Coching at 70 (Photo from The Life and Art of Francisco Coching)

They say that the golden era of the komiks ended when its dean, Franscisco Coching, retired in 1973. After he had inked, penciled, and lettered himself over 50 titles (most of which, save for five or six, have been turned into notable and memorable films), the artist-author seemingly left his fans hanging and was nowhere to be seen. He had stopped producing realistic and at the same time mythical works that triumph the Filipinos as heroes and stalwarts and serials that struck a chord in the Filipino psyche much to the dismay of his staunch supporters. Audiences suddenly missed his easily relatable characters and epic narratives. It’s as if when he left, a gaping hole replaced him instead.

Years later, interest in Coching and his veritable contribution to our country’s visual culture have been apparently pushed aside. Although, according to art historian Patrick Flores, his name would pop up in the National Artist selection every now and then, prejudice would take the better of the jury. Efforts to elevate the role of the illustrator in a national scale have always been a fail, as the komiks, they would say do not fit the mold of the fine arts. Cultural establishments have time and again considered it as “putatively plebeian.” As a result, the younger generation does not know a thing or two about Coching. Ask a kid about komiks, and he would probably tell you that he only knows and reads Marvel. Tell him about Hagibis (one of Coching’s characters) and you would probably get just a shrug.

Fortunately, a comprehensive book has been launched about the illustrator. Edited by Flores, it chronicles the milieu of Coching, who functioned as a “one-man komiks-making machine.” Titled “The Life and Art of Francisco Coching,” the book is a collection of essays from Alice Guillermo, Justino Dormiendo, D.M. Reyes, and Soledad Reyes. These essays not only capture the spirit of Coching and his masterpieces but also relate to readers the significance of the man in Filipino art and culture. More than skill and artistry, the book highlights Coching’s unparalleled and faithful devotion to his craft and his sense of modernity.

Flores tells that Coching had this marked sense of modernity, which is being able to self-consciously look back at history while living at the present. He describes Coching’s works as “cinematic” and “progressive.” He further states, “Coching had a sense of the epic—he told stories about people in fantastic, or very ordinary yet problematic situations. He made his characters interesting because he himself is genuinely interested in them, and he loved doing it.”

Meanwhile, Coching’s widow, Luming, had only great words to say about his loving husband. “Akala ko noong araw eh marunong lang siyang sumayaw at magaling manligaw, hindi ko alam na mahusay pala siyang gumuhit. Grade five lang ang natapos niya pero inayos niya ang buhay niya at pinag-igihan ang trabaho. Ayaw niya ng basta-basta. He’s a perfectionist. Isa siyang mabuting ama at asawa. Talagang ipinagmamalaki ko na ako ang naging asawa niya.”

Alongside the launching of the book is an exhibition, billed “Telling Modern Time” at the National Museum, which showcases works of Coching and National Artist for the Visual Arts Botong Francisco. The exhibit is one of the rare times that works belonging to the fine arts and pieces from popular culture were combined, in a valiant attempt to redefine this notion that only paintings and sculptures are considered art. It gives audiences a focused view of Botong and Coching’s works in the popular context.

Now, while the book and exhibit may seemingly fill a fraction of the gaping hole left by Coching in the komiks industry when he retired and later on passed away in 1998 at the age of 79, his eldest daughter Lulu would tell us that he would have wanted it that way. Why? Because Coching once said that he had done enough, more than he could ever imagine… more than what he expected.

The Life and Art of Francisco V. Coching is available at Vibal Publishing House Inc., National Bookstore, and Powerbooks.