Rear View & Windshield

Flashback to our Vol. 2 launch + what to expect next!

Dear readers,

I don’t update on Substack as often as I should. That’s one among the list of things I hope to change as we go into the second half of 2025: part of a bigger commitment called let’s really start to take this thing seriously.

I made a similar declaration as part of my birthday journal 32 Years / Reincarnated last year. And then life got in the way, again. I ended up spending the second half of 2024 in perhaps the darkest rut I’ve found myself in so far. And like every dark episode before, it passed—and one day my old friend darkness will pay another visit, I’m sure. Stories for another time.

The point I’m trying to get to is: for life reasons, I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I wanted to on Maharlika last year. And when we announced the launch event for Vol. 2 last month, I was scared no one would even show up. After all, the extent of the work I did to promote this story was a few posts on Substack and IG + mailing out ~20 or so free copies to reviewers on Instagram. I would have no one but myself to blame if it turned out we didn’t do enough to earn a real audience or following.

And then you came through, and it was a packed house… and I couldn’t be more grateful. John and I felt so lucky and honored to meet so many of you who discovered this story and came to love it. So many who were hungry to see the next entry. We even ticked off items from my author bucket list earlier than I expected (and if you ask me, earlier than we earned it): Maharlika was someone’s favorite graphic novel, someone’s favorite book. We even have cosplayers now!

All of it means more than I can possibly put to words. And it was an important wake-up call: if this was the result of a period where I feel I honestly fell short on what I wanted to do, if the little time I was able to protect for Maharlika last year got us this far, earned us this amazing community of readers… imagine where we would be if I’d been at 100%?

So here I am again, with the same promise as last time but one less year left in my mortal tank and filled with gratitude-turned-greater-resolve to see this through. This is the year we’re doubling down on Maharlika, and beyond Maharlika the dream of building our own little home for Filipino stories that maybe, just maybe will be remembered in 100 years.

I’ll share more details in future posts, but in the meantime look forward to:

• Volume 2 if you haven’t read it yet! We sold out of our first print run quickly, but we’re freshly restocked now and you can grab a copy at Manila Middle Ground, John Ray’s creative consignment store in Comuna Makati if you’re in Manila. Hot Tropiks if you’re outside the Philippines. And more places soon—you can follow our IG page @maharlika.komiks for updates!

• Volume 3 is in development, and we’re aiming to launch it by the end of the year. I’ve said this repeatedly, but Vols. 3 and 4 are my favorite parts of the story and the main turning point around which the rest of the story was formed. I can’t wait for everyone else to get there.

• We’ll be announcing our new online release schedule, so stay tuned for answers to questions such as:

  • Which parts of the story will be available for free vs. locked?

  • Can I buy digital copies of the full volumes (including new bonus content beyond the core chapters/tracks?)

• Maharlika Vol. 1 will be available in Italian and Danish! Thank you to our friends at Komiket and our international publishers for seeing the potential in our story for non-Filipino audiences.

• We’re also making headway on our Maharlika animated film project and will be sharing details here soon enough. :)

Last thing—we loved seeing you all in person so much that we’re planning our next event! This one will be a launch party for our manga imprint RAYGUN: featuring releases of new titles Thank You and More Power by me and Sampay, and Night Gate by Lucia Asul. With some new things for Maharlika fans as well! Date still to be finalized by expect around end of June.

Thank you thank you and talk to you soon <3

Rexy

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