Competing with the Television: The Decline of The Philippine Comics Magazines Industry in the Nineties under the Lenses of Media Displacement Theory through Functional Equivalence

Abstract

Widely regarded as a national pastime of the masses, komiks has been a part of the cultural fabric of the post-war Philippine society due to its appeal, affordability, and accessibility to the public. However, this popularity would eventually fall into a steady decline by the nineties due to the increased competition brought by the television. Based on primary and secondary sources supplemented by oral history interviews of various comics illustrators, writers, and editors, the difficulty to compete against television was further compounded by internal issues such as the downfall of the Roces monopoly, employee compensation, comics quality, management, and distribution. Using the lenses of media displacement theory through functional equivalence, the proponents look to uncover the causalities behind the dwindling comics magazines industry in the Philippines in relation to the television as the rising entertainment medium for the masses in the nineties.While the mainstream comics magazines industry continued to decline, a consequent independent movement supported by young artists continued the legacy of Philippine komiks up to the present day. The study intends to contribute to the enrichment of scholarly works pertaining to the demise of the comics magazines industry