Creator Spotlight: Carlo Jose San Juan

Today’s Wednesday Spotlight is with  Dr. Carlo Jose San Juan, doctor and cartoonist from the Philippines.  I identify a lot with Carlo, since I’m on the track to becoming a doctor-cartoonist myself 😉  Without further ado, I’ll let Carlo introduce himself.

C: Hi all!  Like Dan said, I’m Dr. Carlo Jose San Juan, a practicing nuclear medicine physician, voice actor, and cartoonist from the Philippines. I do “Callous“, a comic strip about a doctor going through a period of rediscovering herself and the world around her through the guidance of her Guardian Duck. It is currently published as a webcomic and in the Manila Bulletin, one of the top three largest broadsheet newspapers in my country.

I’m also the writer and co-creator of “M.O.U.S.E. – Multiple Ordnance and Utility Synthetic Entity“. A self-published longform comic about a robotics and cybernetics student who had to undergo internship in a mad scientist’s laboratory.

I’m currently a member of Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas (Philippine Cartoonists Association), the equivalent of the National Cartoonist Society in my country.

D: Being a medical student myself, I love that aspect of Callous. What’s your inspiration for that?

C: Callous had always been related to where I was in that moment in time. When the series started in 1996 it was a college life situation comedy strip because, yeah, I was in university at the time. From 1999 to 2003 it was about med school. Then after a hiatus I slowly came back to drawing comic strips in 2008 and made the comic about a doctor starting a career as well as a personal introspection on the medical field and life itself. Mid-life crisis perhaps? Haha!

D: I’m assuming that nuclear medicine is a demanding career on you and your time. How and why do you make webcomics still?

C: To make a long story short, I made the time. I had always wanted to have a career in comics, perhaps as much as I wanted to be a doctor. I feel the two work hand in hand in what I ultimately want to do, which is to make people feel better, albeit via different avenues. My two jobs also have a symbiotic relationship of sorts. My work as a physician helps feed stories and ideas while the comic is a great way to reduce stress. Furthermore, Medicine does go to a dark and depressing place at times and being “forced” to see the lighter side of things for the sake of writing the comic helps a great deal both personally and professionally. It’s true that the time-management aspect is a challenge and quite often, especially in recent times, I’d have to put the comic on hold due to just having no time for it. But I always come back because I love doing it.

D: Do you have a good example of being “forced” to see the lighter side of things via your comic?

C: Hm, I’d rather not give a specific example for privacy reasons. But I will say that the things that I go through that make it to the comic are the ones that stand out and strike me. Even it it were something simple like getting the same food for lunch in the hospital cafeteria every day or switching from a blue to a black ballpen. Whenever something does catch my attention from the everyday rush and routine, I often think, “would this make a good comic strip?”, “would non-medical people relate to it?”, “what could I change to make it more relatable?”, “wouldn’t it be funny if this happened instead?”, and more importantly, “what did I learn from this?” and I’d make a quick note on my smartphone so I could remember it later when I get the chance to draw.

D: Do you do any other fun/creative hobbies?

C: I partake in other people’s creative work for fun. I love watching movies, reading comics, seeing shows in theater, and listening to music. I’ve dabbled in all of those myself in the past. I’m also a huge fan of international football (soccer) and a big supporter of my country’s national teams in the sport. In fact I’m a moderator in a popular online forum on Philippine football. But most of all I love having fun with my wife and kids. 🙂

D: What do your wife and kids think about your webcomics?

C: My wife isn’t really into comics so all this geek stuff was a new thing for her when we first started dating. When she first saw me trying to take my own comic to the next level she was very supportive. To this day I think she’s still not “getting it”, this whole comic world and its mad fandom, but I guess she sees that it’s a part of me and wishes for its success. Our wedding cake toppers were even flanked by their own Guardian Ducks! As for my kids, my son has just started reading my comic (and enjoys it, whew!) while my daughter, who is much younger, just likes the cute duck drawings. Whenever my son is asked about what his dad does he exclaims, “He draws comics!” I follow that up with “I’m a doctor too” but it’s heartwarming to see him beaming with such pride.

D: What is the comic/webcomic scene like in the Phillipines?

C: Comics in the Philippines, perhaps due to the strong American influence during its long occupation in the country, has always been a part of our culture. In fact, many Filipino artists have made their way into American comics. Classic artists like Tony DeZuniga, Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Alex Niño, and Jun Lofamia have made their way into mainstream comics in the USA. Even current artists like Whilce Portacio, Leinil Francis Yu, Stephen Segovia, Harvey Tolibao, Dexter Soy, Carlo Pagulayan, Mico Suayan, and Francis Manapul have Filipino roots.

However, locally produced comics, after a gorgeous Golden Age, slowly declined and pretty much died for quite a long time. But recent times have shown a revival of sorts, with independent titles achieving local mainstream success. This paved the way for countless independent titles suddenly sprouting and finding a viable business model and avenue to readers’ hands through comic conventions and shops. Some have even become films and TV shows!

Webcomics aren’t as big here as they are in the US. Even my own website has a vastly larger percentage of readers from the United States than the Philippines. But I believe it’s steadily growing as an acceptable medium for comic consumers here. There are a handful of locally produced webcomics that I’d say are doing well.

Nevertheless, it’s an exciting time to be in comics in the Philippines, online or print. There’s a new renaissance of sorts going on here and I believe I made my local “debut” at precisely the right time.

D: What role do you think webcomics can play on a global level? IE tell me your thoughts about international relationships and webcomics.

C:  It certainly expands the horizon for any comic writer and/or artist and comic readers as well. The webcomic production community is a wonderful one where we all seem to be helping each other no matter where we are in the world. Some of the comics I consider my absolute favorites, online or not, are webcomics. And it warms my heart whenever a webcomic I follow does achieve mainstream success. It somehow feels like I had a part in bringing it out there through sharing it on social media and whatnot.

D: Any other Filipino webcomics you think are especially good and deserving of more attention?

C: There’s a pretty good list here.

D: How did you get started making webcomics?

C: I first started scanning my college strips and putting them online back in 1997. I think my first site was on Angelfire. I hopped around several free hosting services until I settled on Tripod and stayed there until 2008. But back then I had the “build it and they will come” mentality and did no marketing whatsoever. In 2009, in a fit of nostalgia, I again decided to switch to another hosting service, moving all my old strips there. I dared myself to get back into making comic strips again, this time on a daily basis, just to see how long I could keep it up. I eventually found myself at it for quite a while and wanted to get more readers. I did a simple search on how to do so and encountered the term “webcomic”. I was absolutely floored by how many webcomics there were and followed tutorials on marketing and production. I joined a few forums and started being an active member of the webcomic community. So yes, it was all self-taught, but I benefited from those who blazed the trail before me.

D: So the doctor in Callous has a Guardian Duck.  What’s the story behind that?

C: The main Guardian Duck, Cal Duck, was a cartoon character I came up with for my comic strip in my high school paper. When Callous began he was a typical unlucky cartoon duck and played the part of being the series mascot. When I brought the series over to my med school paper I was given advice by a friend to make him more than what he was. His point was that Cal was pretty much like any other cartoon duck and that I should make him different. Since “Star Wars: Episode I” was just about to come out, he suggested that I make him a Yoda-like character. So I made him a Guardian Duck to my main character, Rianne. It became fitting on a personal level as well, as I underwent a prolonged period of introspection during my time as a med student. And the conversations between Rianne and Cal mirrored my own thoughts on life and medicine. So it was therapeutic in a sense as I grappled with thoughts on why I was putting myself through such hardship.

D: Any cool stories about producing your webcomics or interacting with readers or other creators?

C: I have a couple. One was when I was exhibiting in a comic con and Gerry Alanguilan (“Elmer”) stopped in front of my table and I asked him to sign an anthology that he and I participated in. While he was signing David Lloyd (“V for Vendetta”) stopped at my table to chat with him. So the two of them were standing in front of me having a nice chat and I just couldn’t believe what was happening. I was starstruck! They eventually walked away to do their respective panels so it really wasn’t much of a story, haha!

The second happened before the doors opened in another comic convention I was exhibiting in. My table was set up so I was just chillin until the event opened to the public. Tony DeZuniga (“Jonah Hex”) was roaming around the floor and stopped at my table. He asked about my comic books and asked who my publisher was. I gave him my usual introduction to “Callous” and told him that I published the books myself. “You self-published these?!”, he exclaimed. We then had a nice conversation and he had an air about him that made me feel like I was talking to Stan Lee. He asked what I did for a living apart from comics and I told him I was a doctor.

“You’re a doctor? What the hell are you doing here?”, he asked as he laughed. I laughed back sheepishly and said that I just loved doing the comic too. He smiled and nodded. I had a couple of pictures with him before he went on his way. As he left I knew I would love to see him at another convention and chat with him again. He seemed like a really classy gentleman. I never did get to see him again as he passed away shortly after that comic con but such was the impression he left on me that I can only imagine how much he inspired so many comic artists before.

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Thanks again Carlo for being willing to let me interview you!  Everyone, go check out Callous and M.O.U.S.E., they’re really quite good. 🙂

And while I have your attention, on a completely unrelated note, want to help me win a contest?  Vote for my crappy MS Paint drawing 😀