Comic Books in the Philippines is never as famous as it is on other countries but the famous Marvel and DC comic writer Mark Miller who writes about the famous comic superheroes X-Men, Superman, Spiderman, and the comic superheroes that has made into movie, The Avengers, visits the Philippines for the comic book signing of his latest comic book “Supercrooks” for as the report says, the Philippines gets the number of big sales on his latest comic Book “Supercrooks” whereas, he thought the Philippines would not patronize largely his latest comic book “Supercrooks” for there is no previous records that comic books are super hit in the Philippines but actually he is expecting to come on New York, Los Angeles or London as the expected winner for his “throw the dice” competition of what country will got the big sales in on latest comic book, ”Supercrooks”, will got his signature or will grace a book signing event or activity.
“I thought it was going to be New York, Los Angeles or London because they had famous comic book stores. But I’m really delighted it’s the Philippines because I’ve never been here before, and I’ve got friends here. And it gave me an excuse to hang out with my friends and pretend to my wife that I’m working”
To his surprise, the Philippines got the big number of sales.
The famous comic writer, Mark Millar, is the famous Scottish comic writer of the comic books and comic book series:“Wanted”, ”The Authority”, ”Superman: Red Son” ,”Wolverine” “Enemy of the State”, ”The Ultimates”,” Marvel Knights Spider-Man”, ”Civil War”, “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, ”Kick-Ass”, and so forth which recently held a world competition that will won his signature and luckily, the Philippines through Philippine National Bookstore got or have won his signature to sign his latest comic creation, ”Supercrooks”
“Earlier this year, Mark Millar had announced that whichever comic book stone ordered the most copies of the first issue of his brightly dark new mini-series, ”Supercroooks” would win a visit from him, whenever in the world it was”
And the winning country that has great number of sales of new comic book “Supercrooks” is the Philippines.
An owner of the Philippine National Book Store (NBS) Miguel Ramos has express excitement and gladness about winning the coveted visit and signature of the famous comic book writer Mark Millar. But actually, the NBS or the National Bookstore they themselves bought the number of copies aside from other buyers who actually bought the comic book and distribute it to people as free comic books just to make Mark Millar come into the Philippines or just to get Mark Millar’s signature.
“Just like everyone else, we at National Bookstore are just fanboys and fan girls who have the best jobs in the world because we can do things like this. And this auction was really a once in a opportunity for us to get Mark Millar, Leinil Yu and Gerry Alanguilan together in one room. You can bet Sonny Gho is going to get an email from me tomorrow!!!”
As expected, Mark Millar arrived last May 27,2012 and held a book signing at Glorietta 5,Ayala Center,Makati City organized or prepared by National Bookstore(NBS).
“The response to his arrival has simply stunned Millar, who gamely battled jet lag throughout his stay. He was received like a rock star at the Summer Komikon. On the day of his signing at Glorietta 5 in Makati, fans lined up hours prior to the signing. Millar would eventually sign for more than 1,000 fans…”
Mark Millar was so overwhelmed about the support the National Bookstore has done for his comic works, ”Supercrooks” to be number one best sold comic book in the Philippines.
“…I’m not sure congratulations are in order because this means poor Miguel gets stuck with ME for a few days. Although, I suspect Scotland will be more pleased to be rid of me for a while! But I couldn’t be more delighted to be going somewhere so warm and sunny for a signing. We’re friends with Leinil and his wife Anna so this is a great chance to get a wee holiday out there at the same time as meeting all the very cool Filipino readers who support the Millarworld titles. I can’t wait. We’re looking to fly very soon after our big Kapow! event in London on the 19th and 20th of May www.kapowcomicconvention.com and will let you know as soon as we have a date booked. Huge thanks to Miguel for his support and to all the retailers who have made Supercrooks #1, I think, the biggest pre-orders we’ve had on ANY Millarworld launch so far…”
The book signing at Glorietta 5 according to Mark Millar himself was overwhelming for the reception of Filipinos to be able to get sign their Supercrook comic book by him was warm, “The Manila signing was the best signing I’ve done and amazed at the patience of the people queuing up to eight hours. What a lovely country and people!..”
Together with his success on the Supercrook comic book was with Leinil Francis Yu, a Filipino comic graphic artist that has won a recognition from “…after winning the Wizard’s Drawing Board Contest, his first published work…. He was first hired by Whilce Portacio to do some work for Wildstorm, but that work fell through. Portacio then passed on samples of Yu’s work to Marvel Comics, who subsequently hired him to work on Wolverine……”; and with Gerry Alanguilan, another Filipino comic graphic artist who works also at Marvel and DC comics, and with Sunny Gho, an Indonesian comic colorist artist also.
The Supercrooks, comic book by Mark Millar, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, and by Sunny Gho narrates the story of a super villain name Johnny Bolt which discovers many superheroes in the United States and make a living out of them and organize a mafia gang, to quote, “..tells the story of super villain Johnny Bolt, who realizes that the United States has way too many superheroes for a villain to make a living. So he organizes an ambitious heist, where he recruits his former colleagues (and one surprise) to steal from a powerful super-villain in Europe – where there are no superheroes…”
Mark Millar commended his Filipino partner on the making of his or their Supercrook comic books to be of able the one who make the comic book a hit because of his graphic depictions of the story in it. “You guys might not be aware of what a big deal Leinil is, but he is a really big deal in the States. There are maybe three artists in the world who work for Marvel and DC who have made a big impact, and I think Leinil is one of those three guys. I think a lot of the people in the States aren’t even aware he lives in the Philippines. I think that’s what makes the work interesting, because he’s bringing a fresh perspective to American comics. You know we’ve gotten used to the same old stuff, but Leinil’s got a fresh take on it, all of which I absolutely adore. I am very fortunate to have done “Supercrooks” with him and hopefully we’ll work together forever. He likes working with me and I like working with him. It’s like a marriage..”
