We took the Manggahan Floodway road last Saturday to go to the Mall of Asia. Usually, traffic is much lighter there than along Ortigas Avenue Extension.
Crossing a bridge over a portion of the (very, very murky) Pasig River, my daughter Sam asked from the backseat, “If anyone goes swimming in the Pasig River, will he die?” I replied, “Probably not… but he may become Phantomanok.”
Sam: “Who?”
Me: “Phantomanok… a character in Pinoy komiks. A poor guy fished out a polluted egg from the Pasig River, ate it and would get transformed to a superhero called Phantomanok — half human, half chicken — every time he shouted something… I forgot what it was…”
Me: (turning to my husband, Speedy): “You know Phantomanok, right?”
Speedy: “No.”
Me: “But you know Zuma…??”
Speedy: “Yes, but only after the movie came out.”
Me: “Ooohhh… you didn’t read Pinoy komiks. My cousins and I, we were addicted to Pinoy komiks… Hmmm… (feeling smug) I know more about Pinoy pop culture than you do.”
Sam (from the backseat, butting in): “Mommy, Pinoy Pop Retro.”
Retro? That feels old. 
Ouch.
Funny, my husband asked the same thing when he saw the "very, very murky" Pasig River from the MRT train.
I don't know Phantomanok, but I know Zuma (scary character). Di ba maniac yang si Zuma?
LOL.
I remember reading "Funny Komiks" (by Roni Santiago) after school. I love them!
Jayred, pag aerial yung view, Pasig River looks like a mudpool. The water appears to be malapot.
Si Zuma, maniac? hehehehe
Hi again, Connie. I've been searching your blog for your email address. I'd like to know if you'd be willing to write an article for the magazine (ay hindi komiks
) I edit. May I have your dot com email please? Or you can send it to mine. Thanks!
I e-mailed you, Carol. Thanks.
One of my darkest secrets as a teen-ager in an exclusive school was that I read tagalog komiks every single day at my komiks-addict neighbor's house. I knew by heart that Aliwan Komiks came out on Mondays, Tagalog Klasiks on Tuesdays, Wakasan on Wednesdays (this is hilarious, I am laughing as I type) and so on. Looking back, I attribute my skills in Pilipino (and my medals in essay writing contests) to this "embarassing" past time.
Glad to find a sister-in-komiks in you
Mabuhay ang komiks!
LOL Carol (beso-beso), yah yah Zuma was in Aliwan. hehehehe
And it is true that komiks are a good training ground for learning Filipino. I remember the English-educated Imee Marcos saying she learned Filipino by reading komiks. Perhaps, that is what the current generation lacks (my kids are having a hard time in school with Filipino).
National Bookstore even had the classics (including Wuthering Heights, believe it or not) in komiks format, English and Filipino. Those komiks were what started me on the classics. Naging bookworm tuloy ako later hehehe Sayang that komiks are a dying art form.
Adik din ako sa komiks dati. I used to follow the stories in Aliwan, Pinoy Klasiks, among other titles. I even joined Aliwan's coloring contest and won P300 yata.
Di ko kilala si Phantomanok, pero naabutan n'yo pa ba ‘yung Zarbot? Robot naman ‘yun na nagkaanak yata sa tao.
Nakaka-miss ang tradisyunal na Pilipinong komiks. Buti na lang, may mga on-going efforts para buhayin ito. Ewan ko lang kung papatok pa rin.
Ederic, di mo kilala si Phantomanok kasi di mo na naabutan. Aray talaga, feeling retro na retro na ko.
hey! i learned how to read Filipino through Pinoy Komiks
My Tita would buy all the weekly titles and I will be lost in the stories in them.
OMG, this is a virtual Pinoy Komiks convention! Carol, Ms.C, and Ederic, I didn't speak Tagalog when I started in grade school, for very strange reason they taught Spanish and English in pre-school and no Filipino/Pilipino until third grade. At that time,nahirapan akong hagilapin ang tamang sagot sa panitikan quizzes, and I am pretty sure, komiks saved my lagging A**. I used to run out and pay, 10 cents to read Aliwan in the stands, 25 cents to take it home, climb the aratiles tree, and read it up there, concealed with day-old Manila Bulletin, para hindi ako mapalo. I could not understand why komiks was so forbidden during my childhood, but it was the most wicked thing to have and keep. Hilarious but true! Try me: remember Galema, anak ni Zuma, na anak rin ni Philip at Isabel? How about Bakekang with her blond curlie of a daughter Krystal, or Darna. These are komiks characters I could never forget. The komiks pages of the past were thicker, had a hand-drawn feel to it, and was just a bleast to read through. Express sadness and hurt: huhuhuhu! Giggle: hihihihi Laugh: hahahaha. Now be scared: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The komiks gave us such diverse range expression in a playful use of the least number of letters. Ms. C, you never fail to amaze me. you hit the right note again.
Regidor Cruz shouted <a href="http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:eg8l8Td66bkJ :www.geocities.com/rodiemetin/Page3.html+phantomanok&hl=tl&gl=ph&ct=clnk&cd=7&client=firefox-a" rel="nofollow">Taktalaooook! and was transformed into Phantomanok.
Being in the place of Phantomanok would be one of my worst nightmares. I'm orithnophobic.
cocoy, re your tita: that's nice, ha, you were able to enjoy your komiks with adult approval and support.
samnoc, come to think of it, those "huhuhu" and "hihihi" are indeed expressive. kinda makes the reading even more realistic. in english comics (we read DC comics too), when someome cries the speech bubble simply says *sob*. Corny, hehehe.
ManuelV, yah right! That's it! And to go back to his human form he would shout it backwards — Koooooalatkat!
LOL Ver but you wouldn't be scared of yourself.
Uy sisters in habit hehe Lola ko may paupahan na komiks sa Novaliches & she gives me the old issues by the sackload (literally) every time she comes over to visit in nueva ecija.
I would spend days curled up in a corner trying to digest everything in one sitting. Eto adik talaga, I'd refuse to bathe or eat properly dahil atat na atat akong mag-komiks. Galing pa ni Lola, she'd arrange the pile in order para talagang nasusubaybayan ko yung tuluyan like "monster truck" (tama ba yun? yung may evil spirit na dumptruck) hehe
Magagalit si Nanay everytime Lola comes with her sako, tapos pipingutin ako to make me standup. Pero siempre makikinig ba Lola ko? hehehe
Zuma uy love ko yan! Pati Captain Barbel. Pero fave kong sketcher/graphics kay Vincent Chua.
ooppss Vincent Kua pala…
Pop Retro ba ang komiks?? Ouch.
Pati yung Funny Komiks?