Leinil Yu, Carlos Pagulayan, Mico Suayan, Jeffrey Huet and Harvey Tolibao at Druid’s Keep!

Last April 5, 2008 at Druid’s Keep, Marvel artists from the Philippines gathered to sign comic books and sketch for the fanboys. And what a day it was for the ones who went there to see their idols. Nay, not idols, their gods.

Leinil “I Know Skrulls” Yu, holding a copy of New Avengers, and in the background, Mr. Felix Cua, owner of Druid’s Keep

The event was mainly considered to be Leinil’s, as his was the name most heavily advertised and it coincided with the release of the highly anticipated Secret Invasion # 1 (which was fucking amazing, by the way). The attendance and participation of his fellow artists just made it that much more awesome. That day was dipped in fucking awesomesauce.

 I got there pretty early, at around 2:30PM, and I was just there with the other geeks. Man, the air was thick with geek fanboy soup, and it was difficult to breathe. Imagine the wheezing the other nerds must’ve done. That really didn’t stop any of us from enjoying the miracle of comics for bringing normally anti-social fuckers together in a very social event.

At around 3:00, Mico Suayan and Arthur Tolibao sat down to have comics signed and do sketches for people. I wanted a sketch, but the line was pretty damn long. Those guys are fucking talented. I sort of wanted to cut off some of Mico’s hair and eat it in some soup so I get some of his talent.

Mico Suayan, signing Moon Knight

Mico, sketching Moon Knight for one lucky son of a bitch. I’m already plotting to have the owner of said sketch gang raped.

Mico, like every other artist there, was very friendly and extremely accomodating, even though most of us there couldn’t even look at him directly in the face because we were blinded by his awesome. Just look at that sketch, man; it’s like… like… art! Art that melts your balls down your pants. The kind that will make you cry to your mother and blame your father for having no talent in your genetics.

Arthur Tolibao, totally concentrating on his sketch. He’s sketching with a pen there. Yep, a pen. He’s that much cooler than you.

Check that Iron Man out. Harvey Tolibao, just pouring out the talent for some lucky fan. He got free candy, too.

 I wasn’t able to interact with Harvey all that much, but he seemed like a genuinely nice guy who just really enjoyed what he was doing. Also, he rocks that pen so hard, it probably gave the four guys in closest proximity to him boners.

At around 3:15PM, Leinil “I Swear I’m Not A Skrull” Yu made his way into the store, much to the fanboyish delight of the people inside the store.

The Triumphant Entrace!

Now, this guy’s a class act. He was very accomodating, and he spoke easily with his fans. He was also always smiling, and he was happy to see the fanboy turnout. No matter how many comics you had him sign, he’d sign every single one. And I didn’t want to inconvenience him so I only had my Secret Invasion signed, but now I realize I should’ve brought a couple New Avengers, at least.

Here he is, interacting with people. He wasn’t all high and mighty at all, though because we all worshipped the ground he walks on, he could’ve. Hell, he could’ve asked me to sing him the macarena before he signed my copy and I would’ve done it, and I would’ve hired back-up dancers, too.

And here he is, sketching Wolverine on those blank Secret Invasion covers. In other words, he’s blessing that copy with his awesome. So that it may be worshipped by many a fanboy for years to come.

Being the stand-up guy that he is, he signed every issue asked of him. And check it out, he did it with a smile. Well, you can’t really see it in that pic, but trust me, he did. Even New Avengers, his Superman, his issue of Fallen Son, and a whole lot of others.

And he agreed to a short email interview with Comicology, so that’s something to look forward to. I’ll ask him the really tough questions, too, like “Why aren’t you my best friend yet?”

Right before I left, Mr. Carlos “Planet Hulk” Pagulayan and Mr. Jeffrey “Planet Hulk Inkz” Huet came to DK. I was able to say hi and they said they’d gladly do the interview, too. Now, I just need to know how to get in touch with them.

All in all, it was a great event, and my girly shrieks of fanboyism shall be heard through the halls of Gateway Center in Magallanes shall be heard for months to come! Soon, I’ll feature the shop itself, Druid’s Keep, so you gotta keep an eye out for that one.