Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan

Winner winner chicken .......er...uh,  just a winner!

Wow what an enjoyable and interesting description!!  So sad that Gerry died so young... If you ever figure out how to acquire a trade paperback, please let me know.  I would love to get one too.  And though I am unfamiliar with Elmer, he certainly looks quite dapper here.  Fun piece!

Being out of print, all I've managed to find so far are used copies on Amazon from a variety of second hand sellers.  I wish I had known about this book before Gerry passed.  Apparently if you got it from his site, you would get a signed copy along with a sketch no less.

Birds never seem to wear pants when they're clothed, the lucky ducks. 

Great drawing of Elmer which is a mandatory reading for anyone loving the medium and Gerry's magnum opus.

Crowing about this in the morning during an eggsistential crisis of the bird flu pandemic?  You gotta be yolking me. 

Three puns in one comment.  That's why you're the king.  Gotta admit that I totally blanked out on this timing with the bird flu epidemic.  But I would bet that if Gerry was still around, he'd probably already done as much research on it as the CDC.

That CDC part of your comment won't age well.  It's about to get dismantled from within.

appreciate all the info and background on Gerry that you wrote up along with your art share as usual. As a (relatively) younger reader and collector I wasn't too familiar with Gerry's art until he was inking over Leinil Yu on Star Wars comics in the mid 2010s. Elmer sounds like it was a real passion project for him, hope you find that TPB - or at least someone puts it online somehow so it at least is archived for historical purposes

Thanks Kavi.  I actually started looking for the book right after I got the piece last year.  And I did find it online (not much you can't find on the internet these days).  Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but for me, reading it on a computer screen isn't the same as having the book in your hands and flipping the pages.  I guess I just prefer to experience things in a more tactile way.  

It was so great to see Elmer in person!  I love seeing artist's passion projects and what makes them tick.  Alanguilan's lines are carefully considered and brilliantly deployed.  Thank you for sharing this!  

".....carefully considered and brilliantly deployed."

Could not have said it any better my friend.  So glad you got to see it on your last visit.  Already looking forward to your next one.

I recognised Gerry as primarily Leinil Yu’s regular and best inker. But in my dealings with him on eBay, where I am guessing he was selling his quota of his Yu-inked pages, he was also a heckuva nice guy: friendly and generous, he sent me a free copy of issue 3 of Elmer with one of my orders; it was obviously a project he was intensely proud of and thanks to your interesting and informative write-up it is easy to understand why that was the case. I remember being both shocked and saddened when his death was announced in the comics press. It is a shame that his career was so prematurely cut short as from what I saw of it he was a fine comic artist in his own right and given time he would have achieved the respect and recognition that those other Filipino greats had that you mention.

Thanks Simon.  At least you have that personal memory of those interactions with him, even if just on eBay.  That's more than I can say.  My understanding is that the bond between Gerry and Lenil went beyond the work.  From his widow's blog postings, it seems as if Lenil was there for Gerry right up to the end.  And I couldn't agree more with the last line of your comment.  So much promise lost with his untimely passing.

This is actually an excellent drawing in both concept as well as execution. We take both for granted but sometimes artists make an unfortunate mess of one of them, thus resulting in a less than satisfactory result since both ought, ideally, to be integrated well (even if not perfectly).

More importantly, I really enjoyed your detailed and (above all) heartfelt backstory. It is backstories such as these which provide the depth and nuance that marks a collector who has passion for the hobby. And you have that - in spades. Many congrats, Eric, in every way.

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  That is such an incredibly kind comment and I can’t tell you how much it means to me.  When I include these descriptions with my art posts, I honestly don’t know if they’re being well received or even read at all.  Because even though CAF posts have view counters, we assume those just reflect the number of people looking at the artwork.  Nothing in that number would indicate how many (if any) are actually reading what I wrote.  But then I see a comment like yours and it makes all the thought and research I put into the description worth the time and effort.  Honestly, my goal with any write up is to simply do justice to the work these artists create.  There’s no ego involved because I know the artwork is the star of the show here.  But that doesn’t mean a wonderful comment likes yours can’t put a smile on my face.  So again, I thank you for your kindness.