'Joe Guy, America's Foremost Hero!' (The Rook #10).
Abel Laxamana was a Filipino comic artist who, in the late 1970s and 1980s, drew romance and horror stories for Wow Komiks and Super Action Pocket Komiks, before becoming in demand in the US comic book and animation industry. During the early 1980s, he drew horror comics for Warren Publishing's magazines, of which 'Joe Guy, America's Foremost Hero!' (1981-1982) in The Rook Magazine was the most notable. In the latter half of the decade, well into the 1990s, he drew celebrity comics and TV-based comics for Blackthorne Publishing, while working for animation studios D.I.C., Cartoon Network and Marvel Animation. In the 1990s, Laxamana drew various stories for Bongo Comics, starring 'Radioactive Man', a spin-off based on the superhero parody from Matt Groening's 'The Simpsons'.
'Bruno Diablo'.
Early life and career in the Philippines
Not much is known about Abel P. Laxamana's life and career. He was born in San Fernando, Pampanga, on the Philippines. By the late 1970s, he made his name in the Filipino comics market, with his earliest work appearing in Wow Komiks (Soller Publishing). Together with scriptwriter Pablo S. Gomez, he drew the romance comic 'Bulaklak ng Magdamag' ("Lilac", 1981), printed in Teens Weekly. This work was later loosely adapted into the live-action film 'Bulaklak ng magdamag' ("Flowers of the Night", 1985), directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza and produced by Regal Films. With legendary comic writer and artist Mars Ravelo, Laxamana worked on 'Bruno Diablo' (1983) for Gem Komiks. He also drew 'Lahing Asuwang' (1984) in Holiday Komiks and 'Laserman' (1985) for Super Action Pocket Komiks.
Because many Filipino comics were produced, there was a high supply and demand. Veteran artists constantly hired assistants to help them out. Since the pay remained low, Laxamana concluded that, in other to survive financially, he had to draw as many stories as possible and, above all, work extraordinarily fast.
'Junior' (Creepy #133).
Warren magazines
In the late 1970s, Laxamana became one of the many Filipino comic artists employed by US comic book companies like DC, Marvel and Pendulum Press to make realistic comics for their books and magazines. Between 1978 and 1982, his art appeared alongside Alex Niño, Rudy Nebres and Alfredo Alcala in the horror and adult fantasy magazines published by Warren Publishing, such as Creepy, Eerie, The Goblin, The Rooker, Vampirella and the magazines '1984' and 1994'. He mostly drew one-shot stories, but also had regular features like Jim Stenstrum's 'Rex Havoc & The Asskickers of the Future' (1979) in 1984, Kevin Duane's 'Baby Makes Three!' in 1994 (1980), Stenstrum's 'Joe Guy, America's Foremost Hero!' (1981-1982) in The Rook Magazine and Timothy Moriarty's 'Wizard Wormglow' (1982) in The Goblin.
Of all his Warren work, the five stories with 'Joe Guy' are probably the best remembered. The hero-for-hire "without equal in daring rescues, dispelling alien invasions and thwarting master criminals" was a spoof on sci-fi action movies and mocked all the clichés in the genre.
'Moonwalker', starring Michael Jackson.
Blackthorne Publishing
When work for Warren declined by the mid-1980s, Laxamana returned to Filipino comic books, before landing new US jobs through Blackthorne Publishing. Laxamana was one of the artists working on the comic book series based on the futuristic 'BattleTech' franchise (1987-1988) and also for the horror title 'Werewolf' (1988-1989), based on the NBC television series of the same name.
At Blackthorne, Laxamana provided the artwork for 'Moonwalker' (1989), a comic book based on the film of the same name starring Michael Jackson (which had production design by Mike Ploog). At the time, Jackson was easily the most popular and lucrative pop star on the planet, so Blackthorne invested a lot of time, energy and money in this project. The comic book was presented in 3-D and had to be read with special 3-D glasses, added with each copy. Unfortunately, 'Moonwalker' was not released in theaters, but went straight-to-video. If that didn't hurt its sales enough, the picture also received bad reviews, since the plot is stringed together with music videos and compilations thereof, leaving an overall chaotic impression. The 'Moonwalker' comic book flopped and drove Blackthorne into bankruptcy. All unsold copies were destroyed, making the 'Moonwalker' comic book a rare collectors' item today. Rick Tulka also made an illustrated book based on 'Moonwalker' around the same time, but this was a coloring book published by Methuen.
Animation
In the 1980s, Filipino artists were also in demand at US animation studios. Laxamana worked as a background painter and color stylist for the studio D.I.C., who specialized in animated shows based on toy franchises, TV shows, video games and other popular child or teen-oriented media. He helped out with 'C.O.P.S. (1988-1989), 'The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!' (1989), 'The Real Ghost Busters' (1988-1990), 'Swamp Thing' (1990), 'New Kids on the Block' (1990), 'G.J. Joe' (1990-1991), 'Captain Planet and the Planeteers' (1991-1992) and 'Sonic the Hedgehog' (1993). For Andrews McMeel Publishing, he also illustrated 'The Pop-Up Book of Captain Planet and the Planeteers' (1992).
As a storyboard artist, Laxamana lent his services to Murakami Wolf Swenson's 'James Bond Jr.' (1991), Universal's 'Exosquad' (1993), Graz Entertainment's 'Skeleton Warriors' (1994-1995), Cartoon Network's 'The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest' (1997) and Marvel's 'X-Men' (1992-1996) and 'The Incredible Hulk' (1997).
Radioactive Man - 'Risky Be the Rumpus Room' (Radioactive Man #7, June 2003).
Bongo Comics
In 1994, Laxamana found work with 'The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening's newly established comic book company, Bongo Comics. He mostly worked on spin-off stories based on 'Simpsons' side characters. In 'Itchy and Scratchy Comics' (March 1994), he provided additional artwork to the story 'The Itchy & Scratchy Movie II', scripted by Deb Lacusta and Dan Castellaneta (best-known as the voice actor of Homer Simpson) and drawn by Steve Vance and Bill Morrison.
Laxamana mostly worked on stories starring Radioactive Man, a parody of superhero comics who debuted in the TV episode 'Three Men And A Comic Book' (1991), in which Bart, Millhouse and Martin Prince buy a rare copy of the first volume of Radioactive Man explaining the character's origin story. Pages from this non-existent volume were only shown briefly in the episode, but in January 1994 Bill Morrison, Steve & Cindy Vance expanded on the idea and turned it an actual comic book story: 'The Origin of Radioactive Man' (January 1994), again with additional artwork by Laxamana. The same issue also contained 'Dr. Crab's Commie Comics', a satire of the 1950s witch hunts against comics by Fredric Wertham, complete with a cameo by Mad Magazine publisher William M. Gaines. In 1995, Laxamana provided the inking for the short time travel story 'The Radioactive Man of 1995!', written by Bill Morrison and penciled by Sharon Bridgeman in Bongo's 80-page 'Radioactive Man' special.
After a considerable hiatus, Laxamana drew another 'Radioactive Man' story, 'No One Gets Over the Underground' (March 2001), written by Batton Lash. A pastiche of 1970s comics and pop culture, it marked the first time Laxamana drew 'Radioactive Man' completely on his own. His final story was 'Risky Be the Rumpus Room' (May 2003), written by Jesse McCann, starring the Superior Squad (a parody of the 'Super Friends').
Apart from comics, Laxamana also contributed illustration work for the 1995 'Simpsons Fun' calendar and the book 'The Simpsons Guide to Springfield' (1998).
Recognition
In 1979, Laxamana received a Warren Award for 'Best All-Around Artist'. In 2002, he won an Eisner Award for 'Best Humor Publication', as part of the creative team of Bongo's 'Radioactive Man'.
'Rex Havoc & The Asskickers of the Future' - Humungus (1984, #9, October 1979).