Pugad Baboy Comics | 32 years of Funny Genius Works of Art

I usually spent the summer time in my family house in Batangas when I was young. My parents would sometimes leave me and my sisters with our lola for a couple of weeks at a time. It was a simpler time. If I am not busy playing outside with my cousins, rummaging for some leaves that I can barbeque and "cook", I would go through the comics collection that my dad has kept in that house.

It was a big tupperware thing, usually used to store clothes. But my dad stores his 300+ Archie comics and a smattering of his magazines there. Pugad Baboy included.

I honed my english through the Archie Comics and from the movies my dad usually watches.

But I learned sarcasm, wit and a bit of understanding on Philippine Current Events and History with Pugad Baboy.

 

This is honestly big news coming from a kid of 9 or 10 who only wants to play during the days. To be interested and ask one's parents about what is happening in the country because he or she saw it in the comics.

Bonus points if you buy the paper years later when you are an official adult just to get to the comics section. LOL.

Pugad Baboy kinda shaped me in a way, and it was because of my childish attitude (and constant reading of it every other day during the summer breaks) that my dad's 10th anniversary edition got too worn out. It was my favorite comic book of his until now.

I had fun knowing that the dude behind the arts was mostly a manifestation of 3 characters inside the comic I loved to read. These are Pol, ang asong hindi, Dagul, the cook and Dagul's son, Utoy. And their adventures with the whole Baranggay really reflects on our Pinoy Culture- the good and bad of it all. It usually depends on how you take his jokes though.

This sense of having a legacy via arts like what Pol Medina Jr. did, alongside wanting to create cartoons was what made me want to get a BS Multimedia Degree. (well, you guys know what happened with that one.) LOL.

Pol Medina Jr. and his funny but genius works of art

31 issues and give or take 18 years later (based on my age), his comics moved from:

• being in the papers
• to being in books
• being in cartoons
• to being rejected because come late 2010's people are getting more and more balat sibuyas every year
• to moving in online category 
• going back in broadsheets
• and moving to printing more books

As I've said above, these comic strips and punchlines of his reflect us- on our past, present and even future. Read up on PB5(published in the 90's) the one about Dobermaxx to get the future part.

You can find this particular story arc, 2078 on Pugad Baboy 5. Sir Pol tinkers with time travel in this one.

But they also get people talking. And thinking. Even if that was the reason why he opted to bow out out of a certain broadsheet, you have to admit that he had guts and he had done something good. Because his strips made people think about the issues in society, but delivering it in a box of fun.

I never thought that I would be able to buy my own copies of Pol Medina Jr.'s stupidly genius works of art. It was pure luck I guess to stumble upon someone on facebook months ago selling his whole collection for a couple thousand pesos. Which I bought. Ng walang hesitation.

Parang nakatadhana talaga na para sa akin yung 25 comics ni Sir Pol Medina Jr. 

As a mom who usually doesn't buy stuff for herself unless they're really cheap, this one I bought on a whim. I was feeling that it was serendipity when the seller was actually near my place.

On Meeting the Artist behind the Sarcasm and Comics

 It was even more surreal to meet him in person that couple of days in ToyCon 2019. I guess my Toycon 2019 Video will say it all. May nanginginig factor pa ako nung palayo na ako sa booth ni master. Iba nga talaga pag nakita mo na yung idol mo na isa sa mga rason bakit ka nahilig mag drawing ng kung anu anu at napadpad sa graphics na nagagamit ko ngayon.  I have always wanted to have my books signed since I had them, but I always seem to know about his events on the day or a week later.

I finally got my dad a brand new copy of the Pugad baboy X and it was signed too!

My collection is not fully complete but getting there..

The past months before the pandemic, I got a couple of odd jobs as a photographer, which got me saving for emergencies and supposed travel. Since I didn't get to travel, I opted to finally finish collecting the first 31 books.It was only last May 15 that I went out and bought the remaining books missing from my official Pugad Baboy Collection.

Bongga nga nung umorder ako kayna Ma'am Susan, cause I paid them on the 15th and got the books on the next day!

I'll also be grabbing that Shinobi series in the future. I hear its got darker themes and more serious topics are tackled. Because while the point of being a comic creator is to entertain, it is a worthwhile cause if you also get people thinking and asking questions.