LET’S TALK KOMIKS: Intergalactic Saucepan soars with Superhero Indie “AGILA”

Intergalactic Saucepan (Yes, that’s his name) along with artists, Jose Victor Fuentecillia, and AJ Perdon are new to the indie komiks scene with his newest superhero indie, Agila. Once a 17 year-old boy’s idea turned reality at this point in time. Here at Flipgeeks we were able to sit down with Intergalactic Saucepan to talk about Agila #1, their group PHP! Komiks, the future of the said komik and more!

FLIPGEEKS: First off! Thanks so much for this interview and congratulations on the success of your comic and your group, Pinoy Hero Plus so far! How did you get into comics and how did all three of you, Jose Victor Fuentecillia, and Aljon Perdon end up collaborating to make this comic and building Pinoy Hero Plus?

JC: So I’m Intergalactic Saucepan but you can call me JC. I’m the creator/founder of PHP Comics (Pinoy Hero Plus) I’m also the writer/creator of Agila. Along with my artists Aljon Perdon and Jose Victor Perey Fuentecilla.

So yeah. We made Agila. Haha~

How we got together to bust out Agila is a simple one. Basically, I created an FB (Facebook) group a couple of years ago for artists and writers who love comics to come together and make our own comics through collaboration.

Long story short, they were members and I invited them to work on my idea for a comic book, Agila. They didn’t know each other so I introduced them to each other. So one day we all met up at some coffee shop and talked about making a comic to sell at a convention.

They liked the idea and agreed to work with me. So after that, we met a couple more times to talk script and and art and after all that, it all pretty much leads to today. We sold issues of our first comic book in Komikon Indieket 2015. It did pretty well. Way better than we expected.

Tell us about Agila and how did idea of bringing Agila and even PHP Komiks to life?
Agila is a superhero I created when I was about 17. Right now his powers include flight, enhanced senses & durability, and a little boost in his physical condition. He, as a person, doesn’t actually have super powers, though. What he does have is a mysterious wooden mask that grants him the ability to fly.

His alter-ego is Juan Jose Aljon R. Panlilio. He is a History Professor in De La Salle College of Saint Benilde. Now I know his name is long, even in the comics he has multiple names. His students call him “Sir Panjo”, his friends call him “Jose, Juan or even Panjo”, his little brother calls him “Kuya Jr” His boss at his other job calls him “Darling” (You’ll see that in future issues) and people really close to him call him “Rolly” because of his middle name.

I only thought of making it into an actual comic book a couple of months ago. It took me all this time to bring him to paper because all these years, I didn’t have that much confidence in my drawig/art skills. I still don’t. I don’t think my art is ready to be in a comic book. So I waited, practiced, still couldn’t find the confidence to make my idea of Agila into a comic. Until this year, 2015. I wasn’t confident in my art so I got my friends to do it. Really talented guys. They were already members in the group I created, PHP Comics so at that point all I had to do was ask.

Now the thing with our group, PHP Comics, is, the members of the group don’t really know one another. The way things work is: You approach someone and ask if they wanna work with you on a personal project. If they agree, good for you~ If not, try the other members. That’s actually how Agila came to be. Haha.

We originally started with like 3-5 people. Now we’re like more than 20 strangers, and that’s great~ Hahahaha.

Were there any difficulties in making this comic? Considering that you have to balance your personal life with school, internships among others
Oh, hell fucking yes there were some difficulties. Words can’t describe. Hahahaha. It’s our fault, though, really.

See, this was our first time signing up for a convention to be sellers of anything. We’ve never done anything like this before so we didn’t really didn’t know how any of this worked.

Anyway, that’s not the reason why we had a hard time. It’s a funny story, actually. See, when we signed up, we thought that after we’ve sent our registration application email, we assumed that we’d just wait to be confirmed that we’re in. Then we could start production of the comic.

Apparently, it took some time for us to get confirmed. We waited for quite a while actually. It wasn’t really a big deal actually. It’s just we should’ve started production of Agila right away after signing up. But we decided to start working on the comic when we get confirmed.

Long story short, we waited too long. We only got confirmed by email like 3 weeks before the event. But we were pretty much ensured long before we even got the email, really. I guess we really just shouldn’t have waited for a sign. We should’ve started production immediately.

I had to scour the ends of the earth for a good printing place. I’ve gone to printing places in Taft, Katipunan, Makati, Sta. Mesa, Cubao, Q. Ave, Mandaluyong, and even in UP.

I test printed 4 page issues to see the quality of the printing of each place. Eventually, we settled on UP since they had the best quality printing.

So basically, we had 3 weeks to come up with the cash for printing fees, discuss the layouts of the comic, draw it, put in the dialogue, proofread it, polish it, print it along with other artworks we planned on selling, and cut the cards and stickers. With our theses and other school shit to juggle, Aljon’s actually already graduated so he has to balance work with all this, Me and JV are the ones left studying among the three of us.

So…… you know. No pressure. I even spent all night trying to cut the.stickers the night before the event. And on the morning of the event, I still wasn’t done cutting them, so I had to go to a public xeroxing place to cut the cards and stickers. Then we all rushed to the event to get settled in.

So all in all, the event itself was worth all the shit we went through. The experience was amazing. Definitely worth it. But I’ve learned my lesson and we’ll be more prepared for the next con.

So what was the collaborative work like? How did the writer and the artists able to bring the characters to life from script to comic form?
Working with Aljon and JV was definitely fun. The only thing I had to complain about was the problem with coordinating with them. Communications were a bit difficult because from time to time we’d either be busy with other things or not have load or net. But other than that, It was fun working with them and I look forward to continue working with them~

Now the reason I wanted two artists working on Agila is because I wanted to show two different sequences in Agila’s first few issues. Basically different times in Agila’s life. So I chose the two guys to transition into each other’s art throughout the storytelling I wrote for the issues of Agila. And I’d like to say that I think the two are a perfect match made in heaven~ I couldn’t be more happy with the art. Though, I admit it was a bit rushed, as I mentioned, but that only means that their art is even better than what’s currently in Agila’s first issue right now.

So I hope the upcoming issues of Agila and other titles will be even better~ I might even get new artists to work on my other ideas. Or even me.

Nah, just kidding. I dunno. Maybe. Some day… not today.
What or who influenced you guys to do what you do right now to make komiks (whether it is through art or writing)?
Well I don’t know about Aljon or JV, but for me, my artistic influences are:

-Mark Millar
-Leinil Yu
-Mico Suayan
-Marc Silvestri
-Steve Mcniven
-Garth Ennis
-Whilce Portacio
-Zdzisław Beksiński
-Vincent Padilla (My Art Professor when I was a freshman)
-Joaquin Teotico (My Tito)
-Stuart Immonen
-Olivier Coipel
-Carlo Barberi
-Paco Medina
-Sara Pichelli
-Lan Medina
– Jim Cheung

Well for the illustrative art, you’ll have to ask my artists. Hahaha. As for the writing, I have my influences, but I try it be as original as possible. I have 3 main methods/processes for creating original stories/concepts:

a.) One is from my everyday experiences, I see shit happening around me and to me all the time. If any of it’s interesting, I’d probably write it down or something or just remember it.
b.) Another process of mine is thinking of the dialogue first. Basically, I’d make a script first then think of the scenarios later. I try to make my dialogue as realistic as possible. I want my characters to sound like real people having a real conversations.
c.) Lastly, when I try to think of a story, I try to be as original as possible. Though, it’s almost impossible since there’s been decades of comics, novels, shows, and movies with countless stories. It’s hard to think of a completely original story but it can be done. It’s just harder to do is all I’m saying.

Tell us about your experiences in your first appearance in Indieket? What was the feedback like when you revealed Agila to the public (pre and post Indieket)?
It was awesome. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was definitely one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had. I had fun mingling with other komikeros and talking about the indie comics industry in the Philippines. Sadly, I wasn’t able to roam around that much to meet famous artists who were also at the event because I was busy with my own table, entertaining customers. But that too was fun.

And people actually liked Agila. A lot of people asked me if it was new and if I created this stuff, I said Yeah. People generally liked it. Some even bought issues of Agila without bothering to check out the interior art first. I, of course, advised them to do so first to make sure they’d like what they bought.

All in all, Agila was well received. I didn’t expect it to be so well received by the public. I really have to thank my artists for helping me make all this possible. Couldn’t have done it without them.

It actually all began when I showed my idea for Agila to Pinoy comic (book) artists: Leinil Yu, Gerry Alanguilian, Allen Geneta, Mico Suayan, and Lan Medina.

They gave me some real helpful advice and I thank them for it. I’d really love to give them each a copy of Agila to show my appreciation for taking the time to listen to me talk about Agila and my plans for it. Hahaha, I guess if I see them at a convention or something. I just wanted a professional opinion. And they sure gave it~ That’s why they’re pros.

With Agila #2 in mind, is there a future of the character and for the world he lives in? Are there any other superheroes inhabiting the said world and will they come together as a team ala Avengers someday?
Oh definitely, Agila #2, 3, 4 will definitely explore the characteristics of Agila and his alter-ego especially. As for the second part of your question, yes there are other heroes~ But I won’t reveal any names just yet. And as for the third part of your question……..I dunno. Maybe. Who knows~ Hehehehe. Guess you’ll have to read and find out.

When we bumped to each other in this year’s Indieket, you actually said how you would put real life people whether friends or even just random people in your comics. Care to elaborate on that for the people who may or may not know?
Oh that, yeah we plan on making this a contest or something or a raffle or whatever. Anyway, we plan on using real people in the comics as characters whether it’s a prominent character or just a background drawing of a civilian for “shoutouts.” Either way, we haven’t fully decided how we’d dish this out yet but we plan on doing it soon. It’s definitely gonna be for everyone. Friends and strangers.

Will there be other artists and/or writers collaborating to PHP Komiks soon?
As of now, I can’t say for sure. All I can give you is a solid maybe. But hey, We got two teams right now. One for “Agila” and another for PHP’s other book “Demon Hunters Inc.” And maybe even another team for this other idea from one of our other members’ called “Nightwatcher.”

But as I said before, anyone is welcome to PHP Comics. Just join and interact with the members. Who knows, your ideas just might be PHP’s next comic~

Do you guys have any advice for aspiring komiks creators/writers and artists?
I’m actually still an aspiring artist, myself. Hahahaha. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a comic book writer/artist, it’s that you shouldn’t put your ideas on hold. Just do it. Don’t be afraid and that the world might not like what you have to offer.

I know from experience. I was so insecure about my drawing/art skills that I didn’t want to make my comic yet. I still am. I’m more of a writer.

But waiting too long can take its toll. So since I still wasn’t confident in my art, for our first comic, Agila, I hired a couple of friends to handle the art while I handle the writing. I should have done this sooner.

So basically, my advice is: Don’t be afraid to show what you’ve got but if you’re just waiting for the right time, try not to wait for too long.

We know it’s too early to say but how do you think the future of Pinoy Hero Plus Komiks will be for you guys?
All we can say is we’re a group that accepts anyone. No matter what your forte is in art. If you like comics, then you’re welcome to join us~ But you know, we make comics. If you have no intention of doing so, I don’t see why you’d want to join. But go ahead if you still want to. We won’t stop you haha.