My First Komiket (1 of 3)

Komiket Poster: Zsazsa Zaturnah by Carlo Vergara

What is a Gen Xer doing in Komiket?

This was the question I asked myself the moment I stepped into The Elements at Centris for the February Komiket 2019. Of course, I was there as chaperone for our Media and Lit Club members, as well as a librarian looking for good comics and zines to buy. Turns out, the Komiket is an event for people from all walks of life who loves art, literature, culture and entreprenuership. At the Komiket, one gets to buy stickers, prints, art, comics and sequential art, zines, bookmarks and all sorts of "anik-anik" alongside the super konyotiks to the avant garde artist. At Komiket, one will have the pleasure of having a favorite art commissioned. From K-pop to anime, indigenous art and pop art, the Komiket has everything for the nerd, the geek, the scholar, the Titas and Titos, bekis, beshies and business people. It is a good place to establish linkages and networking. 

There were adults my age too who were shopping for art and literary materials. One guy asked the sellers at Kawangis Komiks on the new issues of Mai-I and the activity booklet that goes with it. He admitted that his wife is a teacher and that they own a school. His advocacy is to keep kids away from gadget addiction and to use them as tools for creating art instead. I bought from Kawangis Komiks the wordless comics that they sell and the picture book they published that was written and made by a young boy. More of this in the next blog post.

Komiks and zines for the library

I met friends from the children's book industry and former co-teachers and students in Xavier School. Why they are everywhere I go is beyond me. Fr. Johnny Go SJ was right when he said "you can leave Xavier School, but Xavier will not leave you". It was a happy reunion that confirmed my ties to the past will forever be connected to my present. 

I ended the day with a bag of comics and zines which our students and Media Arts club moderator helped select. For part 2 of this post, I will write about the comics and zines we acquired from Komiket.