What do you think?
Rate this book
Beerkada #10
Dekada
It’s ten years of Beerkada and they go Asian! From the hills of Hong Kong Disneyland to the quays of Singapore, join the best friends-since-college as they tackle employment, higher education, maternity and other quarter-life concerns. This book not only contains 8 pages of never-before seen material, but also a creator’s commentary on a lot of strips.
76 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2010
13 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 4, 2011
I now rarely give 1-star rating but I just can't help being disappointed by this book. This book is really inferior than the other comic books that I have read this weekend. Reasons:
1) Misleading cover. This is being sold wrapped in a plastic sheet so there was no way to check the contents unless I risked being reprimanded by the salesclerk. So, I just based my decision on the cover and the pictures on it. As you can see, it has on its front cover an EDSA People Power Revolution-like group of rallyists complete with the familiar paraphernalias. Even the title Dekada looks like a parody of a popular Lualhati Bautista anti-Marcos novel, Dekada '70. It says in the back cover that this year is the 10th year since the first issue of Beerkada series but still the same font and style of Lualhati's novel's title was used. At the back cover, you will see the popular protest in China that happened at Tienanmen Square: a man being pursued by tanks. This book, however, has nothing to do with those revolutions or mass struggles. This book is about a bunch of shallow young Filipinos who are about to graduate from college up to the time that they are starting their careers and their families. I think what dekada also means here is the last decade 2000-2009 although this is recently published and it even has the dud alternative endings for Harry Potter series that are supposed to be funny but I found those boring. (I loved the ending of the movie, by the way).
2) The book has no clear unifying concept. I think Lyndon Gregorio, founding member of Komikon, just collated whatever unpublished comic strips that have already been serialized in his blog or website just like what he has already done several times. I understand from the last page of the book that this is his 10th Beerkada book and this is my first so I do not have any idea about the first nine. Maybe the first nine made money and self-publisher Gregorio has extra money to gamble for another issue and continue fooling his shallow followers. He even has the nerve of using the last ten unpublished never-seen-yet pages of the book. I re-read those pages: they seem to be odd portion of the book with different characters, plot and are just different from the rest of the book that I could not help myself but wonder if they were also illustrations done by the same person. It seems to me that Gregorio just added them to have a come on: there is something in this book that you have not seen yet my dear fans, so you better buy this book hehe!
3) There is not a single likable image for any of his characters. They just look strange. Not beautiful strange or funny strange. But strange strange. There is a strip mocking National Artist of the Philippines Carlo J. Caparas for looking like the King of Pop (may his soul rest in peace) Michael Jackson and I thought the whole thing is so distasteful. Gregorio must practice more sensitivity and giving more respect to people who are considered as true artists or even legends having achieved the status that I really doubt if he himself will be able to reach in his lifetime.
4) Most of the jokes are just boring. Well, I have to admit that I laughed twice and my daughter witnessed the first one while we were waiting for our order at Shakey's last night. Those two were funny but they were just like drips in a huge drum of water. All the rest are just either insensitive, boring, stupid or maybe I am not of Gregorio's generation.
Just don't buy this. Don't waste your time and money. In fairness, Gregorio has been made the lone komiks-illustrator endorser of San Mig Light (beer) because his comic series, Beerkada is the only komiks with beer in its title. To this, I give him credit and of course, I have not seen his other works. Maybe I just picked the wrong one. Sorry to him and his fans.
1) Misleading cover. This is being sold wrapped in a plastic sheet so there was no way to check the contents unless I risked being reprimanded by the salesclerk. So, I just based my decision on the cover and the pictures on it. As you can see, it has on its front cover an EDSA People Power Revolution-like group of rallyists complete with the familiar paraphernalias. Even the title Dekada looks like a parody of a popular Lualhati Bautista anti-Marcos novel, Dekada '70. It says in the back cover that this year is the 10th year since the first issue of Beerkada series but still the same font and style of Lualhati's novel's title was used. At the back cover, you will see the popular protest in China that happened at Tienanmen Square: a man being pursued by tanks. This book, however, has nothing to do with those revolutions or mass struggles. This book is about a bunch of shallow young Filipinos who are about to graduate from college up to the time that they are starting their careers and their families. I think what dekada also means here is the last decade 2000-2009 although this is recently published and it even has the dud alternative endings for Harry Potter series that are supposed to be funny but I found those boring. (I loved the ending of the movie, by the way).
2) The book has no clear unifying concept. I think Lyndon Gregorio, founding member of Komikon, just collated whatever unpublished comic strips that have already been serialized in his blog or website just like what he has already done several times. I understand from the last page of the book that this is his 10th Beerkada book and this is my first so I do not have any idea about the first nine. Maybe the first nine made money and self-publisher Gregorio has extra money to gamble for another issue and continue fooling his shallow followers. He even has the nerve of using the last ten unpublished never-seen-yet pages of the book. I re-read those pages: they seem to be odd portion of the book with different characters, plot and are just different from the rest of the book that I could not help myself but wonder if they were also illustrations done by the same person. It seems to me that Gregorio just added them to have a come on: there is something in this book that you have not seen yet my dear fans, so you better buy this book hehe!
3) There is not a single likable image for any of his characters. They just look strange. Not beautiful strange or funny strange. But strange strange. There is a strip mocking National Artist of the Philippines Carlo J. Caparas for looking like the King of Pop (may his soul rest in peace) Michael Jackson and I thought the whole thing is so distasteful. Gregorio must practice more sensitivity and giving more respect to people who are considered as true artists or even legends having achieved the status that I really doubt if he himself will be able to reach in his lifetime.
4) Most of the jokes are just boring. Well, I have to admit that I laughed twice and my daughter witnessed the first one while we were waiting for our order at Shakey's last night. Those two were funny but they were just like drips in a huge drum of water. All the rest are just either insensitive, boring, stupid or maybe I am not of Gregorio's generation.
Just don't buy this. Don't waste your time and money. In fairness, Gregorio has been made the lone komiks-illustrator endorser of San Mig Light (beer) because his comic series, Beerkada is the only komiks with beer in its title. To this, I give him credit and of course, I have not seen his other works. Maybe I just picked the wrong one. Sorry to him and his fans.
Displaying 1 of 1 review