A comic book about Dr. Jose Rizal

I read a Wiki about Jose Rizal yesterday and I was again, like all those times before whenever I read articles and writings about him, awed and intrigued by this Filipino who fueled the revolution that freed us from colonial Spain.

Incidentally, some months ago, I read on artist Gerry Alanguilan's blog that he was planning to release a comic book about Rizal and yesterday, concrete news about the comic book finally came from the man himself.

The comic puts Rizal on a fictional plane and yet retains the qualities that makes Rizal a hero. Gerry writes:

"Rizal is one of my greatest heroes, and I will certainly be treating him with the utmost respect. But I will respect him enough to be honest about who he really was, and not treat him as some infallible saint that a lot of textbooks have historically painted him to be. I will try to make this Rizal as close to who he really was, and it is basically, ordinarily, human. And by rising above his flaws and shortcomings, in ways that many of us can only imagine, he becomes even more heroic." Click here for the rest of the blogpost

I have high expectations for this comic, since it's coming from the man who wrote and drew Wasted ( which made a profound impact in my life), Humanis Rex! (which has just finished its run on FUDGE Mag) and is currently writing and drawing the life of intelligent chickens living in the mundane world in Elmer. But then, my budget has been too tight these days, (I'm collecting American comics again!), and reading Medical books do take a LOT of time, so I'll just probably just wait for the collected edition.

Gah! What an agonizing wait that would be.

"The Marvelous Adventures Adventures of the Amazing Dr. Rizal" will be serialized in FUDGE Magazine's upcoming August issue.

In frame: Gerry Alanguilan's portrait of Dr. Rizal which serves as promotional art for the comic book.