Words are magic and music by their own, but when you combine words plus the instantaneous visceral impact of a well-drawn comic … the result can be earth-shaking (as anyone who has turned THAT PAGE of the Watchmen graphic novel remembers!).

It’s even more impactful when the stories and the artists are our very own! Pinoy comic lovers have much to look forward to as the first face-to-face PICOF after the pandemic is happening this weekend, July 20-21 at the Podium mall!

We will have the chance to meet and greet more than 200 local artists and publishers, as well as international guests, at the Podium Hall, on the sixth floor of Megamall’s quieter neighbor. These guests include the likes of Pol Medina Jr. (of Pugad Baboy fame), Kevin Eric Raymundo a.k.a. Tarantadong Kalbo, and AJ Bacar of SSKAIT.

(Image from SSKAIT)

Award-winning artists such as Eisner awardee Alex Niño and J. Philip Ignacio lead the roster of the PICOF Official Selection, featuring 10 works developed in a Creator’s Lab and specially published for PICOF. Another is “Twinkle Twinkle” by Tori Tadiar (winner of the National Children’s Book Award, and the Filipino Reader’s Choice Award for Best Comics). Disney Hyperion is publishing Tadiar’s next work, Ilustra, in June 2025.

(Image from Tori Tadiar)

While local artists are flying in from Davao, Iloilo, Baguio, it’s not called “international” for nothing.

Eisner Winners such as Erica Eng (Malaysia) and Craig Yoe (USA) will be going, as well as other artists from Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, who contributed their art to the SEA Kommunity Comics Anthology. Festival partners from the UK and Australia will be in attendance as well.

From book launches (such as Tuttle Publishing’s international English edition of Edgar Calabia Samar‘s “Janus Silang,” which was originally written in Filipino and adapted by Carljoe Javier and Mervin Malonzo) to comic masterclasses (12 of them!), this event is not to be missed!

(Image from Tuttle)

Entrance is P200.00, and the event is open from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The first one-thousand paid ticket holders get a free Kometverse Komiks Anthology, and the grand raffle prize winner gets to bring home over a hundred komiks!

Here’s the event program:

(Image from PICOF)

~ PICOF2024 is organized by Komiket, and supported by the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the National Book Development Board of the Philippines.