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occupation, continuing to appear in Liwayway, but published by the Japan Information Bureau. Velasquez told me that the Japanese used the character in its health campaign, claiming, “Kenkoy did not get involved in politics or war; just sanitation.” The Japanese also commissioned Velasquez to do a daily strip for the newspaper Tribune. Called The Kalibapi Family, it showed life of Filipinos under the new Japanese social order. Velasquez said there was no public reaction after the war concerning Kenkoy working for the Japanese. Some of these strips continued after World War Two, either as parts of the general interest magazines (e.g. Velasquez continued doing Kenkoy and Ponyang Halobaybay for Liwayway on a freelance basis) or the newly-born komiks. Also, most pre-war strip cartoonists, such as Velasquez, Reyes, Coching, Borromeo, and Jose Zabala Santos, in addition to a host of newcomers, lent their services to the birthing of komiks. American comic books brought in by U.S. soldiers during World War Two were the impetus for the development of komiks, the first of which was Halakhak (word that sounds like and denotes laughter). Universal Bookstore owner Attorney Jaime Lucas started Halakhak at the urging of Isaac Tolentino, who became editor. An editorial cartoonist before the war, and guerrilla propagandist during the conflict, Tolentino was working for the U.S. government. Besides humor, love, and mystery stories, the 42-page komik carried an adventure series, “Bernardo Carpio,” about a mythical hero in Philippine folklore. Financial difficulties forced the closing of Halakhak after 10 issues. Velasquez said the komik died for lack of facilities, telling me, “It had no press, only a bookstore owner and publisher, and no finances.” Enter Ramon Roces and Tony Velasquez again. On May 27, 1947, the duo started Ace Publications with the sole intent to publish komiks. Velasquez was appointed editor of Ace’s first magazine, Pilipino Komiks, a fortnightly. The initial issue with a print run of 10,000 and a 25-centavo price came out June 14, and featured old strips by Velasquez (“Nanong Pandak”) and Jose Zabala Santos (“Lukas Malakas”), as well as new series such as “DI-13” by Damian Velasquez (brother of Tony) and Jesse Santos, “Ang
Kalabog” by Larry Alcala, “Prinsesa Urduha” by Vicente Manansala, “Kolokoy” by Tony Roullo, “Lagim” by Caguintuan, “Tibong at Tibang” by E. D. Ramos, “Daluyong” by Fred Carrillo, “Makisig” by A. Y. Manalad, and “Ang Buhay ni Aldabes” by Hugo Yonzon. Velasquez said Roces asked him if he would start a new business, the komiks. “I was flattered,” Velasquez told me, elaborating,”Don Ramon said he’d give me a month to do it. Then, artists were not very busy so I could meet his deadline. Don Ramon told me, ‘I don’t think this [komik] will last; just do what you can about it.’ I kept insisting, ‘This will last, Don Ramon.’ I had already a plan to do my own comics magazine when Don Ramon called.” For the first two years, Velasquez handled Pilipino Komiks alone, but the staff grew, as did the komik’s popularity, and Ace started other books — Tagalog Klasiks in 1949, Hiwaga Komiks (1950), Espesyal Komiks (1952), and pocket-sized Kenkoy Komiks (1952). By 1950, others entered the komiks field as publishers. Extra Komiks was brought out by Extra Komiks Publications and manage-edited by Eriberto A. Tablan, who also published Aksiyon Komiks; Silangan Komiks was issued by Ben Cabailo, Jr., and Bituin Komiks by Felix J. Quiogue. Additionally by 1950, comics supplements appeared in at least Liwayway, Bulaklak, Ilang-ilang, Tiktik, and Sinagtala. Some publishers also issued U.S. comic books. In a September 29, 1964 interview, Chronicle Publishing Company publisher Oscar Lopez told me his company quit publishing American comics with the proliferation of Tagalog komiks. Also, he said, “ so many of the U.S. books we reproduced were brought in by U.S. servicemen anyway.” The 1950s was described as the golden era of Filipino komiks, turning out increasing numbers of quality works in various genres and nurturing some of the great names of cartooning. One of them, Larry Alcala, who started his career in 1946, with the help of Tony Velasquez, attributed the successes during that time to cartoonists “doing their best work.” In a 1988 interview, he told me, “Cartoonists had love for their work. It was not as commercialized then as now.” The good times unraveled, according to Alcala, when a strike (of the printing industry in 1963) closed Ace: “When that happened, a lot of contributors [to Ace komiks] put up their own books. With the proliferation of books, quality went down.” One should not be too hasty to downplay the impact of the 1960s, for, after all, it was the decade of the revitalization of the komiks — a time when new types and genres, including bomba and developmental komiks, appeared, when komiks apparently became a prime vehicle to promote the Pilipino language, when the careers of some of the Philippines’ most famous cartoonists took off, and when the industry reorganized with new companies and titles that survived until contemporary times. Although types/genres of komiks are discussed later in this article, two are singled out here as products of the 1960s — bomba and developmental. Existing side-by-side with bomba films, pornographic bomba komiks grew out of the more permissive atmosphere of the decade. They were published
TOP: Dr. José Rizal, Philippine national hero, is often cited the first Filipino cartoonist in the Philippines after he drew “The Monkey and the Tortoise,” in 1885. ABOVE: The first regular Philippine comic strip, Kenkoy, created by Tony Velasquez in December, 1928. Both courtesy of John A. Lent.