About Diliman

F.A.Q. on DILIMAN
Frequently asked questions on DILIMAN

What is DILIMAN?
DILIMAN is Tobie Abad's dream project .
It is an indie comic book that shall allow him to explore his ability to both sequentially illustrate and tell a story. The project is currently on-going with updates coming in every so often.

Why is it called DILIMAN?
Its the wordplay.
Tobie likes the fact that DILIMAN
...easily signifies the place to be in the Philippines,
...contains the word DILIM or "Dark."
...is short enough to be easy to read,
...sounds cool.

Sadly, Tobie regrets that the book will neither focus on DILIMAN as a place or location in the story, nor on its historical aspect which others would have wanted to read.

Where is DILIMAN?
If by where, you mean where in the Philiippines, is the story based, I generally touch between Quezon City, San Juan and the length of EDSA for my tale.

When did this project start?
This project was first conceptualized way back in the late 1990s. Originally envisioned as a short film, the idea then progressed into a low-budget tele-movie, then a mini-series, until finally, it moved back into a graphic novel.

There were plans to publish this and have it released as my contribution to the local comic scene, but then funding arose as a problem, hence defaulting this now to what you see.

Who knows, maybe, just maybe, we'll have this path of development move back and someday release a film, eh?

What sort of research did you do DILIMAN? Or is this pure fiction?
DILIMAN is a fictional story.

But many elements in DILIMAN are based on real-life experiences, childhood stories, tales as well as from certain books. To follow is a small list of my sources. Thank you very much for serving as both inspiration and resource!

· Yaya Bebie

· Spirit Questors

· History of the Filipino People - 8th editionTeodoro A. Agoncillo

· Realms of Myth and Reality Dr. Maximo D. Ramos

· Folk Architecture Rodrigo Perez III, Rosario Encarnacion, Julian Dacanay, Jr. Joseph Fortin, John Chua

· Friends of mine: Bambi, Rich, Moose, Lou

Is there an English version of DILIMAN? We noticed some parts are in Filipino and we don't know how to read Filipino.
Actually, some parts are in Filipino and some parts are in Alibata. Alibata is a far older version of writing used in the Philippines back during the pre-Spanish colonization. I do plan to someday make an English translation of all the pages for the non-Filipino readers. I used to have a translation key, but it is hopelessly out-of-date.

Quick Lexicon
Here is a basic lexicon for DILIMAN. Know that not all terms given here are accurate and might be disproven in the course of the story. This lexicon is not intended to educate the reader on the definition of terms of Filipino mythology, rather it is a guide to understanding the comic's world and terms.

· Aswang Flesh-eating monsters that have a hidden form and a human form. They stalk the streets, invisible to all save those who are like them, or practice salamangka.

· Manghuhula A commonly used term to refer to a person who practices Panghuhula and no other form of Salamangka.

· Panghuhula The ability to divine the future with the use of various tools. Common tools are tawas (tawas crystals), playing cards (as well as tarot cards), tea leaves and pendulums.

· Salamangka Magic. The Craft. The ability to cause things, events or occurances to happen which are deemed difficult if not impossible in real life. Various crafts exist: Black Magick, Chaos Magick, Kulam, Hilot, Panghuhula and the like. Practicioners of Salamangka can be called many things.

· Salamangkero A commonly used term to refer to a practicioner of Salamangka.

· Tikbalang A half-man, half-horse monstrosity of immense strength and speed. Is said to be able to give people the feeling of sickness and illness, as well as cause people to get lost. Some tales speak of tikbalangs having a golden strand of hair on their back whick, if found, gives the finder a wish the tikbalang must grant.

What’s with the weird writing when they use magic?
That weird writing is called Alibata. It was an old form of writing back in the pre-colonial times of the Philippines. Here's and interesting site with info concerning Alibata.