MICHELLE AND HER BABY Most of you probably haven't heard of MICHELLE CALANOG PRINCIPE`, but she works in the comics industry abroad and is quite involved in many of the comics being published.  She manages Glass House Graphics Asia and Studio Sakka, a creative agency and manga studio, respectively, coaching and guiding dozens of artists and colorists across the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, and even India.  What's more, she oversees bunches of free seminars each year, bringing in experienced talent to teach hopeful young artsts about the comics biz.  Among her talent roster:  Bong (Star Wars) Dazo; Carlo (Hulk) Pagulayan; Stephen (Wolverine: Manifest Destiny) Segovia;  Lui (New Terminator) Antonio; Noah (Red Sonja) Salonga; Patrick (Avengers/Invaders) Berkenkotter; Harvey (Avengers: The Initiative) Tolibao; Jonathan (Battlestar Galactica) Lau; Anthony (Bratz) Tan; Wilson (Wolverine Manga) Tortosa, Tina (Space Ace) Francisco, and plenty of colorists for Marvel, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Dabel Bros., and so on. She's also been a comic book character.  Michelle is the sister of Jinky Coronado (artist of TokyoPop's Avalon High series and writer/artist of her own series Banzai Girls).  Michelle has been a character in every issue of Jinky's comic book. And the two of them even appeared together in FHM Philippines.  So Michelle's overall ties to the comics industry go pretty deep. Married at the beginning of the year to her college sweetheart Rhene Principe`, Michelle had a baby exactly one month ago.   That should be cause for celebration, and it was.  But within 12 hours of taking home newborn Reinee, Michelle found him not feeding and unresponsive.  Back at the hospital, doctors discovered what they thought were blood clots in his brain.  A catscan and surgery further revealed them to be inoperable deposits of calcification in his brain.  Soon they also learned the baby had multiple hernias -- intestines pushing through muscle walls -- and areas of bowel that were not processing food.  Young Reinee went through four weeks of painful surgeries, spending nearly every day in ICU. Born September 26, 2008, Reinee Jaden Principe` died today, October 26, 2008.  But every mother's worst nightmare HASN'T ENDED. Although Michelle and her husband emptied their savings account on hospital expenses, and Glass House's head honcho David Campiti and Jinky Coronado have each donated thousands of dollars toward Reinee's medical expenses, the hospital wlll not release Reinee's body to Michelle for burial until she pays the remaining $9,000.00+ in medical costs.  What's more, they now have funeral expenses to worry about. Jinky is trying to help her sister to raise the remaining money.   Help from anyone -- a dime, a dollar, $10, whatever -- is greatly needed in a hurry, and appreciated.  Michelle and Rhene need to bring some closure to their heartbreaking situation and, literally, put him to rest. She has set up a PayPal donation Email specifically for this -- For any generous individuals donating $1,000.00 or more, Jinky will illustrate and personalize a custom cover-quality illustration of whatever characters they want. Your help for Michelle and her family is appreciated. - Mason Johnson, Webmaster

A FABULOUS FALL FOR JINKY!

Autumn's pretty much upon us, but before I'm buried in Upper Ohio Valley leaves changing their colors, I'll be buried in drawing assignments for the comicbook publishers...but I'm loving it.

In case you haven't seen it, my AVALON HIGH: Volume 2 "Homecoming" manga trade paperback from TokyoPop is now on sale in better bookstores everywhere and on Amazon.com.  At 160 pages, this second volume in best-selling author Meg Cabot's teen series is nearly TWICE the page count of Volume 1, so I spent many many months drawing it.  The book is also available directly from me, autographed and personalized, for the cover price of $9.99 plus $4 shipping.  The online store is still glitchy, so the easiest way is for you  to send your order for AVALON HIGH: Volume 2 to me using PayPal, to my BanzaiGirlMC@aol.com account, and I'll send it out to you.

Right now, I'm up to my navel in work drawing AVALON HIGH: Volume 3, which is another 160-page monster that I have to complete before Thanksgiving.  It seems to be taking up every waking moment not spent on BANZAI GIRLS-related things. 

And speaking of which...

TAKEDOWN:  THE DEFUSER!

One of the many wonderful things about attending Conventions is the opportunity to meet some terrific people -- and none have been more sparkling, energetic personalities than JARRETT CRIPPEN and his wife NORMA. 

Jarrett, of course, is the recent the second-season winner of Stan Lee's TV series WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?  Jarrett and his wonderful wife not only do the Convention circuit to promote his character, Jarrett is a superhero out of costume, fighting crime as a Texas-based real-life police officer.  He also uses his new-found celebrity to promote safety awareness for kids and to raise money for such children's charities as Scare For a Cure.  (To find out more and to donate, please go to www.scareforacure.org)

So it's with pardonable pride that I get to hang out at Cons with Jarrett.  Here are a few photos of Jarrett and his wife and me, from our most recent Convention together.  At 6'4", with those muscles and handsome face, he really is the embodiment of a superhero.  :)

And for those of you wondering if I'm still doing any Conventions in costume, this should be the proof that I do!

What's more, I also got to hang out with novelist MORT CASTLE, who literally wrote the book on writing horror fiction!  If you don't know who he is, shame on you!  Look up Mort Castle on Amazon.com, buy a couple of his books, and prepare to be impressed -- and scared!

Check out all of my con appearance photos in the convetions photo gallery!

BANZAI GIRL'S SENIOR YEAR!

My namesake character Jinky Coronado passes into her senior year in early 2009 with the upcoming full-color BANZAI GIRLS ANNUAL, due from Arcana Studio as soon as they can squeeze it onto their schedule, written and drawn by yours truly.  This extra-sized 40-pager features a brand-new adventure, "The Terror of...Tikbalang," in which Michelle is nearly forced into marriage to a Pinoy mythological creature, and it also features our biggest photo album EVER!  That's right, Michelle and I finally turn out for dozens of photo pages of sexy fun in a variety of countries and locations, in all sorts of costumes, bikinis, lingerie, and so on.  Fans have been asking us to do a project like this for a long time, and it's finally coming.

But this BANZAI GIRLS ANNUAL doesn't stop there.  I even create a brand-new art pin-up gallery -- plus the amazing Tina Francisco also weighs in with a couple of sexy, funny Banzai Girl cartoons.   Best of all, it'll only be $4.95 for the album and the pin-up art and the new storyline! 

Yup, you can pre-order an autographed copy directly from me at the BanzaiGirlMC@aol.com PayPal address mentioned above.

HEY, BABY!

You may recall, early this year my real-life sister Michelle married Rhene Principe`, and now the good news is upon us that she's due to have a baby boy this Fall.  We are majorly excited!  I wish I could fly back home to the Philippines for a second time this year to be there for the birth, but that's unlikely with my schedule.  So I'll get to see her bouncing baby boy sometime next year.

For those of you who've been wanting to see a photo gallery of my sexy sister's gala wedding, it's on my Message Board right now!  What?  You haven't signed up yet for the most rockin' Message Board that covers everything from politics and film to comics and schoolgirl skirts, sign up and be part of the conversation.  I'm on there nearly every day.

The Message Board link to my sister Michelle's wedding photos is right HERE!

Banzai Girls : As seen in "SUPERHERO MOVIE"    

Check out the latest Issue of ImagineFX Magazine, Jinky Coronado has a feature interview on Issue 28 of ImagineFX Magazine, click the scan portion of the magazine for a short teaser. Grab the copy to know more about the interview feature.

JINKY & MICHELLE 2008

   My sister visited me from the Philippines and wow, did she get a few big blasts of cold!  Very used to the tropical weather of our native country, Michelle went from the usual-90 degrees-or-so temperatures to the 30 degrees-and-below temps we had in the Ohio Valley.

     Our hopes and palns are for Michelle to return to the USA for summertime convention season -- but, in the meantime, here's a look at us braving the cold!

CLICK HERE! to our Banzai Message Board.

BANZAI GIRLS #4

     BANZAI GIRLS #4, in full color from Arcana Studio and by yours truly, is now on sale, at better comics shops everywhere.

.  The story is entitled, "Banzai Girl 2.0!" -- and it's loaded with surprises, rampaging robot stuff, and plenty of action, action, action.  Kat, Michelle, and I take on the deadly Robot from my nightmares, and you won't believe the result.  And wait'll you get to the last page!

     As usual, I'm writing and drawing, with some finishes by Larry Tuazon, colors by Michael Kelleher and his band of merry men, and lettering by Matt Thompson.  It also has a two-page lettercol, a great new photo gallery of Michelle and me, and even a back cover pin-up.

     Here's a preview of the cover and a couple of full-color pages!

Online Store Woes

     I apologize for this:  My Jinky Coronado's MegaMall online store has been experiencing problems.  Half the time I'm not receiving the orders, so I need to alert buyers here.

     My solution:  Until this gets fixed, I ask that you PayPal your orders to me.  You can Email me directly at BanzaiGirlsMC@aol.com and we can arrange for check or PayPal, or simply include all the info in the body of a PayPal order sent directly to my agent's account at David@glasshousegraphics.com.

     Some of the latest store items seem inaccessible on the site, so I will list them here:
          *  BANZAI GIRLS #1 (Arcana) -- $5.00
          *  BANZAI GIRLS #2 (Arcana) -- $4.00
          *  BANZAI GIRLS #3 (Arcana) -- $4.00
          *  BANZAI GIRLS #4 (Arcana) -- $4.00
          *  BANZAI GIRL Manga Trade (Arcana) -- $10.00
          *  BANZAI GIRL Full-Color Trade (Sirius) -- $15.00
          *  BANZAI GIRL Full-Color Poster (Sirius) -- $15.00
          *  BANZAI GIRLS Music CD (Galaxy Music) -- $10.00
          *  BANZAI GIRL STATUE (painted) -- $169.95 (plus $5 special packing)
          *  BANZAI GIRL STATUE (unpainted) -- $129.95 (plus $5 special packing)
Remember, postage is only $4.00 per order, whether you order 1 book or 100!

Its Totally Banzai In The Philippines!

Hi, everybody! -
     A few weeks ago as I type this.  I appreciate all of you who are posting on my Message Board, and I hope to see the rest of you joining in, now that my series is back in full swing.

     I'm typing on a Mac Mini, visiting my famliy in Iloilo, Philippines; it's my annual trip back to see my mother Judith, my father Pepito, my sister Michelle, my brothers Pejee and Jhopet, and so many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.  

     (A musical thought:  Yes, the publisher of our CD is talking about getting us back into the recording studio while I'm here, and I'll know as the month progresses whether it will happen.  Here's a link to a song we've been working on:  SWAY)

Download the Mp3 of SWAY here

     Yeah, it felt great to be back in the Philippines where I grew up.  You see, after much scrimping and saving, Michelle and I -- with many many thanks to our agent, David Campiti of Glass House Graphics   -- have bought and and built a brand-new California-style home for my family. 

     With tile floors, high ceilings, a 42" lcd TV, and a gorgeous, intricately-cut front door, it's three bedrooms, three baths, a huge living room/dining/room/kitchen area, a carport/porch area, even a dirty kitchen (Filipinos will know what I mean), storage shed, and even a room for my father's electronics business. 

They are comfortable for the first time in our lives, and I couldn't be happier.  I could be a little less exhausted, though.

My Year in Pictures

     Wow, what a year it's been.  After I focussed many months of attention on my AVALON HIGH artwork collaboration with writer Meg Cabot at TokyoPop, the editors there immediately rolled me into a second AVALON HIGH book, with one nearly twice the number of pages!  It's an relentless schedule, but I'm glad that people are finally seeing that I'm not just a "one-trick pony" with BANZAI GIRL.  (Someone the other day referred to me as just a "booth babe." As if!)

MEG CABOT'S AVALON HIGH

BANZAI GIRLS: The New Series

Of course, the same year I'm doing AVALON HIGH is when I decided to bring back BANZAI GIRL in a new series, this time from Arcana Studio, and we decided the sequel would add an S -- making it BANZAI GIRLS.

     The story picks up about eight months after the end of the BANZAI GIRL ANNUAL that I did for Sirius awhile back, and it chronicles "my" life since then as a pop singer/celebrity returning home.  (Hmm, sounds a bit familiar.)  It also puts me into the fray of more Pinoy legends -- the Duwende, the Kapre`, and more.  I ran out of space to include the Tikbalang, though. 
    
So I'm doing more work than I ever have in my life, but the readers seem to be happy, judging by all the letters and Emails that I've been receiving.

     If you're keeping track of such things, Arcana Studio has released BANZAI GIRLS #1 (with an art cover, a photo cover, and a Retailer variant so rare I haven't even seen it), as well as BANZAI GIRLS #2 (with just and art cover.) They've scheduled BANZAI GIRLS #3 to come out right before Christmas, with #4 due in February -- possibly sooner.

     And we're discussing a BANZAI GIRLS ANNUAL for the next year, as well.  I'll let you know more on that soon.

     Arcana has also released, in a strategy I thought was brilliant, a brand-new BANZAI GIRL trade, digest-sized, collecting the original five issues PLUS a ton of never-before-collected material, in graytones and in manga format.  Look for it in bookstores and on comics shops shelves in the manga section.

     If for some reason you can't find it on the shelves and the store owner won't order it for you, you can order it from my JINKY CORONADO'S MEGAMALL online store, the same place you can order all other things BANZAI, including the new comic book series. CLICK HERE to check 'em out.

BANZAI GIRLS Official Statue Now Available

     It seems like years since I first designed a couple of Banzai Girl statues that I hoped to make available to my fans.  One person designed a statue that is proudly displayed in my office; the original was the only one made.  Later on, two other people promised to make and manufacture statues for me, but they never delivered.

     Enter:  Pinoy artist Norman Jim Faustino, who was true to his word.  Working from my designs, he created a genuine Banzai Girl statue that he's personally overseen created into a resin collectible statue, available in both painted and unpainted versions.  Check out the pics:

          This statue is ONLY available at Conventoins where I'm signing or through my online store.