This can be said about fine arts majors: they end up as agency creatives, or they become rock stars. If lucky, they get to freely practice their craft as perhaps comic-book artists. But Apol Sta. Maria didn't have to choose one.

Once, an art contest brought him to a dinner table with Neil Gaiman. Today, Apol Sta. Maria's talent brings his name to the forefront with the country's most creative. He is a freelance art director in DM9 Jayme-Syfu, the bass player of Halik ni Gringo, and he just published his first comic book Alamat ng Panget and Many Other.
Simple and wild at the same time, Alamat—a deceptively titled comic—isn't a retelling of an old folk legend nor is it a story in the usual sense. The wrong grammar in the title punctuates its offbeat "tales" made when he was art director for TBWA in Ho Chi Minh City. Pencil on paper, paper on scanner—it is a document of randomness and a creative mind wandering aimlessly in a foreign land. We can only be glad he's finally back home.

Tell me more about your childhood experiences.
My dad used to be a comic-book artist; he drew some stuff for the great Mars Ravelo back in the day. He had a collection of horror comics—including Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella—which I read a lot when I was young. That was also the time when my mom insisted I love watching horror movies, so she always brought me to the theaters to watch zombie flicks.

Do you have earlier comics? Even something you didn’t publish. Was there something you made when you were a kid?
None. My closest friends know that it’s my frustration—to make a comic book. Many among us like comics, and a lot of them have already made one. There’s Manix Abrera [Kiko Machine]...And then there’s John Paul Cuison; he made Garapata Blood...And then there’s Dan "Spider-Dan" Geromo and Bheng Densing; they're also in the band The Discoball. They’re all really good comic artists. Except me. I don’t know how to make stories.

But when you put Alamat ng Panget together, did you actually have a story in mind?
I just thought of making [my drawings] into a book when I saw them, and…I had about 100 pages already. I just did some filtering...

Would you mind sharing what you filtered out?
Those that didn’t make sense anymore. And corny jokes. Those that attempted to be jokes. I didn’t want to have them anymore. Panget eh. But those that try to be weird, they make me cringe. They seem trying to be art.

Well, It’s really amusing that Alamat looks like a coloring book.
Everybody says that. Just after we had it printed, and my girlfriend told me that, I thought of including a pack of crayons. I might still do that.

Ramon De Veyra's review says "Underneath it is a sharp social satirist." Are you political?
I became more concerned about the Philippines when I wasn’t here. That’s really typical when you’re outside. You gain a different perspective when you’re not there. Maybe those reflected in my work without me intending it.

I noticed that your generation—they’re all really rising into prominence.
It makes me insecure ‘coz there are really so many good artists. There’s Kristina Collantes. I really love her work. I might have one of her works tattooed on me. Dan Matutina is another. His works are so relevant.

I just saw your RX FM ads about the dreaded LSS. I wanna know what’s been playing in your head.
I’m stuck to the usual stuff I listen to—Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Blur, Eraserheads. And Gorillaz too. ‘90s to Early 2000s. I also listen to new music…but Flaming Lips is currently my favorite band.

If there’s no computer, no pencil, no paper, how do you cope?
Never mind. Or what the cave men did before. And the Egyptians—hieroglyphs.

IMAGINE ME AND YOU
Aside from the brilliant product of boredom in Vietnam that became Alamat ng Panget, Apol and his girlfriend Sam also made up six imaginary cats.

*JR Funny - "An orange tabby cat"
*Leon Powe - "Since he’s a black basketball player, that’s the name we want for our black cat."
*Yoyogi - [A giant park in Tokyo. -Ed]
*Akkilokipok - "It’s an Eskimo name which means 'white as snow'."
*Shimi - "My girlfriend Sam. From the Flaming Lips song 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'."
*Ringo - "It's me, 'apple' in Japanese."