MERVIN MALONZO: ‘Tabi Po’ will be Published by VISPRINT in 2014
Last time we interviewed Mervin Malonzo, he mentioned we will get to see Tabi Po in printed form in 2014.
Guess what? He just made an announcement about that!
“Ayun! At saka pala, malaki ang chance na sa susunod na taon, magkakaroon na ng print copy ang Tabi Po. May nakausap na kong publisher. Ayoko pa sabihin kung sino. baka mausog.
”
First there’s this sneak peak posted in Tabi Po‘s facebook page where we see Tabi Po with a blood-drenched logo familiar to most of us. Then,in a post released today on his website, Mervin talks about Tabi Po in print format that will be published in 2014 by Visprint Inc.
“I remembered way back in September 2011, right after the first Visprint WIT (Writers in Talk), a gentleman named Budjette Tan (yeah, you know him!) introduced me to a very nice woman by the name of Miss Nida Ramirez (I didn’t know her official title but I felt that she’s the Big Boss in Visprint). We immediately talked about getting Tabi Po in print and just like that Miss Nida said yes!”
He even showed us a glimpse of how it’ll look like once in print format. Take a look at them below:
Aside from that, we get to hear news that some big names are working with Mervin to make sure Tabi Po will be enjoyed by readers even if it’s in a whole new different media:
“Moreover, Adam David (El Bimbo Variations) volunteered in cleaning up the words. “Malikhaing Pagsulat nga naman ang training ko sa Peyups”, are his exact words. He is the one who did the English translation so I guess we will see some kind of syncing between the English and the Filipino versions as well. Also, I should mention that my friend Paolo Chikiamco (Alternative Alamat) is actually involved in my process recently where I usually show an isyu to him for his criticisms before I post it on the web. His inputs are invaluable for the clarity of the flow of the story. But of course, my first reader will always be my beloved girlfriend Princess. Watching her read a freshly made isyu gives me an impression on how it will be received by the reader.”
Despite the news of Tabi Po in printed form, and not webcomic not being available in Philippine iBook store yet, the Filipino version will still be available for free online. Also, there’s an English ebook version available at http://ebooks.tabi-po.com/ that can be read on iPad, Kindle or dekstop computers.
To read the whole transcript, check out the post in his website.
And as Mervin Malonzo puts it,
“So there you go! Tabi Po will be available in print next year! Hooray! Visprint has published a lot of the local books and comics that I love. That’s Kiko Machine, Trese, Bob Ong books, Filipino Heroes League, Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah, Seroks (which I have not yet finished reading) and many more. Expect me to be working closely with them in bringing a good quality product to you. Will you buy it?”
