Dengcoy Miel, Boboy Yonzon: Cartoonists who make us proud

Our man in Singapore Dengcoy Miel has done it again, with a new book that has been lauded by no less than the city-state’s Ministry of Communications and Information, which chose it as the past week’s must-read title.

SceneGapore by Miel (as his byline reads very simply, as the popular journalist-cartooonist-visual artist of The Straits Times) is published by Epigram Books with the support of Media Development Authority. The book is cited as a “humorous collection of comic strips (that) offers a unique perspective on a range of topics close to the Singaporean heart.”

It begins with a 26-page illustrated and wittily simplified history of Singapore billed as “Past Forward” — which with its pithy literary text serves as a backgrounder cum introduction to what Miel calls his “collection of snapshots of Singapore…” These are sectioned out as “Heartland Creativity & HDB Living”; “Hawker & Food Centres”; “Life on the Roads”; “NS (National Service)”; Shopping on Orchard Road”; “Traditions”; and “Singapore Panorama From 1324 to the Present.”

Evident throughout these pages is Miel’s characteristically wholesome outlook spiced with light irreverence, which renders his tongue-in-cheek binges heartily appreciated.

Miel Prudencio Ma. Rosales’s cartoons are syndicated by The New York Times Cartoonists’ and Writers Syndicate and by CagleCartoons. They have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, New York Times, Newsweek, Asiaweek, Washington Post, Japan Times and South China Morning Post. As a member of the prestigious National Cartoonists’ Society (NCS) in the US, he was its Reuben Division Award Winner for Newspaper Illustration in 2001. He also received two “Excellence in Editorial Cartooning” awards from the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA, 2007 and 2011).

This fellow who constantly makes us proud out there has a Master’s Degree in Design from the University of New South Wales. He’s a full-fledged artist who also seasonally exhibits his brilliant paintings in Singapore’s art galleries.

Another good friend of ours who has had notable success with authorship that relies on both text and visuals is Boboy Yonzon, who has recently come out with yet another book, The Old Men and the Sex, published by Yonzon Associates Inc. out there in Tagaytay City.

Yonzon writes: “How many times have our days been saved by cartoons? We open our morning papers and, to skip the grim news, we turn to the comic strips to cheer us up about a world that seems to be on the brink of Armageddon.

“We turn to the op-ed page and, without reading, we comprehend a burning issue. Cartoons can be funny but grim. Tickling but scathing. Inane but insightful. It is this counter-intuitiveness that could make cartoons effective in messaging.”

Thus starts “Cartooning is not Funny” — one of the nearly 50 light essays compiled here — which also renders a tribute to the men with the tickling/scathing pen:

“(Larry) Alcala and perhaps Nonoy Marcelo (Ikabod, Tisoy) were probably the only Pinoy cartoonists who were able to build houses almost solely on their voluminous output. Mang Larry formed the SKP as a collegial body and, hopefully, as a bargaining group that could advance the lot in the profession. That remains a dream.

“Meantime, we keep on losing our cartoonists to other countries or to other professions. Dengcoy Miel, former editorial cartoonist of The Philippine STAR, was snagged by Singapore Straits Times and became a world-class artist. Edd Aragon, from Daily Express, started early and became star cartoonist of Sydney Morning Herald.

“Singapore also rewarded Bogie Tence Ruiz (now a full-time concept artist), Edwin Agawin (now a full-time graphic designer), Dante Perez (now a full-time painter), Cel Gulapa, Ben Cruz (now a restaurant owner) and Manny Francisco of the Manila Times). Hawaii claimed Corky Trinidad and Edgar Soler.

“There is a long list of Filipino cartoonists who poured their craft and wit to furthering journalistic and creative excellence in other shores.”

(We must interject here that the fabulous illustrator Ben Cruz, whose work we featured in Ermita magazine of the mid-’70s and whom we reunited with in a Singapore beerhouse a decade ago, will exhibit his latest paintings at the San Beda College Alabang Museum starting this Saturday, April 13.)

Yonzon’s book collects his “recent articles, essays, columns and blogs, redacted to achieve a certain unity and synchronicity, touching as they do on diverse subjects” — such as “Requiem for Radio” (the demise of NU107), “Nudity and Protest,” “Filipino Nannies as Global influences,” “Loco over Logos,” “Eat, Pray, Make Love in Bali,” “Simply Malang,” Celebrating Paris,” “A Friend Who Became a Porn Star,” “Imee’s Moustache” (these last two we found most absorbing), “Salamat Steve Jobs,” and the title essay — where erotic obsession is pointed out to have been a common denominator in the latter novels (and senior years) of Junichiro Tanizaki, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Ernest Hemingway.   

A UP Fine Arts and AIM graduate, Hugo Yonzon III has helped establish the Creative Media Professionals Guild of Asia and the Pacific Inc., and the Philippine Cartoons, Comics and Animation, Inc. as an advocate for the Philippine creative content industry. Indeed “Boboy” is an old man of many hats — as a graphic designer, columnist, photographer, television director, scriptwriter, and publisher (of Caldera, the lifestyle magazine for Metro Tagaytay, for one).  

His latest book also relies on his wide-reaching association with various artist-friends, who contribute their art to its pages. Among these are our own friends Edd Aragon, Ross Capili, June Dalisay, Eric David, Ernie Enrique, Nap Jamir,  Dengcoy Miel, Bogie Tence Ruiz, Wig Tysmans and Boy Yñiguez, 

Some weeks back during a single malt whisky binge at Kipling’s in Mandarin Hotel, our friend Sanjeeb Gopaldas handed us a handy book that serves as a terrific dining guide: Eat Out Now! 115 Manila Restaurants We Love, published by Summit Books.

Written by Alicia Colby Sy, Town & Country Philippines lifestyle editor and spot.ph food columnist, it also features essays by JJ Yulo (Pinoy Eats World), Joel Binamira (Market Manila), Erwan Heussaff (Esquire), Cyrene dela Rosa (Chowbuzz), Sanjeeb Gopaldas (Table for Three, Please), and Noel Ermitaño (Eyeonwine).

Its 172 pages are a surprising visual treat for the fine photos, location maps, and over-all design, with the text serving up a clearly written compendium of honest evaluation and recommendations. As the back-cover blurb states, it “is your guide to the best places to dine in the city. Whether you seek chicken inasal at a hole-in the-wall eatery, dumplings in Chinatown, or foie gras at a fancy schmancy restaurant, we point you in the direction of where you can get the best of the best, and then some.”

We went through the list of restos (handily classified according to multiple genres) and counted only 33 we’ve been to. Hmm, 82 more to go. Thanks for the handsome, highly readable guide, Sanjeeb.

We’re very happy for our lifetime buddy Baboo Mondoñedo who recently came out with her first book, Stepping Stones, published by UST Publishing House, which compiles 44 personal essays that read so engagingly.

Self-billed in all humility as simply a grandmother, writer, and artist, Baboo lives in Baguio with her three dogs, heads the Cordillera News Agency Foundation, and writes a column for Baguio Midland Courier. She is a founding member of the Baguio Aquarelle Society, Baguio Writers Group, and Café by the Ruins.

Elizabeth Lolarga writes in the Foreword: “This is Baboo’s book of life lessons learned. She may, at certain self-mocking moments, think of that life as insignificant, a proverbial drop in a bigger ocean. It is not; it is in fact unique and familiar at the same time.” 

As someone who’s been a close friend as well as an appreciative reader of distilled, clean prose, we agree. Baboo’s turns at the till and the well of living in harmony with what one chooses as environments of gratification — without having to be such a solemn seeker — are well-recorded here, in honest peregrination that validates her as an authentic pilgrim.

A former socialite and model, wife and single parent, mother to an only daughter with whom she now charmingly confesses to have exchanged roles, a journalist and advocate for the Cordillera, artist, and lover of the moments’ moment, Baboo does not only look back in reflection but pauses in consideration of what else she can do as she traipses on or strolls along or meanders “through real and imaginary forests” — in Babeth Lolarga’s words. 

And the author triumphs with simplicity, with much grace and graciousness, with clarity unclouded by any puff of smoke or trick of illumination via mirrors. It is best simply to share her unflinching, youthful prose.

From the title essay: “Life is an unfolding story that begins at birth, with each stepping stone eventually leading to death and rebirth. As we move along in life, it is our experiences that help shape us into who we are. Stepping stones are the highlights: significant events and people who have made a difference in our life and influence our worldview. It could be family, a friend, or a mentor. It could be an incident that occurred and left a mark. It could be stages in our life and the various roles we have played. Stepping stones are the places we have lived and the phases of our life as we move, pause, and settle — where we are at the moment.

“We step from one stone to the other, but we do not move.

“We are right here and now.”

Brava, Baboo!