In case you missed it, our publishing company RAYGUN (managed by me and John Ray among other amazing people) recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for the first issue of Malaya, a Filipino dark fantasy epic inspired by pre-colonial Filipino resistance.

That Kickstarter campaign is wrapping up tomorrow, so if you’re looking for another journey to get lost in, this is your last chance to back it by clicking here!

During an Instagram live convo with Malaya’s creators, the writer and creator Mayari Sherina Ong (not that Mayari Ong!) said something that resonated with my own experience as a storyteller and student of culture:

“Something people don’t really talk about a lot is the colonization of imagination. When I was growing up, I grew up in Virginia in the US, most of the media I consumed—books, comics, TV, movies—was 90% white. So that was everything that was coming into my consciousness for storytelling. When I was writing these different fantasy stories as a kid or even as an adult, most of my characters were white.”

A bit of personal lore. I was born in the Philippines, but I moved to the US when I was 10 years old and lived there for 15 years. Those were my formative chapters: middle school, high school, college, and getting started as an adult. I discovered most of my favorite stories during that period: everything Stephen King, then HBO’s The Wire, then Lost and international films like City of God and La Haine.

A diverse mix of genres, but less ideal in terms of representation. I lived in Garfield Heights, Ohio for 7 years: a lower-middle income suburb which was roughly 50% black, 50% white, with a sprinkling of Hispanic kids and maybe 5 Asian kids, most of them Chinese or Indian. My friends were mostly white skaters and stoners (I say with love). So without even thinking about it, just as I was starting to discover writing, I was secretly trying my best to be a white kid.

Maharlika actually ties into this chapter. I had a vision of this futuristic epic, a rebels vs. empire type of saga set in a dystopian city—you can see some of the bones of the story that was eventually set in the great Maharlikan empire. But the setting in that iteration was an American city called Ruby, and the protagonist was a white American named Darren Card.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that in principle, but it was a lot less interesting, and certainly much less personal.

Eventually I fell in love with stories a bit closer to home, yet still distant. And among the Asian works that found me were the sagas: Neon Genesis Evangelion (a trippy clusterfuck, yet still a world-ends-with-you epic at the end of the day), Attack On Titan (horrific and bleak, but a banger), and Chainsaw Man (all of the above and then some). Around 12 or so years ago, I got hooked into China’s Three Body Problem, a mind-bending journey spanning the entire universe (also bonkers, maybe you’re starting to get a sense of my taste.)

It wasn’t until I read Budjette Tan’s Trese, though, that I saw myself in a story that was at once an epic journey, grungy and textured in the way I liked, AND centered on people like me. And it wasn’t just that the protagonists were Filipino. The fate of the universe hinged on the Philippines, on Filipinos. The way the MCU hinges on the actions of mostly American heroes; the way the world of sorcerers in Jujutsu Kaisen centers on the Japan; the way the Wizarding World lives or dies by the movements of Hogwarts; the way the Three Body Problem and Remembrance trilogy anchors on the exceptionalism of Chinese scientists.

I’ll let Malaya writer Mayari Sherina Ong bring the point home:

“It wasn’t until I started really going into learning about decolonial studies, hearing from other decolonial authors, and I listened to a talk by Junot Diaz... that was the first time I heard how normal that was for authors of color in the US. If you can’t even see yourself, someone with brown skin—if you can’t see yourself as a hero, that impacts how you’re able to see the future for yourself, your community, your homeland culture.”

Our imagination is shaped by what feeds it. Maharlika isn’t a very flattering portrait of the Filipino empire, but the people who stand a chance at fixing or breaking it are predominantly Filipino (plus a couple of beloved Korea, Japanese, and Indian wildcards). And that’s what onus and agency is about: who gets the opportunity to do the hard work of trying to save the day, and own the resulting victory or defeat?

Now let’s get something straight.

There are some amazing works of Filipino fiction being produced today: Ronaldo Vivo’s Dreamland trilogy, a series of brutal and unflinching crime stories, is my personal favorite. Until Then and The Lovers look to be incredible pieces of work that have resonated with a global audience while putting Filipinos at the center. And international culture machines have backed new Filipino-centered stories such as Viz’s The Champion and the Rose by Cat Aquino and Dominique Duran and Disney Hyperion’s Ilustra series by Tori Tadiar.

In comics, Arnold Arre continues to put out great work deep into his Mythology Class/Children of Bathala series, and Komikon founder Jon Zamar continues to build out his Digmaan epic. The list goes on.

But these are still outliers, either graced by outside gatekeepers or kept alive by sheer willpower and belief against the odds.

My hope is that—with the help of RAYGUN or otherwise—we come to see more imagined worlds whose futures lie in Filipino hands. So that we may come to envision our own world in the same terms.

—

If you’re looking for the next Filipino saga that’s real and rewarding, and you have the money to spare, back the Malaya Kickstarter before it ends tomorrow!

Back Malaya #1 On Kickstarter

P.S. If you haven’t seen it yet, Lucia Asul’s Night Gate is a bit of a different taste—but just as much a saga worth following to the end. I hope to do a different deep dive into it soon.

And P.P.S, yes we are making progress on Maharlika Vol. 4!!!

If you’re in Manila and want to join the launch, you can register and pre-order your copy here: https://form.jotform.com/260174065997467

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

If you’re in Manila and want to join the launch, you can register and pre-order your copy here: https://form.jotform.com/260174065997467

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

Ahead of the launch, we will be posting tracks 11-13, the preview chapters of Volume 3, here on Substack. Note that you do need to have read until Track 10 before proceeding to this chapter!

PS: I’ve said it elsewhere, but I realize I never posted here how grateful we are for you supporting Maharlika Vol. 1 as the winner of the Science Fiction (Backlist/Pre-2025) category in the Akdang Pinoy Choice Awards! Thank you thank you always <3

Enjoy reading!

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

RSVP to Volume 3 Launch

CONTINUE READING →

Cast your vote!

Akdang Pinoy Choice Awards 2025

3,905 readers have voted in the inaugural Akdang Pinoy Choice Awards, and Maharlika has made it as a finalist for two categories: Maharlika Vol. 2 for the best Science Fiction release in 2025, and Vol. 1 for the best Science Fiction title before 2025!

This is important to me for a couple of reasons:

• One, we gauge our success first and foremost by the impact we have on readers, and so a recognition from a broad base of book lovers (not even just komiks lovers!) will be a strong testament to our efforts there.

• Two, the people behind Akdang Pinoy have been some of our earliest supporters—readers who found something special in Maharlika before we were even sure we had something worthy of an audience. I don’t think we could have gotten where we are without their passion & love for this story!

That said, this one is up to the vote of thousands of readers beyond the organizers—and we are going head to head with some beautiful works by talented friends and contemporaries!

Regardless if you count Maharlika as your top choice, your favorites deserve your vote on the poll :) So go and support by December 26:

Cast your vote!

Volume 3 Preview (Track #11-13)

Volume 3 is almost done! As John Ray races to finish the final chapter of the volume (and the Compendium!), we invite you to jump into the Volume 3 preview chapters containing the 3 chapters that follow the end of Volume 2:

Read Maharlika Vol. 3 Preview

This preview was initially made available to Kickstarter backers only. This email marks the first time these chapters are made available as a free preview to the public!

Of course, you’re free to wait and binge the full volume in one go when we release it in January. But if you’re craving more Maharlika, this is a good appetizer for what lies ahead. Questions will be answered—and many more will be brought to the table. Have fun diving in.

Thank you again for supporting our story. And have a happy end of 2025!

Rexy

Cast your vote!

What a month it’s been. I didn’t want to spam the Substack subscribers since you didn’t all sign up for Kickstarter notifications—so if the updates here are slower than for the Kickstarter pre-launch group there’s the reason.

But with less than 10 hours to go now, I wanted to send a heads-up to let you know that our Kickstarter campaign will be closing up at 8AM US Eastern time / 8PM Philippine time today, October 2!

Back Compendium One on Kickstarter

And here’s a recap of how far we’ve come so far:

Back Compendium One on Kickstarter

COMPLETIONIST POST-CAMPAIGN UPGRADE

By popular demand: all backers will have the ability to upgrade to a COMPLETIONIST tier that includes ALL our available Kickstarter variants, plus a secret 5th cover, at a discounted price!

This upgrade will be handled during the post-campaign survey, so no need to do anything right now.

We’ll be sending a survey after the end of the campaign to collect shipping details and your variant selections. At that point you’ll also be given the option to upgrade your pledge to the Completionist tier.

The Completionist tier will also include:

• a FULL SET of RAYGUN gacha collectible cards (Series One, i.e. the currently available cards shown on our campaign page)

• a FULL SET of Borg Sinaban art prints

There will also be a Completionist add-on option w/ a greater discount for backers at the Duo, Founding Figure, and Living Legend tiers.

Back Compendium One on Kickstarter

While we’re all here, I wanted to share a bit about why we’re doing this.

If you scan around the room of serialized original Filipino stories in the comics format, you’ll see—with just a handful of exceptions—that everyone in the game is either doing this on top of their day job or running their own indie press. It’s not a coincidence: the truth is that right now, there’s no real institutional money to fund full-time original artistry and storytelling in the Philippines.

It’s only going to get harder, especially with the accelerating development of A.I. art. Yet even in the midst of that, we believe that Filipino storytelling is severely underestimated: that our culture and history provides a deep well of inspiration for stories that can capture global imaginations. As storytellers, our instinct is to show, not tell, how it can be done.

We’re lucky to have learned some of the skills to publish and market this story that we are passionate about. Our goal is first and foremost is to deliver this story to you, because we really think it’s something you’ll enjoy or even come to love.

But we also set out a goal to learn by doing: how to organize a campaign that can introduce this kind of Filipino story to a global audience. Because it’s not just about Maharlika; we want more of these stories to exist. We want more Filipino sagas.

For our RAYGUN imprint, which focuses on multi-volume Filipino sci-fi and fantasy stories in the comics and manga format, that mission starts with the success of this campaign.

So if you decide to back this campaign, do it first and foremost for yourself as a reader. We believe that this story is something special and worth experiencing.

But while you’re doing that: know that by backing us, you’re sending a signal to the world that these kinds of stories, from places like the Philippines, are worth making and paying attention to.

And lastly: know that by doing this you’re backing our growth and learning not just as creatives, but also as publishers and champions of more stories like this, from Filipino writers and artists with talent that exceeds our own.

For all those reasons, thank you and thank you and thank you.

Rexy

Back Us On Kickstarter

What a month it’s been! And we’re not even halfway through. Writing this update at the end of day 3 of the Manila International Book Fair, the biggest book event of the Philippines, and perhaps after a 10-hour shift selling books in person isn’t the best time for an introvert to be drafting up emails… but we gotta do what we gotta do.

Our Kickstarter campaign for the Vol 1-3 compendium now sits at 230% funded with three weeks left to go in the campaign.

But I’ll be honest with you: the way Kickstarter works puts a premium on getting funded ASAP, which means that we set our goals right at the absolute minimum amount required to fund the project. What that means is that at our $5k initial goal, we covered just enough to print the books and fund the rewards. At where we currently stand ~$11.5k, we’re just above breakeven on the costs to market this campaign: ads, video editing costs, etc. to make sure we get this in front of people. From here onwards is when we start to keep a bit for the medium to long term, building up resources that will go towards future Maharlika volumes and projects such as our animated film.

But we don’t want to make this all about us and our needs, so as we hit the next milestones, we want to keep unlocking more goodies for you our amazing supporters! Here’s a reminder of what we’ve unlocked so far and what’s ahead:

Back Us On Kickstarter

The extra value doesn’t stop there. This one came as a surprise to us, but the traction in our campaign has caught the attention of other comic book Kickstarters, and one ongoing campaign reached out offering an awesome freebie for all of our backers!

ALL backers of the Maharlika Compendium One campaign will receive a PDF copy of their first issue, free of charge.

No Saints Nor Poets is a chaotic queer/BL adventure-romance comic full of sea monsters, motor-gondola races, pride, faith and love triangles. Created by the critically acclaimed writer Iolanda Zanfardino (You Never Heard Of Me, A Thing Called Truth, Midnight Radio, Alice in Leatherland, Hecate's Will, The Least We Can Do) with artist Martina Belli and colorist Ilaria Chiocca.

You can check out their Kickstarter here if it sounds like your kind of adventure.

I've read the first chapter and was impressed by the fun dynamic of the core duo—equal parts energy/banter and depth—and the world building which already has more layers than you might expect from a first chapter. And the art!! The composition of the pages is so well done, managing to be elaborate at times, and dense with detail/style while keeping a natural and accessible pace.

In addition to the free copy, we're also working on a special collab with the artists of No Saints Nor Poets which we can't wait to share soon. :)

We'll keep working to bring you more bang for your buck, while introducing you to amazing creators around the world in the process. Least we can do for all the love you've shown us so far.

<3,

Rexy

Back Us On Kickstarter

What a first week, and it’s not even over! We blasted through the gates with over 100% funded in the first day, and 200% is right around the corner.

Here’s the first phase of our stretch goals for the Maharlika Compendium One campaign on Kickstarter: a little game we can play together to unlock freebies, new variants, and more for those backing our campaign. Another way of saying thank you for helping us take this step.

At $9000 (less than $1k away!) we unlock a free physical copy of Dramamine and Impossible Soul, a little book containing two short stories by me. Smaller scale in a way than Maharlika, but more vast in other ways and they’ve made more than a couple of people cry. So I hope you find something to enjoy there.

Back Us On Kickstarter

At $10k, we add a free art print to all physical orders, and I’m excited about this one because Borg Sinaban made these beautiful pieces in the earliest stages of our animated film project—and this is the first time they’ll be in print.

Back Us On Kickstarter

And after that… some bigger ones waiting for us in the next phase. :)

Back Us On Kickstarter

Let’s break these locks open—every share and referral to a friend makes a difference.

Forever grateful,

Rexy

Launch time is here and we're excited to present to you our campaign for the launch of the Maharlika compendium :)

Check out our Kickstarter campaign page to learn more about Maharlika Side A, our story, and our backer rewards. 24 hour Early Bird discounts of 20% are now active for all tiers.

Back Us On Kickstarter

In addition to the Compendium, all supporters will be credited within the book, and top tier backers will be able to cement themselves into Maharlikan history through an in-book portrait or an appearance in a special variant cover!

I've said it before, and I can't emphasize enough how important it is for us to have a strong showing on the first day. Your Day One support is crucial to the success of this campaign. So as a thank you for those supporting us w/ early momentum, we're offering a 20% discount to everyone who supports before tomorrow, 8AM US Eastern time / 8PM Philippine time.

See you there, and thank you always <3

Rexy

Back Us On Kickstarter

BACKER REWARDS

PS: Backers w/ a shipping address in 🇵🇭 can check the Kickstarter page for a link to special Philippines pricing

Back Us On Kickstarter

On September 2, we’ll be launching our Kickstarter campaign for Maharlika Side A: a compendium collecting the first 3 volumes (tracks 0 to 15) in one book!

Click here to sign up and get notified via email on launch day.

The script for Maharlika was completed in 2022, six volumes worth of story with a beginning, middle, and end. The first compendium will collect first half of the story, and the first major turning point if you can believe it! This is where we start to move from the appetizer to the main course.

MORE THAN JUST A COMPILATION:

John Ray is hard at work completing Volume 3 before the end of the year. As soon as that’s done, we’ll be revisiting some of the earlier chapters to make some refinements and add bonus content!

You can think of it as something like a Director’s Cut, with several new comic pages on top of being a convenient way to read the first three volumes in one sitting.

We have more surprises in store for those supporting our campaign, which we will be unveiling as we go :)

WHY THIS MATTERS & HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Beyond the funding, we’re launching a Kickstarter because it has a vibrant built-in global community whom we’d love to introduce Maharlika to.

But the algorithm guarding that community rewards early momentum, which can snowball into recommendations, home page features, etc. What this usually looks like is strong Day One turnout, at least 30% if not the whole initial goal met during the first 24 hours.

So if you’re at all interested and able to support—I appreciate that many people aren’t able, and love you regardless!—please do come through on the first day. It makes a difference.

Sign up here if you want to get notified when the Kickstart campaign goes live.

It’s no secret that we’ve been developing this story without any ongoing institutional support except from companies that we ourselves own. We’re doing this because we want to make sure we are free to push Maharlika as far as we believe that it can go, rather than getting stuck pitching and waiting for external stakeholders to take us seriously. In the words of Terrence Thornton: waiting on faith ain’t for us.

While we’ve been lucky to get support from local folks like Komiket and international publishers who have translated and published Maharlika in Italy and Denmark… we believe above all in the power of getting a story out to the hands of readers, building a passionate fandom—and those believers working with creators to will something cool into existence.

Your support and the success of this campaign not only means more Maharlika. It also proves out a playbook that we can use for more Filipino stories to break through to a global audience.

We hope to see you on launch day! We’ll be sending another update as we get closer to go time. Until then—thank you for being here.

With love,

Rexy

We loved seeing a bunch of you at our RAYGUN Publisher Launch on June 29! We’ve been greeted with far more excitement and love than we expected and possibly deserve at this point. We even have one named fan group now (shoutout #Gayguns) and it’s been satisfying to see people start to step in and get lost in our newest title, Night Gate by Lucia Asul.

We’re still an extremely small operation at this point, so every bit of support helps. I’ve personally been multi-hatting on business, fundraising, growth, book production, and Canva for all our socials (one day I will have time to write again); John Ray has the task of visual editing for our new titles even as he takes on a more aggressive production schedule for Maharlika Vol. 3; and our Santelmo House co-founder Deanne, with her daughter Michiko, is juggling her full-time day job with the task of doing our corporate admin and Shopee logistics.

Even in the midst of all that, I think it’s worth us taking some time to properly introduce ourselves: the RAYGUN imprint first, and then later, a bit of a peek into the Santelmo House master plan.

What’s a RAYGUN?

No, not that Raygun. This Raygun:

John Ray pitched this name to me some time before the Olympic breakdancer Rachael Gunn had her 15 minutes of fame. It was among a list that included more traditional Filipino name options—but when I saw this, I was sold immediately.

Because honestly: if you know, you know. YuYu Hakusho was a global hit, but only in the Philippines do we know it as Ghost Fighter; only in the Philippines are the main characters named Eugene, Alfred, Vincent, and Dennis rather than Yusuke and… I don’t even know the rest of the original names haha. And only in the Philippines is his signature attack called “Raygun” and not “Spirit Gun” or “Rei (Spirit/Ghost) Gan”.

As a 90’s kid born and raised for the first 10 years of my life in Dumaguete, I grew up on anime more than on any other media. I vividly remember hearing about Ghost Fighter from a schoolmate and watching it the same evening—and being absolutely entranced by the world that Togashi created. Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, and One Piece may have had the biggest cultural impact, but for many of us Ghost Fighter was the awakening.

That’s the fun and nostalgic part. But the other end of the coin is: why did we not grow up with the same diverse canon of Filipino stories? Our belief is that there is no shortage of imagination or storytelling craft in the Philippines—just a shortage of resources to bring them to fruition.

You can read our ongoing “Heat Wave” series of posts for my ongoing analysis of this problem. RAYGUN is one part of our plan to shift the tide in a small way.

What does RAYGUN do?

We publish Filipino comics (AKA komiks) with a focus on (1) long-running serialized sagas, prioritizing (2) sci-fi and fantasy adventures that (3) can be accessible to a wide audience, particularly manga and anime fans while retaining (4) a strong and nuanced authorial vision rooted in the Filipino experience.

That’s a pretty specific intersection of stuff. And that’s intentional. There are quite a few existing publishers in the Philippines, and they do a better job than we ever will at supporting the rest of the book industry. But for this specific type of story that we personally want to see more of, there’s a not-insubstantial level of investment required to do it right—or at least to the level where it becomes a norm, and not just a few exceptions that prove the rule.

We invest deeply and for the long term. That’s a bunch of buzzwords, but for us it’s what our whole model lives or dies on. We pay creators more per chapter than they often get paid per book—this is to ensure that they are able to say no to other projects and can get close to full-time on comics creation. We put money up for marketing. We’re active in introducing them to readers and evangelists. We do all of this because we believe the industry can be much bigger in the future, if we can just put enough work and resources into it with conviction.

And in the long-term, we plan to adapt many of these stories to other mediums. Not as an end to itself; comics as a medium is powerful and it shouldn’t be just a stepping stone into film, TV, or animation. But to the extent that it fits the vision of the work AND broadens the number of true fans the story can resonate with, we want to help make it happen.

We’ve started this process with Maharlika, and we plan to do the same with some of the other stories in our library.

As specific as our focus is, you can already see from our initial slate that there is a fairly diverse set of stories that fit our thesis.

Maharlika is a tightly-wound alternate history puzzle box punctuated with anime action flair. Thank You And More Power is more inspired by crime and gangster dramas, with X-Men superpowers and corporate comedy sprinkled on top (a bit like The Boys, but perhaps more humanist and less cynical). Night Gate is moody and atmospheric and unsettling in the way a Junji Ito fan might like, but with more relatable characters who are coming of age amid war and horror. And Malaya (coming up next) is more inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender but with a dark twist, and heavy on themes of identity and culture.

Each of these stories can be a decades-long journey in itself. We’re just at the beginning.

Is RAYGUN accepting pitches?

The constraint of this strategy is that we can’t spread ourselves too thin. Every title we take on requires a lot of support, from financial to distribution—and that’s before you start looking at things like animation or gaming.

So no, not really—but we can make exceptions if we feel a story and artist is a fit + we think we can add value. And if you are passionate about something that you think could be great under RAYGUN, we are always happy to share learnings, trade ideas, and maybe plan for something further in the future if we can’t take you on now. At the end of the day, we want more of these kinds of stories to succeed.

As Santelmo House, we are also partnering with & building other imprints and resources to support Filipino comics, books, and stories. But that’s for another time. Stay tuned :)

This is a long-overdue continuation of a post I made last year on the state of developing new Filipino stories. A year passed faster than expected since that last post, but I think it still gives a solid foundation into the broader context of what we’re trying to do:

One year later, we are finally back to work building a company that focuses on developing Filipino stories: Santelmo House, our IP development company, and its first imprint, RAYGUN, which publishes sci-fi/fantasy/adventure stories in the spirit of something like Shonen Jump.

Before we get started, I wanted to invite you to the RAYGUN launch if you are free! This Sunday, 5-8PM @ Cruxbl, 2nd floor of Comuna Makati, we’ll be releasing Maharlika track 11, Thank You and More Power episode 2, and the first 2 chapters of Night Gate by Lucia Asul. Pre-order link below if you want us to reserve copies for you:

Pre-Order Now

Now, let’s dive in:

Comics are the beginning and the end

Our vision for Santelmo House is to eventually develop original Filipino stories across all mediums: starting with books and then eventually going into animation, gaming, merch, and beyond. But we begin with comics, or komiks with a K in Filipino fashion—not just for love of the medium, but because it has been historically the birthplace of almost all the major stories that have captured the imagination of the world.

Whether you’re looking at Marvel, DC, your favorite anime, or more recently your favorite Korean drama, the comic format (or manga/manhwa/manhua) has often been the starting point.

Comics are at this sweet-spot center of a Venn diagram that brings together both accessibility in production (you can make an epic and engaging story with just one person or a small team) and accessibility in consumption (you can, and I have, binged the entire first part of Chainsaw Man in a single day.) From a business perspective, that translates into relatively low investment and high returns: perfect for someone like me who is working primarily with his life savings and the support of some trusted friends.

The only medium that can beat it in this regard is novels, which have not coincidentally been the birthplace of epics such as Game of Thrones, Three Body Problem, and Harry Potter.

It’s not just about economics. If you believe, like I do, that staying true to a singular artistic vision is a determinant of success, then comics (and novels) are the closest you will get to that Platonic ideal. A single person or a small team putting a story to paper—no need to convince a corporate board that doesn’t get it, no need to organize a team of hundreds of production staff. You can just start.

The Philippines was historically a hotspot for the comic format. In the 80’s, more Filipinos read comics than any other printed medium. The industry collapsed in the 90’s through a very Filipino but very universal story of one company eating the whole industry and then taking it down with it when it failed… but that’s a saga for another time. Today, there are months where a pirated manga site has more web traffic than the desktop version of Facebook. The appetite for great stories in a sequential format hasn’t gone anywhere.

All of that sounds great—but then why are so many comic companies failing? And why is there so little industry support for new komiks in the Philippines?

Why the komiks business is harder than it looks

You can probably count on your fingers how many creators are making a full-time living by making their own original comics in the Philippines. A decent percentage of those creators are under RAYGUN/Santelmo House, where we’re patiently betting on our investments to bear fruit over a long period of time.

But it’s not just a Philippine issue: try searching “how to make money on comics” on Youtube and the videos you’ll find are probably a year old or older. Diamond, the leading western comics distributor, filed for bankruptcy less than a year ago. The industry isn’t exactly thriving outside of Japan, Korea, and China. But why—when in theory this is a format that shouldn’t demand such a heavy investment?

That’s a bigger question than I’m fully qualified to answer. A major element is a problem of portfolio construction: how do you get enough winners to cover the costs of the investments that fail? Especially when you’re operating a multinational company where you need success to equal hundreds of millions of dollars, it will take a lot of investment in a lot of failures to find the one big hit.

Then there’s the supply chain problem. Picture a river where the source, the headwaters, are books and comics, and they empty out to a mouth and a vast ocean that symbolizes the popular formats of film and TV. Sounds linear when you put it like that—but when you zoom out, it’s a giant loop where the health of the oceans flow back into the rivers where they start.

And the ocean has been suffering. Media companies as large as Disney have been struggling with their recent slates, and animation houses have been shutting down left and right. This chaos leads to budget cuts, and in that kind of environment, the appetite for risk-taking diminishes.

I’ve experienced firsthand how in crisis situations, the innovation budget (which in many ways is the function of comics/books) is the first to go. It’s tempting to say “just reallocate money to comics where you don’t need big budgets”—but these larger companies have fixed costs in the billions of dollars, and a comic that returns 20x on its $10k budget will barely pay the salary of one executive. Not to mention that these larger companies have, more often than not, lost their ability to identify and develop a small IP from scratch. The logical response to the crisis, then, is for them to double down on sure shots over anything new.

All of this waterfalls into very little budget for original comics IP several rings up the chain. The going mantra is: show me something hot, then I’ll show you the money.

In the Philippines, all of this is true but with a few additional complications. Piracy is rife and willingness to spend on media is low, which makes the cost-benefit formula even harder to balance. Add to that: the Philippine media landscape is consolidated into three major players, all of which have a (logical, on its face) reason not to invest in new IP.

ABS-CBN has faced financial challenges since it lost its TV license; GMA has focused on dividends over innovation, distributing over 90% of its profits to shareholders over the past decade; and Viva has grown primarily through Viva Max, a platform geared towards adult content. It’s a logically sound stalemate: why spend money on an unproven story when you can spend the same amount on a low-budget erotic film that you can ship directly to an audience that you know wants it?

All of this changes if someone can show a home run: an original IP that becomes a smash hit. But in the meantime, budgets for new komiks are practically non-existent; komikero as a profession is largely an elusive myth where the exceptions prove the rule.

We spoke in the last post about how comics take a lot of time—ideally with the artist fully focused and consumed in the act of creation. But there is hardly any budget to allow for that. Other than RAYGUN, there are very few local publishers that give the creator money upfront so they can dedicate time to their craft. And that’s not a jab at anyone—the reality is that it’s fucking hard, and it’s not even clear that it’s possible to do correctly.

Releasing the spirit of good komiks

But what are we gonna do, wait around and let another generation grow up on everything but Filipino stories?

In the midst of all the chaos and constraints, we believe that there’s one path that could work: building a publisher that focuses on developing new stories, gives creators the funding to dedicate more of their time on developing new worlds and characters, and through patient but intelligent investment is able to cultivate the resulting IP into new mediums that can introduce them to a broader and broader audience. All while being responsible and equitable partners with the creators involved. We’ve already gone on long enough today, so I’ll save the details of the “how” for another time.

It’s a difficult dream, and one that takes a bit of delusion: that we can identify the right creators and stories; that we can make the right calls at the inevitable crisis points ahead; that we can develop a fanbase for original Filipino komiks at a scale that hasn’t existed since the 1980s. We are still extremely small, intermittently broke, and so fragile a strong enough sneeze might bring the building down. But we’re trying something.

If you’re a reader of Maharlika or the other stories we’re developing, you’re a part of that dream at its earliest stages. So thanks for being here :)

See you Sunday?

With love,

Rexy and the RAYGUN/Santelmo House team.

P.S. While we’re here, I want to acknowledge that there are some incredible publishers and associations that are taking a stab at the same problem through other angles. Avenida has cultivated Trese, the biggest success in komiks in a long time (among other great titles), over decades. Nautilus has done the same with the works of Arnold Arre. Komiket, Komikon, and Patron of the Arts have done incredible work building communities that cherish original Filipino works; Komiket in particular has been bridging Filipino works to international audiences and we have been beneficiaries of their groundwork. Adarna and Summit have expanded beyond their core strengths in children’s books and magazines respectively to support new comics. Kwentoon and Kwento Comics are working on their own models of developing long-term IP through comics.

There are many many more amazing local publishers than I can name individually. And though our approach at Santelmo House/RAYGUN is different in terms of how we choose to invest our resources, we are all comrades in arms when it comes to achieving this difficult dream.

CONTINUE READING →

To read the rest of track 10 and the conclusion of Vol. 2:

• find the print edition of Maharlika Vol. 2:

  • on Shopee or at Manila Middle Ground for 🇵🇭

  • Hot Tropiks outside the Philippines

• or grab a digital copy of Maharlika Vol. 2 at the Santelmo House Gumroad!

All caught up on volume 2? Continue to the next chapter:

But in case you’re itching to get it at a lower price with no delivery time, we’re excited to share that you can now buy digital copies from the Gumroad page of Santelmo House, our little publishing outfit which houses our manga imprint RAYGUN!

Buy on Gumroad

Digital copies will include all chapters (Prologue to Track 5 for Vol 1, Track 6-10 for Vol 2) as well as all bonus content from the print version. Character notes, journal entries, articles, and more from the world of Maharlika.

This is new territory—we know our fans are willing to spend on the books (thank you!), but this digital model is still unproven at least for Maharlika. But it’s an important experiment for us: digital allows us to scale much more quickly, get the story in front of more people without having to pay upfront / wait for new physical print runs and go through middlemen. So your support here counts.

Bonus: Maharlika Vol. 1 script

As an exclusive bonus for digital buyers, we’ll be including a free copy of the script for Vol. 1! This is for those among you who are interested in how to write a comic script and the process of going from script to page:

Comic script is kind of a funny thing in that there’s no standardized formatting. Some prefer to do it freeform without any page or panel labels, and I myself stopped writing panel by panel after I finished writing Maharlika and started on More Power.

But you can already see the subtle differences in how I write the scenes vs. how John Ray interprets, paces, and choreographs them in a way that meshes with his storytelling style. He’s particularly gifted at tightening the visual pace of things and “using the gutter”—that is, letting the spaces in between panels do the work of moving a character from point to point. You don’t have to see Jisoo walk home from school; your mind does the work of imagining it in the interval between the previous panel and this one.

In most cases, the differences are subtle. For the most part, the final pages stay very close to the script I submitted to John Ray. But there are exceptions, like the opening of Track 1 which we replaced with a more direct hook into the mysteries that entangle the mind of our protagonist:

And the start of Track 2, where John Ray replaced a more noisy cyberpunk-y establishing shot with one that more quietly reflects the dominating, brutalist setting of the story:

Lastly—I won’t spoil it here, but did you know that the original script had a different song playing from the first cassette they examined from Akira’s briefcase?

I’ll leave you here to discover the rest of the variations between script and inked page. Now I’m not the most verbose writer—my scripts are pretty straight and to the point, and I trust my artist partners to imagine most of the details. So it won’t be a completely new and mind-blowing literary experience if you’ve already read the first volume. But I hope that some of you find value in diving into the script—and that I get to geek out with some of you about that process one day!

Thank you again for all the amazing support. I’ll add another button to take you to the Gumroad page below—and you may want to keep it bookmarked for when we release Track 11 Early Access here :)

(Not to mention: you can get a copy of Thank You and More Power #1 here, as well as More Power #2 and Night Gate #1 and #2 soon!)

Buy on Gumroad

Hello again! With Volume 3 now in production, I wanted to take this opportunity to share how we plan to release track 10 onwards of Maharlika to our online readership.

There’s no perfect way to structure this. Even in the mainstream comic industry, there’s no consensus on how to release which chapters on which platforms for free or behind a paywall. Webtoon Originals have a fast pass system for early access on the latest chapters, though that’s a system that requires a pretty steady weekly flow of releases. Shonen Jump has the first few and last few chapters available for free and all the rest locked behind a subscription—again, a system built for a weekly release system with hundreds of chapters. And mainstream western comics are primary paid-only.

Our goal is to learn from these examples and fashion something that makes sense for Maharlika: a story that’s a bit more tightly paced, designed to pack a punch around lean volumes and efficient chapter mini-arcs. Within those parameters, we want to design something that still allows us to be fairly generous with free content to get people in the door and keep people steadily engaged—while still helping us pay the bills as we (as promised) double down and focus more of our time on seeing this story through.

With those goals in mind, here is the release structure we’ll be using during the Volume 3 season!

• Volume 1 will continue to be free to read on this Substack! But if you want access the expanded version w/ bonus epistolary content (letters, journals, notes, articles, etc), you can:

  • buy the print version, currently available at Manila Middle Ground in PH and Hot Tropiks outside PH + more places soon (Shopee and Lazada currently sold out and restocking)

  • or you can buy a digital copy of Volume 1 from our new Gumroad page — which comes with the full volume 1 script for those who are interested in the process of moving from script to page!

• Tracks 6-9 of Volume 2 will continue to be free to read on this Substack, but Track 10 and all bonus epistolary content for Volume 2 will be available by:

  • buying the print version, currently available at Manila Middle Ground in PH and Hot Tropiks outside PH + more places soon

  • or buying a digital copy of Volume 2 either standalone or as part of a discounted Vol 1+2 bundle from our new Gumroad page

• For Volume 3, tracks 11-13:

  • early access will first be given in the form of digital single issues on our Gumroad page, and available in print formats at certain events/conventions (TBA)

  • after the early access window, tracks 11-13 will be released for free on this Substack

• You can read the last two chapters (tracks 14-15) of Volume 3 by buying the full print version or full digital volume on our Gumroad page—same places where you can get Vol. 1 and 2.

TLDR: Vol. 1 free in full as always. The first 4 tracks of Vol. 2 and the first 3 tracks of Vol. 3 will act as “preview issues” which will be made free after a limited early access window. The final chapter(s) of Vol. 2 and 3 will be available to those who purchase the full volume(s) in print or online.

But hey—don’t sleep on that bonus content! Some of it we’ve posted here; others are brand new perspectives into the world of Maharlika and its characters beyond the inked panels. Like these quotes from the first two Maharlikan presidents, which paint a picture of how the Republic’s guiding philosophy evolved over just its first few years in existence…

… and this excerpt from the journal of Dr. Akira Castrosaez, with clues to Track 10 and a peek into the mind of what appears to be a somewhat different man from the Akira we meet years later:

That’s all for now! Coming up: some previews of the Vol. 1 script included in our Gumroad bundle, programs for retail partners and affiliates, upcoming events… and yes, Track 11 :)

Talk soon,

Rexy

Dear readers,

I don’t update on Substack as often as I should. That’s one among the list of things I hope to change as we go into the second half of 2025: part of a bigger commitment called let’s really start to take this thing seriously.

I made a similar declaration as part of my birthday journal 32 Years / Reincarnated last year. And then life got in the way, again. I ended up spending the second half of 2024 in perhaps the darkest rut I’ve found myself in so far. And like every dark episode before, it passed—and one day my old friend darkness will pay another visit, I’m sure. Stories for another time.

The point I’m trying to get to is: for life reasons, I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I wanted to on Maharlika last year. And when we announced the launch event for Vol. 2 last month, I was scared no one would even show up. After all, the extent of the work I did to promote this story was a few posts on Substack and IG + mailing out ~20 or so free copies to reviewers on Instagram. I would have no one but myself to blame if it turned out we didn’t do enough to earn a real audience or following.

And then you came through, and it was a packed house… and I couldn’t be more grateful. John and I felt so lucky and honored to meet so many of you who discovered this story and came to love it. So many who were hungry to see the next entry. We even ticked off items from my author bucket list earlier than I expected (and if you ask me, earlier than we earned it): Maharlika was someone’s favorite graphic novel, someone’s favorite book. We even have cosplayers now!

All of it means more than I can possibly put to words. And it was an important wake-up call: if this was the result of a period where I feel I honestly fell short on what I wanted to do, if the little time I was able to protect for Maharlika last year got us this far, earned us this amazing community of readers… imagine where we would be if I’d been at 100%?

So here I am again, with the same promise as last time but one less year left in my mortal tank and filled with gratitude-turned-greater-resolve to see this through. This is the year we’re doubling down on Maharlika, and beyond Maharlika the dream of building our own little home for Filipino stories that maybe, just maybe will be remembered in 100 years.

I’ll share more details in future posts, but in the meantime look forward to:

• Volume 2 if you haven’t read it yet! We sold out of our first print run quickly, but we’re freshly restocked now and you can grab a copy at Manila Middle Ground, John Ray’s creative consignment store in Comuna Makati if you’re in Manila. Hot Tropiks if you’re outside the Philippines. And more places soon—you can follow our IG page @maharlika.komiks for updates!

• Volume 3 is in development, and we’re aiming to launch it by the end of the year. I’ve said this repeatedly, but Vols. 3 and 4 are my favorite parts of the story and the main turning point around which the rest of the story was formed. I can’t wait for everyone else to get there.

• We’ll be announcing our new online release schedule, so stay tuned for answers to questions such as:

  • Which parts of the story will be available for free vs. locked?

  • Can I buy digital copies of the full volumes (including new bonus content beyond the core chapters/tracks?)

• Maharlika Vol. 1 will be available in Italian and Danish! Thank you to our friends at Komiket and our international publishers for seeing the potential in our story for non-Filipino audiences.

• We’re also making headway on our Maharlika animated film project and will be sharing details here soon enough. :)

Last thing—we loved seeing you all in person so much that we’re planning our next event! This one will be a launch party for our manga imprint RAYGUN: featuring releases of new titles Thank You and More Power by me and Sampay, and Night Gate by Lucia Asul. With some new things for Maharlika fans as well! Date still to be finalized by expect around end of June.

Thank you thank you and talk to you soon <3

Rexy

This is just a short note to say that John Ray and I are excited to see you all at our book launch this Sunday @ Manila Middle Ground, Comuna Building, Makati City! You can see our original announcement w/ details here:

And you can use this link to register and pre-order! We’re on a small budget these days, so our stocks are limited—especially for the special covers and T-shirts.

What to expect:

• Doors open at 4PM. At this time, you’ll be able to buy books or even get your existing copies of Maharlika (or other works by Rexy and John Ray) signed.

• At around 5PM, we’ll have a short program where John Ray and I will share a few words, give you a preview of new things coming in the universe of Maharlika and our publishing house, and answer any questions from the audience.

• We’ll be open for purchasing and signing until 8PM.

• There are limited parking spaces available in the Comuna building, and street parking just outside/in front of Comuna.

Oh, and one more thing:

For every 600 pesos you spend on Maharlika vol. 2 or other items we have in stock, we’ll give you a free book which we’ll pick randomly from my collection! I’ve been hoarding more Filipino books than I have space for—multiple copies in some cases—and this is a good an opportunity as any to share stories from other incredibly talented Filipino writers and artists to you our supporters.

Use this link to RSVP and pre-order so we know to expect you!

RSVP / Pre-Order

We’re excited to see you there. :) It’s difficult and expensive to be a creator in comics nowadays, and every bit of generosity makes it just a bit easier to keep putting our hearts into seeing this story through.

Thank you thank you always,

Rexy

Dear readers,

It’s been a while! Life ended up stormier than expected in my corner of the universe these past six months, but I’m back to deliver some good news: Volume 2 will be launching in the Philippines this week, and production for Volume 3 is getting started!

We’re holding a small gathering of our readers and friends on April 27th, 4PM-8PM at Manila Middle Ground, a creative space owned by our very own John Ray. We’d love to see you there. :)

We’ll be selling copies of Volume 2, signing any Maharlika books or merchandise you buy or bring with you, and just getting to know you wonderful people who we are lucky to call our readers and supporters.

Use this link to RSVP and pre-order so we know to expect you!

RSVP / Pre-Order

Along with the new volume, we’ll also be releasing a second edition of Maharlika Vol. 1 under our new imprint RAYGUN. This includes 13 pages of bonus material not included in the original print run—including The Kafka Papers Pt. 1 and other worldbuilding puzzle pieces that you haven’t seen. You can get the new edition in the original red cover or this beautiful new variant by John Ray…

And lastly… we’ll be selling John Ray’s first shirt design for Maharlika as well! Personally excited to put this on and brandish the Maharlikan sun and John Ray’s art wherever I go.

Please join us! We’ll continue to post chapters and updates here a bit after we release them in print—I’ll post more details on that online release timeline once I have them. But in the meantime, it would be great to see you in person if you can make it!

RSVP / Pre-Order

Thank you always,

Rexy

CONTINUE READING →

Read Track 10 of Maharlika by getting the print version of Vol. 2 or buying the digital version of Vol. 2 on our Gumroad!

CONTINUE READING →

Hello friends!

Sometimes I feel like no one reads this Substack… and then someone tells me they’ve read everything up to The Kafka Papers and it makes my day! And I realize maybe when things are quiet here, it’s not because no one’s around, but because no one knows how to log in to their Substack account to like/comment. Big love to you lurkers reading this. :)

It’s my 32nd birthday, and my wish is to continue putting this story out to more people. So I’ll be reserving free copies of volume 2 (to be published later this year) as part of a little birthday giveaway.

(Message from the future: This giveaway was for the week of July 21, 2024 and is no longer open. Thank you to everyone who supported!)

Here’s how it works:

1. Drop a comment on the Maharlika: The Story So Far post with your thoughts on the story! No requirements/guidelines on the content except to avoid spoilers or anything spammy/low-effort. Limit of 1 comment per person.

2. Email me at rexyjoshdorado@gmail.com with a link to your comment + your shipping details.

3. If you’re in the Philippines, I will mail you a signed copy of Maharlika vol. 2 when it comes out!

   1. If you’re abroad, I can mail it to you if you pay for shipping, OR you can have it sent to a friend/family address here in the Philippines. Let me know your preference in the email.

Extra bonus gratitude to anyone who decides to go the extra mile and leave a review on our Goodreads page. Those things matter a lot! I want to take this opportunity to shout out a couple of recent reviewers while we’re at it:

This is the beginning of a longer review by Diane AKA booksandthensome who has been an amazing supporter in the short amount of time she’s known about Maharlika. She also happens to be running a Maharlika Vol. 1 giveaway on her page ending today!

I also really like this one from Miko, who surprised me and John (whose bday was earlier this month) with a cake at PICOF yesterday!

I like this one because it speaks to exactly what we are striving for… not just hooky ideas and aesthetics but substance. The sci-fi elements, the setting, the twists the Baybayin SFX: none of that is new. But our job as students of culture and art is to put these ingredients to work in service of telling a story that engages you beyond the level of flashy packaging.

Whether we succeed on that is up to the filter of your own experience. But in any case, thank you for giving me and John an opportunity to keep doing what we love.

P.S./PSA: John will be at PICOF (Philippine International Comics Festival) for 1 more day today if you’d like to meet him in person and get his signature!

See you around :)

— Rexy