Posted by: komiklopedia | 2007/04/04

Ace Publications, Inc.

Only a year after the first regularly published komiks magasin in the Philippines, the Halakhak Komiks, closed its publications due to its publisher’s financial problem, Tony S. Velasquez formed ACE PUBLICATIONS, INC. with an initial capital of 10,000 pesos which was given to him by Don Ramon Roces, the publisher of the Liwayway.  A small room in one of the vacant rooms in the old Liwayway building in Sta. Cruz was also provided where Velasquez started his new company.

According to Velasquez, Ace Publications started out with one table and one typewriter; and occupied a miserable corner in the ground floor of the Liwayway building in Calero St., Sta. Cruz, Manila.  It was a one-man enterprise at first. He was the editor, proofreader, retoucher, illustrator, advertising manager, messenger, solicitor and even janitor rolled into one.  Indeed, this was the humble beginning of the future big komiks industry in the Philippines.

Velasquez recruited his cartoonists friends, who at that time were not so busy, to join him in Ace Publications.

Velasquez appropriately entitled ACE’s first komiks-magasin as Pilipino Komiks, the font for the word komiks, which symbolized only Tagalog komiks, he himself designed. The first issue of Pilipino Komiks hit the street on June 14, 1947 with the initial print of 10,000 copies. Published fortnightly, at twenty-five centavos a copy, the Pilipino Komiks was easily affordable even by the man on the street and the first issue sold like a hot cake.  The Pilipino Komiks prospered and the initial capital of 10,000 was increased to 100,000 plus a little cash dividend enjoyed by the stockholders (Velasquez was one of them). Ten issues later, the print order for Pilipino Komiks reached 25,000 copies.  This, plus the regular whole page advertisement of Pepsi-Cola and several other small advertisers, managed to pull the publication into a height not equaled by the Halakhak Komiks.  For sometime, Pilipino Komiks monopolized the comic book market, it had no competition. Pilipino Komiks was, and still is, the Philippines best-selling comics-magazine. From its pages came the most memorable comics stories and serialized novels the Filipinos had grown familiar with like El Indio, Darna, DI-13, Bondying, Dyesebel, Kalabog en Bosyo, to mention a few. By 1957,  a mere ten years after the initial issue, the Pilipino Komiks had a print order from its distributors of 120,000 copies. The success of Pilipino Komiks was brought about by what the previous Halakhak did not have: Big capital, a printing press, and effective distribution network.

Eventually as Ace Publications expanded and more staffs were hired, their small office at the Liwayway building was not enough for them so they acquired temporary accommodations in the sprawling compound of the Capitol Publishing House, Inc. where they paid a rent of P1,900.00 a month.  With the hiring of additional personnel, Velasquez lost his job as proofreader, advertising agent, retoucher, and janitor but fortunately, he still retained as the General Manager. 

In 1949, about two years after the issuance of Pilipino Komiks, Velasquez created Tagalog Klasiks, the second komiks-magasin produced by Ace Publications. Unlike Pilipino Komiks which spunned original story materials of Philippine komiks writers, the first issue of Tagalog Klasiks contained Tagalog reprints of American comics classics such as the Arabian Nights, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and some other works mostly from stories illustrated by the American king of comics, Jack Kirby.  In its later issues, however, Tagalog Klasiks switched to original materials by such young writers as Clodualdo del Mundo, Pablo S. Gomez, Virgilio Redondo, and Mars Ravelo.

In 1950, another komiks of ACE Publications was born, entitled Hiwaga Komiks. This komiks featured works by budding artists like Nestor Redondo and Alfredo Alcala. It contained mystery stories, as its title implied, as well as fantasy and horror stories. In this komiks, Virgilio Redondo and his younger brother Nestor would team up for the fantasy novel “Ang Signo” a tale comparable in story to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Another Mars Ravelo hit during the early issues of Hiwaga Komiks was “Berdugo ng Mga Anghel”, which was marvelously illustrated by Elpidio Torres.

In 1952, Velasquez, inspired by the great success of his earlier titles, created the fourth komiks of ACE Publications, the Espesyal Komiks. This komiks concentrated on action and detective stories. Particularly noteworthy among in its earlier issues was “Reyna Bandida” again by the Redondo brothers, and “Binibing Pirata” by the perennial team of Clodualdo del Mundo and Fred Carillo. 

In 1959, the fifth komiks-magasin of ACE Publications was born, the Kenkoy Komiks.  This was published in pocket size, the first of its kind in the Philippines.  In its later issues, however, Kenkoy Komiks was enlarged to regular-sized komiks-magazine because elderly readers complained they could not read the komiks smaller fonts.  

The five-walled kingdom of ACE Publications, Inc. was thus formed with the completion of the five comic books that Velasquez created for Don Ramon’s publishing empire.

For a time, there was a sixth komiks-magasin by ACE Publications, called Educational Klasiks, also published in pocket-size format.  This educational komiks was intended as a supplementary reading komiks magazine for private and public schools (again, the first of its kind to be published in the Philippines).  This komiks contained only stories that have relationship to history, health, mathematics, science, and so on. This komiks did not last long, however, as it failed to gain the support of the government to make it a compulsory reading material in schools.

In 1962, ACE Publications was plunged into a crisis.  Office and production staff of the company held strike in front of the Capitol Building.  These workers demanded that they be given the same high salaries earned by komiks illustrators and writers.  Since writers and illustrators were being paid in a per input manner (writers per story, and illustrator per page), the demand of the office and production staff was highly unacceptable.  Don Ramon urged the workers to go back to work, but the latter held their ground.  In the following days, komiks production was virtually stopped, and Don Ramon was forced to close Ace Publications.

In June of 1968, ACE Publications, Inc. was revived by Ramon R. Marcelino when he resigned as editor from the Graphic Arts Service, Inc. Its office was located at the Capitol Publishing House compound. The initial publication of the new Ace was Bondying Komeex - the title coming from Bondying, Mars Ravelo’s famous comedy character in one of the old Ace komiks-magazines. Bondying Komeex featured a sequel to that Ravelo novel. Titled James Bondying, it was some sort of lampoon of Ian Fleming’s James Bond and written by Ravelo with illustrations by Abe Ocampo.

Kiss Komeex followed Bondying Komeex after several months. The second publication was stopped after several issues when Ace bought the rights to the Pogi Magasin from Pilipino Komiks, Inc. The magasin was eventually given a komiks format. The next year, Ace Publications came out with another title,  Hapi-Hapi Komeex. Featuring light comedy short stories and serials, it had to change its title after a few years due to the bad connotation then starting to be attached to the word “hapi-hapi” – the word had come to mean ”a drinking spree.” Hapi-Hapi Komeex became Happy Komiks which later renamed Happy Illustrated Stories. 

Bondying Komeex, too, had to undergo a name-change after a few years. Local komiks-magazines have then started featuring movie news and the publication decided to go fifty-fifty illustrated materials and show-business articles. Its new name: Bondying Weekly Movie Specials.

After some ten years with Ace Publications, Marcelino resigned as editor-in-chief to devote his time to freelance writing and editorial consultancy jobs. 

A History of Komiks of the Philippines and Other Countries
PilipinoKomiks
List of Titles

 

Posted in Established Publishers, Komiklopedia, Komiks Publishers

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