grafic surprise

I finally got a copy of Comic Collective's Grafic, thanks to Charles (who also showed me his Flash stuff).

Given its objectives, this book succeeds and succeeds quite well. This is no mere hodge-podge of things.

I was impressed by the variety of content, in terms of stories, themes and art; but more importantly, I was delighted by the energy, the spirit that permeates the publication.

But while I enjoyed the text pieces and the comic journals, Elbert Or's "Magellan Was Not Killed By Lapu Lapu" deserves a shout out. His style, as I first saw in his 24-Comic CD, is evocative of Scott McCloud, Larry Gonick and those neat-o mini-tracks given away by Fundamentalists in college - brief, direct and amusing. With something to say.

Another jewel is the writing of Andrew Drilon in "White". While it is rough in places, it is worthy of further attention, using structure and words to add depth and emphasis.

Kudos to everyone involved in the book. When I see something like this, I cannot help but smile. Expect greater things from this bunch.

I cannot wait to read more.