I know I posted earlier the first compilation of my comic strips was planned to be launched during the 3rd Komikon on Nov. 17, but I'm afraid I'll be forced to move it to a date later than that. I have some sound reasons and here they are:

• I planned this book to be very different from all the compilations that came out, both foreign and local.

• The hardest part was coming up with the cover design, for reasons that are obviously apparent. I chickened out the first time and delegated the work to a friend (who did a mighty great job if I may say so) based on a concept which I first did in my thesis. From a creative stand point it was a first. Letting the artist who did the bonus stories inside the book do cover, an idea I partially lifted from what cartoonist Scott Kurtz did in his earlier comic book compilations.

From a marketing stand-point it was a sure shot, but from a creative POV, it was heck confusing to potential buyers. So I scrapped the idea, sat down and racked my brains. I came up with the final treatment a couple of weeks later.

• The final artwork for the cover took another three months to complete because of poses each character had to be exactly the ones I had in mind. I just didn't know how they would look like until I got them on paper. And each pose had to compliment each other, too.

• I also had a lot of deadlines going on in between those things.

• I already planned the chapter divisions involving the characters because I didn't use their names a lot during the time it was published so I had to come up with something different to introduce them one by one instead of the usual profile-name-in-box-under-it-kinda-thing. I went through three revisions before settling down on the first one after leaving it alone for a month. The thing played out for almost 10 months and I only had my "eureka" moment some 2 1/2 hours ago. It was right in my face and I only saw it then! *slaps forehead*

• I'm now fired up with doing this work but thing is I'd have to sacrifice missing the biggest comic convention of the year to launch the book.

• The loooooooooong wait will be so worth it, I promise y'all that. I'll come up with something different in the meantime.




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