Filipino Komiks Will Rule the World

No one does the walk-and-talk quite like Paolo Herras, the co-founder of Komiket, a non-profit that's advocated for Filipino Komiks since 2015.

- SCOTT GARCEAU

No one does the walk-and-talk quite like Paolo Herras, the co-founder of Komiket, a non-profit that's advocated for Filipino Komiks since 2015. On the last day of this year's Philippine International Comics Festival (PICOF), held at Megamall Trade Hall, he does a deep-dive, walking us through all the new releases, international comics on sale (Palestine has a special exhibit, with sales donated to war victims), big-name artists (like Pulitzer finalist Renren Galeno, whose Sa Wala is one of the most translated works in Philippine history), and director Jay Ignacio, whose new documentary Komiks with a K is being screened at the festival. At the back, comic readers are seated at a table, acting out komiks panels flashed on a screen to a room of fans in colorful garb; over on the right, a special space is devoted to Mars Ravelo, creator of Darna and Captain Barbell.

It started at Frankfurt Book Fair around 2021 for Herras, who noticed few of the Filipino comic titles he represented got sold. He had an epiphany: "I discovered this is not a cultural exhibition, this is not like the World Expo where you show a big basket; it's a business networking event for publishers from around the world that are in the serious business of buying and selling rights."