Finding Aid for the Philippine Comics Collection LSC.2386

Finding aid prepared by Valerie Vargas, 2018.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2021 February 12.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu


Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Philippine comics collection
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2386
Physical Description: 4.0 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 2007-2018
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: The comics are predominantly in Tagalog and English. Often times, Taglish, a code-switch between Tagalog and English, is used. Some comics use or incorporate Baybayin, an ancient script used by Tagalog people in the Philippines, in the dialogue or sound effects,

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from a seller based in the Philippines, date of receipt unknown.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9997031821906533 

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Philippine comics collection (Collection 2386). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Processing Information

Processed by Valerie Vargas, under the supervision of Jade Alburo and Jasmine Jones, 2018.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives. 

Biographical / Historical

Comics has been been a popular medium in the Philippines for decades. However, after the harsh censorship that Ferdinand Marcos, a previous president and dictator of the country, enacted, the content that was allowed to be published on a widescale, public level are heavily restricted. This made independently published comics flourish in the 1980s. Like zines, the culture and community of independently published komiks was reborn in the 2000s, when creating and sharing them became more accessible due to technology.

Scope and Contents

The Philippine Comics Collection contains comics that showcase the creative minds of Filipino artists in the Philippines. Through their creation of storylines, and original characters, the local komik scene is flooded by original creations. The material of the komiks can range from being glossy-papered and printed in color, to scanned and printed in black and white. Many of the comics brandish original Filipino superheroes, often teenagers who find themselves being granted a superpower to save the people of the Philippines from attacks. The comics also often feature creatures of lore, incorporating the culture into the storytelling of the comics. The contents of the comics range from stories that mirror the daily lives of artists, to action and drama-packed stories about superheroes and their supernatural enemies. The Philippine Comics Collection spans the years of 2001-2018, with the bulk of the materials being undated, and from 2011-2017. The collection features comics from various individuals, but most have been collaborated on by artists. Many of the comcis are self-published or published by small publishers like Pelikomiks Studio and Azhdarchid Komiks.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged chronologically by the comics' title, and within each series, it has been arranged by publishing date.

Related Materials

Philippine Zine Collection (Collection 2281).  Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.