MANILA, Philippines — While the casual comic book fan may know Gerry Alanguilan more for his work as an inker for such iconic Marvel Comics titles like the “X-Men”, “Wolverine”, and “Fantastic Four”, the guy has been quietly making a name for himself here in the country through his own works, some of which published through his own Komikero Publishing company.

Aside from establishing Komikero Publishing, Alanguilan has come out with titles such as his self-published work “Wasted”, praised by comic book icon Warren Ellis as “an early work by a potentially brilliant creator”; “Timawa”; and “Humanis Rex”, which was serialized in Fudge Magazine.

Just recently, Alanguilan added another feather to his cap as his work, “Elmer”, was awarded the Prix Asie-ACBD 2011 as the Best Asian Comic Book published in France. First released locally in four volumes over the stretch of 2006 to 2008, and eventually anthologized, “Elmer”, tells the story of a world where chickens have become sentient and are now fighting for equal rights with humans.

“Elmer” has also been nominated for an Eisner Award, the top accolade given to a comic book in the American publishing scene.

All in all, not a bad haul for a work that Alanguilan originally intended to just be the “Ultimate Chicken Story”.

“In 2005 I thought about doing my 'Ultimate Chicken Story', the most hysterically ridiculous story about chickens ever written. But as I explored the idea, the more serious it got,” he shares. “It became so serious that I decided to drop the 'Ultimate Chicken Story' title, and looked for a different, more appropriate one.”

Hysterical chicken

The desire to write the “Ultimate Chicken Story”, according to Alanguilan, is the result of what he says is a lifelong fascination with poultry. Chickens were an integral part of Alanguilan's childhood, and even early on he already found them “hysterical”.

“I grew up with chickens roaming all around places I lived. Chickens are a favorite animal of mine to observe because I find them hysterical. They're so paranoid and jittery, and they get quite indignant when they're disturbed. They are just so fun to watch,” he says.

Alanguilan's chicken stories would start appearing in his work as early as 1997, in the mini comic book “Crest Hut Butt Shop”.

“'Crest Hut Butt Shop' is a comic book album of short humorous autobiographical stories. One of those stories was 'Stupid Chicken Stories', where I related funny personal experiences about chickens,” he shares.

However, when he sat down in 2005 to work on his 'Ultimate Chicken Story', Alanguilan would soon find that there just might be something more to his chicken stories than he previously thought.

“The story developed through observing chickens who grazed outside our house. They always looked particularly pissed off whenever I would pass by, clucking indignantly, staring at me with their wide paranoid eyes. Are they mad at me for some reason? Perhaps they are. Perhaps they can smell the tinola oozing from my pores,” he shares.

“I thought, what if they were intelligent and could actually speak? What if those clucking were replaced with actual words? Would they be mad? Would they organize? Would they demand for rights? All that speculation led to the idea of doing 'Elmer'. But instead of approaching it from a humorous point of view, I thought I'd treat the subject as seriously as possible, and just let the humor grow organically.”

‘Serious' chicken stories

Even then, the first few incarnations of “Elmer” that Alanguilan would come up with would be very different than the very first issue that he would sell in 2006 at the annual Philippine Komikon.

“The very first draft of Elmer was a lot more gimmicky. It began with a chicken grazing on the ground in the middle of some foliage. It's a quiet countryside scene, no captions or dialogue. Then the chicken suddenly  gets paranoid and out of the bushes a man lunges forward and tries to capture the chicken. But the man trips and hits the chicken rather forcefully, as if by accident. At this point the chicken screams the loudest expletive you could ever hear.

Then another scream: 'CUT!!' Then the scene pans backwards to reveal a movie set. And the chicken, my character Elmer, is the star,” he says. “I thought it was a nice beginning but I felt it was too gimmicky, and worse, a bit common. Too many times we see scenes like this in TV and movies where they turn out to be fake scenes, a movie set within a movie. I thought it could still work so I moved this scene towards the second half of the book and began with another scene. I felt better about the scene I decided to use, so I stuck with it.”

While he asserts that working on “Elmer” did not come with any creative or artistic difficulties, Alanguilan admits that the years he spent working on the comic book were some of the more financially trying times of his life, owing to the fact that he had quit his steady job as an inker for comic book companies from the United States to focus solely on his own work.

“I actually had fun all throughout the creation of Elmer. I don't recall any difficulties on my part in any aspect of its creation. However, the difficult part of it was surviving while I did it,” he recalls. “The period between 2006 and 2008 were some of the most financially difficult times of my life, as I struggled to pursue a creative dream. But I had the most supportive wife in the world, and through sheer luck and some very understanding friends we seemed to have pulled through just fine.”

Creative dream

Alanguilan says he was certain that he was already working with something special, even if he had no idea how successful it would be among critics and comic book readers alike.

“I knew it was good enough for me to actually invest some money to actually have the series printed at a printing press. I don't think I had any expectations, but I had a lot of hopes. I hoped people would buy it, read it and like it,” he says. “ I hoped it would free me from my insecurity of forever being labeled as a 'one hit wonder'. Before 'Elmer' I had created 'Wasted', but as much as I loved that book, I was concerned that it was the only thing I'd ever be known for. I knew I had more stories in me and I wanted nothing more than to share them.”

“Elmer” did that and more. Not only were the books a hit among readers, it was also a critical darling, gaining for Alanguilan attention not just from local comic book connoisseurs but from international ones as well.

“Elmer” and Alanguilan were featured in the widely read and respected Comics Reporter website, and even gained a kudos from comic book icon Neil Gaiman, who labeled “Elmer” as “quote.”

Foreign publishers also came knocking in the form of Editions çà et là and SLG Publishing, which both took on the task of publishing “Elmer” in French and English editions, respectively. They couldn't have come at a better time, says Alanguilan, who was already considering distributing the book internationally by himself because some of the publishers that had expressed interest in “Elmer” never got around to making an actual deal.

“I was getting somewhat desperate. It came to the point that I had actually considered distributing the book myself abroad, which was a frightening notion because it would be extraordinarily tricky and expensive. I might end up spending more than I would make,” he says.

With foreign publishing and foreign accolades under ‘’Elmer’s’’ belt, Alanguilan hopes that the success it” is reaping at the moment helps out other young comic book artists to tell the stories that they want to tell.

“I hope it shows my fellow creators that we as Filipinos can have the confidence to create things that could compete against efforts by creators around the world. I seriously do hope that young Filipino artists today who want to create comics further develop their craft, further study the comic book medium, and further develop their skills to create better comics. I see incredible potential in a lot of young artists today. I have no doubt that many of them will accomplish far more greater things than I could ever do,” he ends.