By Anna Valmero
Inquirer.net

The creators of the comic series Aporia as well as Kraust and Ninja Girl Ko! all share one thing: passion for comics.

Comics, as a medium, convey stories with fewer words and instead, make the best use of panels, lines and drawings to convey stories. These features contribute to the uniqueness of comics as artwork. A comic lover myself, I see comics as the mother of animation (and increasingly of live action titles as well).

For Mangaholix, comics provide an avenue for their interpretation of art. The roots of the Mangaholix team can be traced from BlitzWorx, a high school comic club that later formed Mangaholix, under Groundbreakers Inc. In the local comic industry, pricing is a big factor so to be sustainable the then high school enthusiasts tied up with a corporate house and the rest is history, according to Emmanuel Javier one of the founders of BlitzWorx and now senior VP and editor-in-chief of Mangaholix.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

PANDAS are not always seen as funny. They’re just cute, something you’d like to take home as a pet. However, if the panda is Jack Black, then he’s not just funny but extremely hilarious and in the latest computer animation flick from DreamWorks, you’ll wish a panda could actually be your pet.
This writer has tried to keep spoilers to a minimum in this review, but stop reading if you don’t want anything spoiled for you.

The movie uses the tried and tested zero-to-hero formula, which is common in many children’s cartoons so as to teach kids to believe in themselves and conquer all obstacles. The movie’s solid storyline, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, is predictable but again, this kind of script formula works just fine with younger viewers.

Likewise, there are many elements from Japanese anime and even Hong Kong martial arts movies in terms of story progression, dialogue and most especially the fight scenes. In fact, those familiar with the old Jackie Chan flicks and the new Stephen Chow movies will find some script and comic references. There are also some philosophical ramblings that seem to target children. Some martial arts buffs and anime purists might not like the nearly copycat plot because of the lack of originality. Incidentally, it has almost no reference to pop culture, which is often the staple of computer graphics animation films like the “Shrek” and “Toy Story” movies.

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By Candice Montenegro, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD singer Sam Concepcion is out to prove that the Philippines is indeed a goldmine of great musical talent, as he sings the song “Kung Fu Fighting” for the DreamWorks animated movie “Kung Fu Panda.”

At a press conference held at Annabel’s in Tomas Morato on May 13, Selina Gecolea, general manager of the Philippine office of United International Pictures, announced that DreamWorks gave Concepcion the green light to record the movie’s theme song.

“On every single screening of ‘Kung Fu Panda’ in the Philippines, Sam’s version of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ will be played during the end credits of the film,” Gecolea said.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

IT certainly is the most absurd mini-cartoon series ever created but it does a lot of good for the heart, because it’ll make you laugh pretty hard. Harvey Birdman is one of the characters in “Adult Swim,” a late-night show that is one of Cartoon Network’s most original comedy animations. It is quite a surprise that a video game was released by Capcom to emulate the show’s off-beat humor. The PlayStation 2 game Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law is largely an interactive video game that takes the player to the world of Harvey Birdman, a retired 1960s superhero-turned-lawyer for a law firm called Sebben and Sebben. The entire series is very short; about four to five hours, depending on your speed of gameplay.

Speaking of which, this game doesn’t have much gameplay. Would-be players of Harvey Birdman may have to be told to watch out for its lack of the normally fast-based gameplay that is expected of a video game. There is barely enough playing around and it’s basically a TV series offshoot squeezed into a DVD game. Its interactive nature is more of pointing and clicking on items on the screen, moving forward and backward and, well, that’s basically it. However, what it lacks in gameplay it makes up for with its utter absurdity to comedic effect. The humor used in this game is just as good as the Adult Swim TV series and it will give players moments of laughter, especially with the dialogue of the characters.

Just as in the TV series, Harvey Birdman will take on court cases that range from finding out who robbed a bank to proving that Harvey’s partner, Peter Potamus (another Hanna-Barbera cartoon character way back in the 60s) is not an arsonist. You play Harvey Birdman to solve these cases. Each case will require Harvey to search for evidence or clues that he can use during the court case. Harvey can interact with witnesses (most of whom are also 60s characters) and police officers to help him out with his cases.

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By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

AFTER showing positive growth in 2007, kid’s channel Cartoon Network (CN) revealed its plans for the Philippines in 2008 that will include the introduction of several new shows as well as a relaunch of its localized website.

Turner Entertainment Networks Asia general manager Soumitra Saha described their growth in the Philippines as phenomenal as over 80 percent of children watching cable TV are tuned in to CN, with their target market tuned in for an average of 44 minutes per day.

Saha attributed their success to strong content, which they have continued to localize for the Philippine market.

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