LOOK: This Upcoming Komiks Festival Will Be Held in a Picturesque Casa in San Pablo, Laguna

Comic conventions are usually held in Metro Manila in exhibition spaces. While these are fun, there’s room for a comic event in a picturesque location. That’s what the Seven Lakes Komiks Festival will do, as it will host its event at Casa San Pablo’s laid-back premises in Laguna on May 11, 2024.

Casa San Pablo is a cozy bed and breakfast where guests are invited to “relish simple joys and rekindle a hometown feel for beauty in ordinary things.” Besides being a B&B, Casa San Pablo is a community art space providing living, working, and exhibition space for artists, writers, musicians, [and] designers.”

It’s the perfect place to hold the Seven Lakes Komiks Festival, which seeks to create a komiks-centric space to release new books and introduce new and old creators to each other in a relaxed community setting.

Visitors can enjoy a fun-filled day at the festival of reading, talking about, and discovering komiks with fellow readers and creators. There’s also food from Casa San Pablo, which serves up hometown-inspired meals that the founders and their family have enjoyed for generations, and performances from local musicians like Pet School, Benjiao, and Shape/Shift.

Here are the programs and activities you can enjoy:

• Creative contests such as the on-the-spot character design contest and the seven-page komiks-making challenge 
• Talks from komiks veterans such as Julius Villanueva (creator of Ella Arcangel), Randy Valiente (creator of Edsa and Sining Killing), and Gasi (veteran and komiks stalwart)
• Guided visit and tour to the Komikero Komiks Museum, started by the late komiks legend Gerry Alanguilan
• Live komiks reading from Ardie Aquino and Macoy Tang (creators of School Run) and student creators from the Graphic Literature Guild
• Komiks making workshop with Adam David, Josel Nicolas, and Apol Sta Maria
• Kumusta Komiks?, a roundtable forum featuring Danyel Maxin, Pilar Esber, Ched de Gala, Sherry Zamar, Hulyen, and Bambi Amago, moderated by Ezjae Zemana

As part of its advocacy to promote komiks and foster a reading culture in Southern Tagalog, the festival will also spotlight creators and their new works. Some new komiks that will be released at the event include:

• A preview of an untitled posthumous work by Alanguilan
• Ang Ikatlong Hiwaga Komix by AGW Komix
• Carnal: Cristobal by Bambi and Olan Amago
• Kaliskis chapter 1, Lihim issue 3 and 4, Abi Agham: Lost in Hateg Island, and Ella Arcangel: Ang Hukay by Villanueva
• Zugbo by Adriel Perez
• Palarong Bakal by Jan Michael Valenzuela
• The Girl Who Smiles at Parties by Ched De Gala
• Crossing by Lyle Belsonda
• Growing Pains 3 by Danyel Maxin
• Girabo  by Francis Xavier Cruz and Frannie Liza Cruz
• Atomos: Modern – The Gunless Agent Book 1 by Kapumax Omega, translated by Julius Sempio and the Atomos Publications Team
• AEON: Cruel Caffe by Kannah Kisaragi

You may visit the social media pages of the Seven Lakes Komiks Festival on Facebook and Instagram for inquiries.

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