Thursday, December 25, 2008

FROM RAVELO AND DEL MUNDO'S "TEXAS" (1952) TO ALANGUILAN'S "ELMER" (2008)


Two generations of talking chickens:
Texas (left) and Jake, son of Elmer (right)





Elmer, a comic novel by prolific writer-illustrator Gerry Alanguilan came to a dramatic end with the release of his last of the four-part series last November during the celebration of Komikon at the UP Alumni Center at UP Diliman. I was able to read the entire novel in one sitting and I was awed and overwhelmed of Gerry’s incredible imagination gone wild--- the whole chicken race intermingling and interacting with the human race (from Elmer, his wife Helen, to son Jake to Farmer Ben and to other interesting characters).

In the article, Lethal Chicken by Ruel S. De Vera--- “That is “Elmer,” a four-issue limited series that began in 2006 and which concluded with the recent release of “Elmer” # 4 (Komikero Publishing, San Pablo City, 2008, 64 pages). The series depicts a bizarre, alternate Philippines where the chickens have somehow gained sentience and speech, becoming a part of society.

“Elmer” hatched with the reader following malcontent rooster Jake Gallo, who just can’t seem to catch a break, what with his being the underachieving brother of a movie star and now he discovers his sister is about to marry a human, of all things. A trip back to his childhood home leads to the discovery of a book left him by his father, the late titular Elmer. Through that book, Jake—and by extension, the reader—discovers exactly what happened when the chickens suddenly learned to think and speak in 1979.

It is a disturbing discovery. Through three issues, Jake finds out that his father and mother were in the maelstrom of the big change. Wizened Farmer Ben, ostensibly his father’s best friend, may not be all he seems. Struggling to understand his boiling resentment of humans, Jake wonders what his father experienced.

All that buildup comes to a chicken head in “Elmer” # 4, the plus-sized conclusion to the series. The planet has flipped upside down, as chickens and humans seem locked in a violent spiral. “This is going to get bad before it gets any better,” Farmer Ben tells Elmer. And it does get very bad, with an explosion of violence that is as visceral as it is unsurprising. Even if the reason behind the chicken evolution is not definitively explained, Elmer instead puts an emphasis on what happened after that worldwide event.”
Did you know that talking chickens were in existence way back in the 50s in Mars Ravelo and Clodualdo del Mundo's Texas? The novel, illustrated by Elpidio Torres, was serialized in Pilipino Komiks in 1952 and was adapted into the big screen with Pancho Magalona, Linda Estrella and Texas, the chicken (would you believe it?) in the title role.
It ran for 32 issues. Here's the last two segments of that exciting novel--- Enjoy reading!!!


Ika- 31 na Labas



click images to enlarge




Katapusang Labas
(Ika-32 na Labas)



click images to enlarge



Thanks to Steve Santos of
Unang Labas blog for the komiks materials


3 comments:

  1. Simon... this is SO AWESOME!! Wow, may komiks pa! Sana may labas ako kahit isa. Post ko sa blog ko ha? Maraming salamat! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. We also know that Ravelo didn't stop with Texas. He-he.

    He also made SILVERIA ang kabayong daldalera, the talking horse in the 50s and then in the 70s with Pomposa, ang kabayong chismosa.

    I may have mixed up the descriptions, but I know for sure that one is a daldalera and the other, Chismosa.

    Which reminds me of this American talent scout who went to the Philippines in the 80s to assist scriptwriters to do their pitch to producers. There were all sorts of themes in the writers' scripts, some were about mail brides getting killed by the groom, etc., etc. Then there was one about a talking chicken, and the producers ignored all the other scripts and focused on the talking chicken! In the end, they thought that it probably would not be treated seriously by the moviegoers, so it was not optioned.

    There was another Filipino creator who made talking animals (in comics form) called BATA-BATUTA in ther 1970s. The talking chicken is called MANUKA. His characters were CARABAO, CHICKEN, RABBITT, ET AL, and apart from being in komiks, he also made stage plays for them where they also do personal appearances in children's birthday parties.

    I will confess that I have accepted a full-length komiks assignment from him, in 1975 when he asked me to write a full complete story about MANUKA, and the title I used was: SI MANUKA SA DAIGDIG NG MGA TAO. It was a tale of Manuka who was determined to live side by side wIth human beings in the ciy of Manila. After his non-stop misadventure and abuse of humans, he went back to his barrio still a chicken, of course (LOL), injured by man's inhumanity to chickens, but (the redeeming value) he was now much wiser.

    I think AESOP's influence is so widespread in the Filipino culture that wtiters and artists tend to keep on using animals that cross over to the realms of humans, and just like Aesop's tales, we all learn some profound lesson in life.

    I would love to read Elmer one of these days and find out what sort of reedeming value I would learn from him.

    I just hope he's not as nasty as GEORGE ORWELL'S animals in THE ANIMAL FARM. He-he.

    I just wonder since Orwell's animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow and oust the human owners of the farm, setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; however, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species and all hell breaks loose.

    I just wonder if Elmer leads a "CHICKEN POWER" to topple a president who's not doing his or her job? Ay, tama ba ito o mali?

    That would be riotous. Lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! Thanks for sharing, Simon.

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete