KOMIKS

I grew up on komiks. Not the Marvel Comics sort. Not even Jughead. More like Hiwaga, Wakasan, and Tagalog Klasiks. I even soaked up on Liwayway and Bulaklak. I know, I know. This really dates me. But I'm disclosing this because I owe a lot to komiks, specially in helping me read and write in Tagalog/Filipino.

I don't know how I got started but I distinctly remember spending time at the arkilahan (places where you rent komiks; these were actually roadside stores that display the magazines on a clothesline much like the way you hang newly-washed clothes to dry). I remember getting (more like making kupit) coins from my mother's make-shift money box at our vegetable store so I could rent the komiks. The arkilahan would have long wooden benches for readers. The owner of the business would make sure you did not run away with the komiks (or that you did not share it with others) and that you read it in a reasonable amount of time so that others can rent it as well, and the owner gets more coins from one copy. Methinks this was the precursor of video (now DVD) rentals. He he. But back in those days, it was more like borrowing books from a library with pay.

I would go to the arkilahan at various times of the day specially if I had no classes (I was in my elementary grades then). During schooldays, however, you will find me there after school till dusk.

In a childhood when I had no books except books for school, komiks was my reading pastime. I have of course outgrown komiks but not reading. In highschool, I progressed into pocket books starting with Nick Carter, Hardy Boys and then Harold Robbins and Robert Ludlum. Reader's Digest has also been a favorite. My taste in reading has greatly expanded although I have a soft spot for the Og Mandinos, Mitch Alboms, the Jeffrey Archers, the J. K. Rowlings, the Dan Browns and the John Grishams. And oh, I also now read autobiographies. Ironically, as an English litt major, I have yet to name my favorite English litt, and even American litt authors, as my readings were limited to the works required for my course. Oprah Book Club member I am not, yet.

Komiks-reading trained me to read fast. During times when I had no coins, I would casually scan the komiks on display surreptitiously lest the owner caught me and drove me away. Even then, what National Bookstore calls "private reading" was not allowed. (This was why I was more inclined to read Wakasan; I wouldn't have to wait for the next installment of the story - the stories ended on the same week the komiks came out.) But in my desire to keep myself updated on what happened next to the series I had been following, I would take a peek - thereby unconsciously getting trained on speed reading.

It was excellent training. After all, I was reading the likes of Carlo J. Caparas, Nerissa Cabral, Gilda Olvidado and yes, Pablo Gomez, Lualhati Bautista and the great Mars Ravelo -- stalwarts all and now celebrated authors of a genre people thought was only for the masses.