The Remarkable Replacement

Lan turned out to be a very fast learner, a fearless experimenter, and a stickler to the story’s panel “guides” (instructions of the writer on what the artist should draw per scene or frame). We hit it off immediately as a team. Devil Car became even more popular obviously because of his inspired and innovative artistic presentations. And, by the time we finished the novel at chapter 150 from the 79th issue he picked it up from, he had become one of the most sought-after serial illustrators in the business. Lan and I did several other all GASI hit novels, among them ‘The Yum-Yum” in 1986 also in Holiday Komiks, “Twilight People” likewise in ’86 in Pinoy Komiks, then the reprise “Devil Car, The Return” again in Holiday in ’88, “Zortija” in 1990 in Thunder Komiks, and finally ‘House of Horror” in the mid-90’s in Aliwan Komiks. “Devil Car, the Return” like its predecessor, also became a certified hit though no longer as lengthy—this time I ran it for only an even 70 chapters.

As for Lan Medina, there was no looking back, from that eventful day I gave him his first real break. He just kept going at it, and not even the death of the local comics industry has stopped him from continuously doing the work he loves and knows best. To this day he still keeps dishing out those superb illustrations of his; the only difference is that he now does it for DC Comics and other dollar-earning U.S. comics publications. And by the way, not so very long ago Lan even won the “Will Eisner Award” a prize of recognition they give away in the States to the most outstanding comics illustrators—worldwide. Not bad for a kid who started out in the business merely as a replacement