LIKE gods and goddesses emerging fully formed from the head of Zeus, so did hundreds of amazing characters spring from the mind of artist Larry Alcala. In a career that spanned half a century, Alcala created comics characters that became icons of humor, insight and creativity: Kalabog en Bosyo, Mang Ambo, Siopawman, Asiong Aksaya, Bing Bang Bung and Congressman Kalog, among many others.

Lauro Zarate Alcala, known to many young artists as the avuncular ?Mang Larry,? took up Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines. While in school, the young student began imagining the many funny characters he would become known for, endowing the simple rounded figures with traits easily recognizable as Filipino.

Alcala would become a Sunday staple for Filipino readers with his whole-page ?Slice of Life? cartoons, a riot of figures interpreting an aspect of everyday Filipino life. The cartoons appeared in Weekend and the Sunday Times Magazine. As an added treat, Alcala hid his profile somewhere within the cartoon and eagle-eyed readers took delight in finding the self-portrait.

Lauro Alcala Jr., the eldest of the cartoonist?s three children, recalls his father telling him that he got the idea about the self-portrait from director Alfred Hitchcock, who made a cameo appearance in all his movies.

Alcala first made an appearance in his own work in the comic strip, ?Islaw Palitaw.? When he started doing ?Kalabog en Bosyo? soon after, he began putting himself in the background, says his son Lauro. It was while doing ?Slice of Life,? that the cartoonist decided to add his face among the many characters in the cartoon.

In contrast to his cartoon characters and people?s expectations of him being funny, the real Alcala was ?a quiet person,? according to Lauro. His father always found time to be with his children, his son adds. The cartoonist liked watching movies, in particular musicals, Disney movies and detective flicks. He listened to jazz and Frank Sinatra. He also liked taking day trips. ?We went to nearby provinces, and that?s where he would get his ideas,? Alcala?s eldest reveals.

They never realized how popular their father was until later, recalls Lauro. He was already in high school when he found out. ?Whenever someone heard my name, they?d ask, are you related to Larry Alcala? I was surprised.?

Lauro himself liked reading his father?s comic strips. Alcala would cut out his newest strips and have them bound. ?I would read them over and over again,? says his son.

Though he thoroughly immersed himself in work, Alcala never pressured his children to follow suit; neither did his children find his career attractive enough. ?I got scared at the amount of work that being a cartoonist requires,? Lauro says with a laugh. ?I don?t like it. Too much work.?

Instead, he took up Electrical Engineering at UP. ?I went the opposite route, way opposite,? says Lauro, who is proprietor of the Power PC computer shop in Citimall Plaza along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. None of the Alcala children became artists. It is Lauro?s grand daughter Angela who followed her grandfather?s path, as she is currently studying fine arts at UP.

Despite his frail health (he was a diabetic, says his son), the elder Alcala was very prolific. He would start working as early as 7 a.m. until around 11 or 12 midnight at their UP Village home, says Lauro. ?Other cartoonists told me they were amazed at how he made so many cartoons.? His father could produce several cartoons in a day and could do it on demand, he adds.

It was only when the cartoonist got seriously sick that he stopped working. Lauro himself called up the newspaper to say that his father would be missing his deadline this time. ?It was kinda rare for him to miss his deadline. But I told them he was sick so we had to skip one week.? Alcala was soon discharged from the hospital, but a few hours after reaching home, he had another heart attack and passed away in 2002 at the age of 75.

Most of Alcala?s oil paintings, as well as the originals of his cartoons, are kept in the family?s other house in Bacolod. Now, thanks to an unlikely partnership with fashion label Solo, the cartoonist?s work will again see print ? this time on shirts, bags and other fashion items. Solo?s sister label, Freeway, had earlier featured designs honoring Filipino National Artists.

The idea of celebrating National Artists began last year, explains Sheree Roxas-Chua Gotuaco, Chief Executive Officer of Elite Garments International, Inc., the umbrella company for both the Freeway and Solo labels. Freeway earlier featured local celebrities on its merchandise before introducing the National Artist series.

?Why don?t we try to do something really different,? Gotuaco recalls the company bigwigs asking themselves. ?At the time there was really a lot of uncertainty. We didn?t know how the market and the National Artists themselves would react.?

But the estates of Ang Kiukok, National Artist for Visual Art, and Nick Joaquin, National Artist for Literature, proved very receptive, says Gotuaco. ?So we started out with small collections and were surprised at how positively the market reacted. They were very appreciative.? Freeway would go on to feature National Artist for Literature Jose Garcia Villa.
Gotuaco says they wanted to do something different for their Solo label as well. The younger label is characterized by graphic tees and unisex pieces, in contrast to Freeway that features dressier date wear for women.

?There are lots of Filipino artists who are not National Artists yet,? notes Gotuaco. ?Either they?re young or in a different field, so we thought about having a cartoonist that would really fit Solo?s identity.? Solo had come out earlier with an Old Manila series, using the visage of various national heroes, for its designs. This seemed to be the logical continuation, she adds.

Thus was born Solo?s Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia series, with Alcala being the first artist so honored. ?I think he?s the most familiar to many of us, especially to me,? Gotuaco explains. ?I grew up with him every Sunday. It was an easy decision.?

The inaugural Pinoy Cartoonist Memorabilia series would be a larger collection, boasting over 20 designs, with clothes and accessories for men and women, including unisex items. ?We?re very excited for Solo because it?s the first ever clothing tribute to a Filipino cartoonist,? says Gotuaco. Additionally, Solo is running a unique online model search.

Lauro himself approved of the collaboration. ?I thought it was a very nice idea,? he says. ?My father made a design for a T-shirt some time back, and it looked nice. So I thought yes, these characters would look nice on a shirt.? He is fully confident of Solo?s ability to do his father?s work justice. ?If there?s anybody who can make a good shirt with my father?s characters on it, it would be them,? he says, adding that his father would have liked the merchandise.

Aside from the Solo effort, the Alcalas themselves are gearing to sell reproductions of the artist?s work. There?s a coffee table book in the works, and the possibility of reprinting the cartoons in some publications.

It does seem to be the perfect time to reintroduce Larry Alcala to a new generation of readers. And Lauro Alcala cannot agree enough: ?It?s been eight years since he died so I think it?s the right time to revive his work.? It?s an idea that Mang Larry himself would have loved. ?

For more information, visit www.larryalcala.com and www.solo.com.ph.