Gerry Alanguilan

Doroteo Gerardo N. "Gerry" Alanguilan, Jr. (born January 20, 1968), better known in the Philippines by his stage name Komikero, is a Filipino comic book artist and writer from San Pablo, Laguna, best known for his graphic novels Wasted and Elmer.

Early life

Gerry Alanguilan was born in the city of San Pablo, Laguna in the Philippines. Filipino legend states that Alanguilan's family was originally named San Gabriel, but the name changed when a witch placed a curse on the family that would make them destitute for seven generations. Alanguilan would later use this legend as the basis for his story San Dig 1944 in the Siglo: Freedom anthology. As a child, Alanguilan owned a chicken named Solano, who would later become the inspiration for Alanguilan's graphic novel Elmer.

Career

As a young man, Alanguilan studied to become an architect, but decided to turn his hobby of comic book illustration into a career in order to be with his then-girlfriend. At first, much of Alanguilan's work in comic was on conventional American superhero titles. His first self-written comic was Wasted. Alanguilan at first intended the comic to be for himself and his friends to read, and was embarrassed by the large amounts of violence and profanity in the title. Eventually Alanguilan allowed Wasted to be published in the Philippines, and from there its popularity spread to the United States and put Alanguilan on the independent comics map.