Nonoy Marcelo

Who was Nonoy Marcelo?

Severino "Nonoy" Marcelo was a Filipino cartoonist born in Malabon, Metro Manila, Philippines, an alumnus of the Institute of Arts and Sciences from Far Eastern University, and a former cartoonist in the The Advocate, best known for creating the character Ikabod Bubwit in the comic strip Ikabod. He also created the comic strips Plain Folks, which appeared in the Daily Mirror during the early 1960s, and Tisoy in 1963 for the Manila Times, which tells about the lifestyle of young Filipinos. His main character, Tisoy, and cast members such as Aling Otik, Maribubut, Caligula, Tatang, Tikyo and Kinse, soon became established in Philippine pop culture.

Tisoy became a 1977 film directed by Ishmael Bernal, starring Christopher de Leon and Charo Santos.

Ikabod ran from the late 1970s to 2002. It was a satirical strip that re-cast the Philippines as a nation called Dagalandia. The strip humorously depicted the socio-political woes of ordinary Filipinos, as represented by the tailless Everymouse hero, Ikabod - who became as iconic in his own way as that other popular cartoon rodent, Mickey Mouse. Marcelo often used the strip to caricature political figures from Ferdinand Marcos and Cory Aquino to Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, re-imagining them as mice.