old folks told me they were very popular reading materials during their younger years.
Anyway, I got a bunch of these vintage magazines from my antique sources in Cubao. Browsing them revealed some of the most exciting finds a researcher like me could only dream to rediscover. Here are some of them:

Mariposa by Mars Ravelo, 1956. Gloria Romero and Ric Rodrigo were considered one of the most succeful love-teams during the Golden Years of philippine Movies.

Eskrimador by Clodualdo del Mundo Sr. 1956

Ukala by Alfredo Alcala, 1954

Kalabog and Bosyo by Larry Alcala 1959

Eva Dragon by Pablo S. Gomez. According to Gomez, Eva Dragon is the first starring role of Fernando Poe Jr. 1959

Tanikalang Apoy by Pablo S. Gomez. 1959

Ramir by Jess Jodloman 1959


Vintage magazines like these provide us not only of the knowledge of our past movie stars, they also provide us with a glimpse of the beautiful olden days.

A Note on a Francisco V. Coching Cover Art

I have recently been looking through my files of old Tagalog comics when I came across an old copy of Pilipino Komiks from the year 1956. The cover featured an artwork by my favorite illustrator, the great Francisco V. Coching, for his serialized graphic novel Gigolo.I felt that this cover looked somewhat familiar, that I’ve seen this before. I checked my original files and I found this cover art for a 1946 Silahis Magazine.


Curious, I had shown this original cover to Mrs. Filomena Coching (Coching’s wife), and she told me that this cover actually portrays her and her husband, although they did not let the editor of the magazine know that it was them. Then this cover art is actually one of the few Coching self-portraits (plus a portrait of his wife) that the master did during his prolific years in comics.

Looking back at the Pilipino Komiks cover, it is obvious that this is a remake of the 1946 Silahis cover drawn exactly ten years before. Yet, this really puzzles me because the two figures in the Pilipino Komiks cover no longer resembled Coching and his wife. Then two figures look to me more like a young Fernando Poe Jr., and Susan Roces, years before they first met!

An added mystery is the fact that Coching later became a close friend of Fernando Poe, the latter even starring in the former’s movie adaptation of Pusakal.

A Tradition of Great Filipino Comic Art

The comics pages that we hold in our hands are literally artworks that have been printed on paper. Prior to printing, these comics pages are known as original comic art, expertly drawn by the illustrator to visualize the writer’s story.

The standard original art is a bristol board with the usual size of 11x14 inches. In Philippine comics, a story (wakasan) is usually four to five pages in length (The serial-or itutuloy- is also usually divided into four or five-page parts)

The cover art is usually the most special page in the comics. The great Francisco V. Coching was a favorite cover illustrator because of his dynamic compositional skills.A Francisco V. Coching Original Cover Art for a 1948 issue of the Liwayway Magazine

The only known surviving original cover art of Pilipino Komiks. Tony Velasquez, Pilipino Komiks#4, 1947.

The opening page, with the story’s title, and wherein the writer’s and artist’s name were written, is known as the splash page. Traditionally, this page contained at least one big panel occupying at least half the size of the page, and two or more smaller panels, or something similar.
Alex Nino Splash Page for "Gamu-Gamo" story by Tony Velasquez, 1966. This is the earliest known existing original of Alex Nino.


Sometimes, the illustrator would utilize two of the opening pages for one spectacular illustration. These two-in-one page is called the double splash page. Alfredo Alcala, Hal Santiago, and Ruben Yandoc are fine examples of artists who had done this particular panoramic page. A super double splash page by Ruben "Rubeny" Yandoc for his memorable "Bible" iseries that appeared in Kenkoy Komiks in early 1960s.

A splash page, however, is not only limited to the opening page. Sometimes an artist would make a splash page from any one of the inner pages to emphasize a particular part of the story. For instance, the page above by the great artist Emil Rodriguez is supposed to be a panel page, but since he wanted to emphasize Samson’s destruction of himself and his enemies, he turned the page into a big one panel splash page.

The following pages after the splash page are called panel pages. They consist, of course, of panel drawings chronologically arranged to tell a story. Francisco V. Coching is one of the first Filipino comic artists to design inner pages with ingeniously designed panels, like this page from his early Marabini serial novel.

Comic Art as a Legitimate Art Form

In the United States and Europe, where comics is regarded as legitimate art form, collecting original comic art is a long and valued tradition. Many collectors even set up festivals and conventions to trade original comic art and comics.

In the Philippines, very few collect original comic art. In my experience as a collector and researcher, I found that these very few collectors are actually comics artists themselves who wanted to get a closer look at the rendering of their favorite fellow illustrator. I found that among artists, two great masters are often collected and imitated: Francisco V. Coching and Nestor P. Redondo. This is not surprising because they are considered the two finest illustrators in the history of Philippine comic art.

In the Philippines where comics is very popular among the lower classes of society, original comic art is considered a virtual no rich collector’s item. Filipino art connoisseurs shun the original comic art as not in their regular collecting menu.
Over the past few years, however, this began to change. The awareness of the Filipinos’ great contribution to comic art led to an increasing appreciation of the original comic art as a legitimate art form. Some art collectors who had collected American comics realized that many several of these comics were illustrated by Filipinos. Conan the Barbarian, Spider-Man, Vampirella, Batman, the Swamp Thing, Superman, have indeed been illustrated at one time or another, by Filipinos, and their names appear on the credit pages: Redondo, Nino, Alcala, Nebres, and many more. This appreciation led to a rediscovery of a vast body of work in Philippine comics hitherto unappreciated by art collectors.

This began a few years ago when I decided to test the market for original art by selling some pages on the internet. To my knowledge, no one had ever sold Filipino comic art before in the internet. Although DC and Marvel originals of Nino, Alcala, and Redondo were known to fetch high prices in auctions, their Filipino comic artworks were virtually unknown among foreign collectors.
I thought that selling a few of my originals in the internet would spark some curiosity, because these artists’ works in Filipino comics are no less masterful than their foreign artworks(in fact I sincerely believed that Nestor Redondo and Alfredo Alcala reached the pinnacle of their drawing prowess even years prior to their first work in DC comics). Perhaps this curiosity would later turn into appreciation of the greatness of Filipino contribution to comic art. The long overdue appreciation for our local comic artists would certainly follow. In a few years, we may be awarding the National Artist award to one of our comics artists.

I am very happy that now, a few serious art collectors are entering the field of collecting original comic art. Now and then, I receive emails from these few collectors asking me if I could sell them an original page each by our great comics artists. Often, I would abide by their request if I see that I could part away with some without my feelings being hurt.

Although during the past years I have been able to collect some 1,500 pages of original comic art, I am by no means a hoard. I wanted to share it with other collectors. I wanted to give way to new collectors.

In fact, I was starting my prices in auction at one dollar per page without reserve because I wanted even the new or average collector to purchase original Filipino comic art at a price he can afford. There are many who made a bargain, winning some pages for as little as four or five dollars each. I am happy whenever I sell an original to an appreciative new collector.

Although there were a few Filipinos who purchased original Filipino comic art in my auctions, the majority of buyers were foreigners, comic art collectors from the United States and Europe. Not surprisingly, a particular favorite in auctions were the works of Alex Nino, Nestor Redondo and Alfredo Alcala, because they were the top three Filipino illustrators in DC and Marvel comics. Could it be that foreigners are more appreciative of our local artists’ works rather than our fellow Filipinos? Or maybe we have a little more to learn to appreciate comic art.

The Pioneer Collectors of Philippine Comic Art

Even prior to the present generation of comic art collectors, there were already a few who valued and collected Filipino comic art. They were Orvy Jundis(comics historian), Manuel Auad (comics writer and publisher), and Steve Gan(comics artist).
Orvy Jundis is known to have specialized in collecting Alex Nino art, while Manuel Auad is known to have specialized in collecting Redondo and Alfredo Alcala. A glimpse of Auad’s magnificent collection can be seen featured in the Comic Book Artist Magazine #4.
Steve Gan’s collection is a veritable archive of Philippine comic art. There are Alex Ninos, Redondos, Cochings, Rodriguezes, Nebres, Alcalas, and many more.


It is only sad that, with the great bulk of original comic art that had been produced in the Philippines because of our rich comics tradition, only very few have survived (or been found, yet). For instance, it is now extremely hard to find an original cover art by Coching, with the exception of the few that had been kept by his family. The same goes for a Redondo or an Alcala.

Yet, with the few that we have been able to save, we must be thankful nevertheless, because they are enough proof of the high point our comics artists achieved in the field of comic art.