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By Rome Jorge, Lifestyle Editor
You can thank Arnold
Arre, The Manila Times’ own resident graphic novelist and winner
of the Manila Critics Circle and National Book Awards, for cluing in
Neil Gaiman on the abundance of artistic talent in the Philippines
and on the rich treasure trove of primordial myths and contemporary
urban legends. The novelist, comic book author and movie
scriptwriter famous for The Sandman, Stardust, Beowulf and American
Gods, has gone so far as to establish and fund The Graphic/Fiction
Awards, now on its third year with over P400,000 in cash with
P100,000 to the first place winner and a publication deal with
international distribution up for grabs. This is something Gaiman
does only for the Philippines and nowhere else.
It all started on the author’s first visit to
the country. “He [Gaiman] got a lot of gifts. Every person who met
him gave him things—everything from books to Choc-nut. A lot of
the stuff he couldn’t bring. One of the things he took with him
was a book on Filipino mythology and one of Arnold’s works. He was
very impressed with Arnold. He was particularly interested in what
Arnold Arre was doing,” recalls Erwin Romulo, Rogue Magazine
features editor, science fiction and comic book aficionado and
chairman for the awards. Arre’s graphic novels combined compelling
narratives that were truly Filipino and a visual style that was
truly his own.
Gaiman wanted more of such originality and
thought of establishing an award to encourage it. “Don’t worry,
I’ll put up the money,” Romulo recalls Gaiman saying. He adds,
“He’s still funding it.” In 2006 the first Graphic/Fiction
Awards were held.
Arre was enlisted to become one of the judges
for the awards, along with the most notable names in Filipino
fantasy: Novelist Greg Brilliantes who pioneered Pinoy science
fiction with Apollo Centennial, legendary filmmaker Peque Gallaga as
well as playwright and spiritualist Tony Perez and Fully Booked’s
Jaime Daez.
Tals Diaz, journalist and marketing manager of
Fully Booked, explains the rationale for the awards: “Neil’s
theme is Filipino unrealism. It has to have that unique sense of
Filipino-ness about it. We do have a rich tradition of Filipino
mythology and folklore that we hardly explore in our literature. If
you look at our literature right now, a lot of it is very realistic.
That’s what Neil Gaiman wanted us to veer away from with this
contest.” Romulo adds, “Don’t say that he doesn’t like the
stuff that he got from here—the realist novels that he read, he
liked. He just wanted to explore if we had other things. As for
fantasy, he thought we could go beyond juvenile literature and
explore what he thinks is an integral part of our culture—science
fiction, horror or speculative fiction. It really is how you weave
the genre into Filipino heritage.”
This year’s movie blockbuster
It’s only natural that film now joins comic
books and prose as among the awards’ categories on its third year.
Cinema is the art form closest to comic books. Every film is
developed on storyboards that greatly resemble comic book frames.
And as the box office successes of Batman, 300 and Sin City have
shown, comics are a rich source of compelling narratives suited for
film. Organizers concede that they are open to adding new categories
such as online interactive comic books in the future.
Today, the competition attracts a deluge of
entries, from first timers to published authors. But some have been
doing it all wrong.
How not to win
“One thing we can tell you not to do is mimic
a Gaiman story. We get a lot of entries that are just versions of
Neil’s stories with Filipino names in it,” says Diaz.
Many have made the mistake of hewing the clichés
of science fiction, epic fantasy or supernatural genres. Romulo
says, “The worst ones are those with a very narrow view of what
science fiction or speculative fiction represents—the wizards and
the dwarves, the shades and the trench coats of the Matrix guys, the
twist endings and the angst-ridden urban alienation stories. Some
have a lot of the style but no substance. We need to establish a
serious literary award. Not just fan fiction or a geek boy thing.”
He observes, “The ones that managed to win brought something
really Pinoy.”
Being unfamiliar with the conventions of each
genre is an asset. “The story I wrote for the first Graphic
Fiction Award was my first short story. I didn’t know how to go
about it. I didn’t read fantasy. I didn’t write fantasy. I
explored the genre through the competition,” reveals Mikaela
Atienza, runner up of the Graphic Fiction Awards for her work
entitled “Atha.”
The competition is now open to all Filipino
citizens, who may send their original entries in the categories of
short story fiction, comics, and short film to any Fully Booked
branch.
Deadline of submission is September 30, 2008.
For details, visit www.fullybookedonline.com.
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