New graphic novel releases by the award-winning creator showcase the wordless comic format with humorous, surreal, and thought-provoking stories.
Portland, OR – Publisher ABLAZE announces a pair of bold forthcoming new works from creator Manuel Luis “Manix” Abrera, with the release on June 28th of his critically acclaimed work, “12.” The new release pushes the boundaries of wordless comics with a collection of a dozen short stories told in illustration-only panels. It will be followed by the release on September 27 of Abrera’s second wordless comic anthology – the supernaturally inspired, “14,” which earned him a National Book Award.
“12” and “14” are distributed worldwide by Diamond Comic and Diamond Book Distributors and will be available in-print and digitally.
“12,” by Manix Abrera • MSRP: $14.99 • 152 pg full-color TP • Release Date: June 28th
Twelve remarkable stories, weird and surreal, thought-provoking yet funny, sometimes disturbing, others terrifying, but nonetheless always enchanting. Twelve genuinely touching stories, all drawn in Manix’s engaging style, devoid of words but communicating loudly. Each story with its own charm and intriguing twists – a young man spends his entire life searching for answers, but shock awaits when he finally gets that eureka moment; someone finds love that unexpectedly finds somebody else; two men argue over who goes first on an escalator; a mother and daughter fight over a cockroach; a drunk man urinates on a tree and gets a big surprise – making you wonder how these mundane plots can turn out bizarrely, prompting you to reflect and crave for more! What is the meaning of life? Is finding happiness worth it when you lose what really matters the most? Would you even know what matters the most? Embrace pain and sorrow. Hope for love and will for hope.
Manix Abrera’s 12 breaks all language barriers, cutting straight to your soul, touching your heart in ways you cannot imagine.
“14,” by Manix Abrera • MSRP: $16.99 • 200-pg full-color TP • Release Date: September 27th
14 tells the story of a human who mysteriously discovers a 13th floor on his building and finds himself in the middle of a storytelling session among different mythological creatures of Philippine folklore. Together with a partying crowd of supernatural beings, he listens to stories narrated by creatures such as the Manananggal, Diwata, Tikbalang, Kapre, Tiyanak, and even by a White Lady and a Doppelganger. With each creature taking the stage, describing wild stories spurred by their unique, terrifying traits and abilities, 14 is a grand narrative of weird yet wonderful tales, humorous albeit dark and spooky, surreal but unarguably true to the emotions of the heart. Stories like finding love then losing it, searching for happiness, getting lost, staying trapped, wanting to belong, dying to be born again – may all sound too human, but are also being experienced by these mythological creatures.
Creator Manix Abrera says, “Growing up, we were always told of weird and scary tales on manananggals and dwendes. In school there were always lots of ‘true’ stories of encounters with the supernatural. These always stirred, stretched, even twisted our imaginations as young children; and in “12” and “14” I tried to capture that feeling of awe and wonder. I am very happy and excited that ABLAZE will give a chance for these stories to reach a wider audience. Each wordless story in these books will be different for every reader, may yours be filled with wonder and hope.”
“The Philippines has an extremely prolific comics scene with a burgeoning community of extremely talented creators. I am very happy to help shine more of a light on it and bring these unique works by Manix to U.S. readers,” says Rich Young, co-founder of ABLAZE. “Funny. Insightful. Weird. Trippy. Deep. These are all words to describe the thought-provoking stories in these books. They may be wordless, but they will stay with readers long after they have finished the books.”
About Manuel Luis “Manix” Abrera
Manuel Luis “Manix” Abrera (b. 1982) graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is a freelance cartoonist, and is the creator of Kikomachine Komix, his long-running daily strip in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He also contributes a weekly webcomic, News Hardcore!, for GMA News Online. To date, he has produced 16 volumes of Kikomachine Komix, and News Hardcore compilation volume 1. He also released two wordless graphic novels entitled “12” and “14”. He is a three-time National Book Awardee for his works, “14” (2015), “News Hardcore: Hukbong Sandatahan ng Kahaggardan” (2016) and “Kikomachine Komix Volume 14: Alaala ng Kinabukasan” (2019).
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manix_abrera/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manix_abrera
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ABLAZE is a publishing company releasing a variety of titles—in different formats, genres, and age ranges—original material, crowdfunded titles, reprints, art books, including international titles from Europe, Asia (manga, manhwa), and more. The mantra of ABLAZE is quality first, with the goals of giving creators a platform, bringing new voices into the conversation, serving as diverse an audience as possible, and growing the company’s publishing schedule sustainably over time.
