LET’S TALK KOMIKS: ‘Patay Kung Patay’ kaya si Noel Pascual

Today we get chat to Noel Pascual about his new collaboration project with his Crime-Fighting Call Center Agent – AJ Bernardo with new partner – Mike Alcazaren – PATAY KUNG PATAY.

FLIPGEEKS: What’s PATAY KUNG PATAY about?
NOEL PASCUAL: Iyung komiks namin ay isang 6-issue mini series na nasa horror comedy genre, may zombies, gore, violence along with Filipino elements na integral sa istorya katulad ng mga characters na haciendero, corrupt politicians, oligarchs, etc.

Ano pagkakaiba nito sa CFCCA?
Medyo marami. May pagkakaiba sa style ng comedy, medyo mas seryoso itong Patay Kung Patay. Pati na rin yung subject matter ng series na ito ay mas mabigat rin. We’re also working with Mike Alcazaren dito sa series na ito, kanya ang story at ang original idea behind patay kung patay. Visually, marami ring pagkakaiba pero one of the things na mapapansin kaagad ay we’re in color na ngayon. Or at least may nadagdag na color red na sa palette namin, haha.

Paano hati ng kita nyo?
Secret! Hahaha.

At paano nainvolve to with Mike Alcazaren?
[Noel shares a document]

PATAY KUNG PATAY
Story by Mike Alcazaren
Written by Noel Pascual
Illustrated by AJ Bernardo

The PLOT:
The wealthy Muguerza family hosts a party in their sprawling 10,000 hectare hacienda to celebrate a deal with business giant Zenith Corporation. The deal will cement their economic and political power in the region but the celebration is spoiled by unexpected guests…of the flesh-eating type. The night of revelry quickly turns into a night of blood and gore. Secrets will be revealed and hearts will be eaten.

The CONCEPT:
The comic book is a six part series. The story is told from the POV of a TV Showbiz News Team. It’s a screwball crew of  Grace, a buxom showbiz reporter who wants to be taken seriously; Mark, a burned-out news producer and Jun Sabayton as himself.  What’s supposed to be a simple coverage of some ostentatious social event turns into the news scoop of their stale careers. IF they survive the night. The party is gate-crashed by the undead led by a mysterious 14 year-old girl. Where did these creatures come from and what is their beef against the powerful Muguerza family? The answers will be revealed, piece by piece, with all its gory details in each issue.

The STORY BEHIND THE PROJECT:
Filmmaker Mike Alcazaren was looking to start his second film after the art-house mystery flick “Puti” which was screened last year at The 32^nd Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film.  But he wanted to do a genre film, a tongue-in-cheek homage to the old Seiko horror/massacre films like “Huwag Mong Buhayin ang Bangkay”, “God Save the Babies!” and “Machete”.  It was detoxing from the heavy theme of his first film and probably a chance to make some money from a gratuitously violent film. The story was complete and while trying to recruit a co-writer for the screenplay in Noel Pascual, Alcazaren realized that he hadn’t fully recovered financially and emotionally from his first film. So the question popped up: “Would this translate well into a comic book?”.. The answer came after a hour and a half meeting with the filmmaker, the writer and illustrator AJ Bernardo. AJ loved the concept and was on board. Why a comic book? Compared to producing a movie, it’s cheaper to produce and can serve as a gauge if there will be an audience for the film version. Maybe even earn a little profit, gain a little seed money for the movie to go into pre-production but whatever happens, we’ll always have the comic book.

 

Ano related nito regarding sa komiks  – Buhay Habang Buhay gawa ni Paolo Herras at Tepai Pascual? 
Wala naman, actually. Hehe. Bakit mo naitanong?

Parang may pattern kasi: Buhay _____ Buhay > Patay _______ Patay. First word and last word.
Ahhhh, name-wise! Hehehe

Hehehehe, hindi.

What creative direction and approach nyo dito sa new mini-series?
Sa story mas seryoso, so may mga slapstick situation na nasa CFCCA (Crime-Fighting Call Center Agents) na wala dito. May verbal humor pa rin pero ang comedy ay limited sa realistic situations, walang mga sobrang weird things like tribe of monkeys na nanghahabol sa mga bida (CFCCA #5).

Sa art, continued evolution pa rin ito ni AJ (Bernardo) as an artist, plus he’s getting to play with a semi-colored format na ngayon.

Malaki rin ang part ni AJ sa writing process dito. As in. So may mga parts rito sa pagtakbo ng story at mga scenes presented na totally si AJ ang in charge.

So kung malaki ang papel ni AJ dito sa book, malaki ang hati nya? Hahaha
Secret!

Bakit semi-colored and not fully-colored?
Idea yun ni AJ based sa iba’t-ibang mga factors, pero I believe based sa story iyun ang nga isang interesting way to present it visually.

6-issue series to, right?
Yep! 24 pages each.

Gaano katagal pa hihintayin ng mga tao ang mga susunod na issues?
Bawat major kon, meron. This year issue 1 Komiket and 1 month after sa Komikon ay lalabas na ang issue 2. Next year ganun rin for the remaining 4 issues until mag-November Komikon.

Mabilis yan, ah. what do you think of that pace na paglabas ng comics?
Mas okay kasi mas likely na sustained ang attention ng readers.

What do you think books that are continuing/mini series vs one and done story like graphic novels? There are pros and cons, no? Which one is better if you wanna make your komiks thing as a “career”?
Depende lang rin sa maraming factors kung alin ang better approach. Minsan mas bagay ang story sa isang one-shot or isang graphic novel na released in one stroke. Minsan naman mas okay na continuing series, depende sa istorya rin. Tapos pag continuing at least nare-release mo na at nakakakuha ng feedback with each release, nai-inspire ka rin dahil may audience ka na na alam mong naghahantay sa comic mo.

Same rin business-wise. Iba rin ang industry natin dito locally so it’s not like maraming creators ang may opportunity at the moment to go into creating komiks full time as a career. Baka wala sa kung whether one-shot or continuing series ang biggest factor kung kayang gawing career ng isang individual creator ang komiks.

Kung mas similar siguro tayo sa US or Japanese comics industry, mas likely siguro na yung paglalabas ng continuing series ang mas beneficial sa pagkakaroon ng local komiks career.

Patay Kung Patay #1 will be released this October in Komiket.