The supernova that was
Nick Manabat
by rick olivares
Imagine meeting comic book superstar artist Jim Lee
for the first time ever in your life. Either you stammer and finally manage a
weak, “Hi,” ask him to sign your X-Men and Batman comics, or even have a
picture taken with him. It could even be all three.
However, for Nick Manabat who was at that time
staying at the San Diego home of Whilce Portacio, Lee’s co-superstar artist, his
icebreaker was, “Can you help figure out how to work the microwave oven?”
It is hilarious. An unknown anecdote in the short
life of Nicolas Manabat who led the second Filipino invasion of the American
comic book scene in the early 1990s. However, that is pretty much up to par
with Nick who his father, Alex, describes as “unconventional and extremely
low-key.”
“From the time that he inherited his older brother
Robert’s comic book collection, Nicky fell in love with the medium,” recalled
the father during a conversation at their home after this past Christmas. “He
was already into art and while in school in Australia where he grew up, he was
oft asked to draw things or prepare the props for plays. Anything that involved
art and creating something, Nicky was involved.”
After Manabat won first prize in an art competition
sponsored by Filbar’s comic book store to coincide with Portacio’s triumphant Philippine
homecoming following stellar runs on The Punisher, X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men,
he received an offer from Homage Studios to work as an apprentice in what was
then the hottest den of artists in all comicdom.
“This guy could be the next comic book superstar,” recounted
Alex of Lee’s comments after he went over his son’s portfolio with Portacio.
At that time, Homage Studios had just left Marvel
Comics to co-found Image Comics. From a small studio that initially included
Lee, Portacio, inker Scott Williams and painter Joe Chiodo, it had grown by
leaps and bounds to include Marc Silvestri, J. Scott Campbell, Scott Clark,
Aron Wiesenfeld, Trevor Scott, Ryan Benjamin, David Wohl, and Michael Heisler
to name a few of the hot artists of that time. “And my Nicky was a part of
that,” beamed Alex.
“My family couldn’t believe it,” expounded Mr.
Manabat of the golden ticket handed to his son. “He was going to do comic books
in America and was going to be paid at least $36,000 a year (at that time the
exchange rate would peg his basic income at a gross of PhP 972,000)! It was
like a storybook dream come true for Nicky, and of course, our family.”
Nick initially worked on designs for Portacio’s first
creator-owned book, “Wetworks” that featured a military special operations team
that was bonded with symbiotes that enabled them to battle supernatural foes.
As the launch of the book was postponed to various non-publication issues, Lee
pulled out the then 22-year old artist for another project that turned out to
be “The Cybernary;” hence, that initial awkward meeting at Portacio’s home where
the young Fil-Australian asked the man who drew the biggest selling comic book
of all time (X-Men #1) how to operate a microwave oven.
“Both Jim and Whilce saw Nick’s potential,” narrated
Alex. “Whilce even told me that they all expected the comics that Nick would
work on to be best sellers.”
Nick’s American comics debut was in the pages of
Deathblow (Jim Lee’s comic about a black ops soldier) in February 1993 where he
drew the back-up story, “The Cybernary,” that was about a criminal who
exchanged her life for a colleagues and was turned into a cybernetic warrior.
That initial nine-page Cybernary story (written by
co-creator Steven Gerber whose claim to comic book fame was that he created
Howard the Duck for Marvel) immediately drew raves as fans compared his dark
and moody art to Phillipe Driullet, Simon Bisley, and H.R. Giger. And in the
letter columns, fans seemed to take more to The Cybernary than the book’s main
feature, Deathblow.
Nick followed that up by turning in some fantastic
pages for the “Wetworks Sourcebook” and a Cybernary chromium trading card for
Wizard magazine. “He was also given a script of ‘Stormwatch” to work on,” added
the father.
“Incredibly, Nicky never had any formal art
training,” revealed his father. “He just drew a lot. And he consumed a lot of
sketchbooks not to mention pens. One time he would lay down on the ground and
held his hand up like he was blocking out the sun and I asked him what he was
doing. He answered, ‘I’m trying to look at what it would look like from this
angle so I can draw it properly.’”
“He made use of heavy inks,” added Mr. Manabat who
had previously lived in Hong Kong where he manufactured children’s toys. “But
he had to unlearn that later on so if you noticed his work on the ‘Wetworks
Sourcebook’ and ‘The Cybernary #4,’ it was lighter and made for better
coloring.”
A perfectionist, Nick spent long hours at his work
station. “He was such a perfectionist that if he didn’t like something in his
sketchbook, he’d tear it out and throw it away,” recalled his father. “I heard
from the Homage guys (that later became Wildstorm Studios) that the other
artists would race to the garbage bins to recover Nicky’s discards and take
them home as mementoes.”
Being a newbie with not much of a portfolio in
comics, the young Manabat did not have a table in the artists’ alley in the San
Diego Comic Convention of 1994. But he did join his Wildstorm mates behind the
table. When he spotted British painter Simon Bisley who had such a massive
influence on his style, Nick said, “I need to get his autograph.” And he did.
“He was extremely happy to be where he was,” noted
Nick’s father. “We had to reassure him that he belonged because didn’t think he
was good enough. Here is a guy who was so used to living in Australia (for 17
years of his life) that during a trip to SM North EDSA, he went there barefoot.
I told him this isn’t Australia, son. But Nicky was like that – very
unconventional.”
Not soon after, Nick fell ill and when brought to
UCLA’s Medical Center, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer of the
lymph tissue. “Nicky had not been feeling well for sometime but he never
complained,” said Alex Manabat. “By the time we brought him to the hospital, the
doctors informed us that the cancer metastasized. There was nothing we could
do.”
While Nick was at the hospital, the first solo
limited series for “The Cybernary” was released with artist Jeff Rebner taking
on the artist’s chores. In the cover for that first issue, cover dated November
1995 but released two months earlier, Rebner paid tribute to Manabat by
scribbling: “For Nick.”
And ironically, Nick Manabat passed away on the 5th
of November 1995 barely two months after his 25th birthday. He was
cremated and his remains brought back to Australia.
Today, 22 years after Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio
offered Nick Manabat a contract, Filipino creators are continuously making
waves in the American comic book scene. Some like Leinil Yu, Gerry Alanguilan,
and Jay Anacleto to name a few who came up the ranks along with Nick, have
become stars in their own right. A new host of talented creators are also
drawing raves for their work as well while the local independent scene is alive
and teeming with talent.
Once in a while, Alex Manabat, who to this day is still
in the toy business, drops by the comic book stores to have a look around. He
doesn’t buy comics anymore but looks around and periodically checks out the
kiddie shows on television to see what is popular and in vogue. “If Nicky were
alive today, I know he’d be in the thick of things. And he will be loving every
minute of it because he would be living every kid’s dream. This time with a lot
of other people.”
Author’s
Note: In the third paragraph, I
mentioned Nick at the helm of the second Filipino invasion of American comics. The
first was in the 1960s when DC Comics editors Carmine Infantino and Joe Orlando
went to the Philippines and signed up artists such as Tony DeZuniga, Nestor
Redondo, Alfredo Alcala, Alex Niño, Rudy Nebres, and Steve Gan to name a few to
work on American comics. Whilce Portacio came up almost by himself in the late
1980s where he drew raves and attention for his Japanese-style art.
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| A Stormwatch story Nick was supposed to work on. |
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| Sketch for a Cybernary cover. |
That's a necroresponse, but I was heart broken when I found out that he was dead, I was mind blown by his art, that's from a Polish kid back then.
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