Meet the Filipino Comic Artist Featured in Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Special Credits

For Stephen Jorge Segovia, the opportunity was more than a career milestone; it was a dream come true.

It’s basically all over the internet. For a Marvel franchise, it is not surprising that when the fourth installment of Spider-Man arrived in the country, it became one of the fastest films to breach the one-billion-peso box-office mark in Philippine cinema history, not even a month after its release.

With an achievement this big, there’s an ongoing joke among creatives: Stay through the credits, find out who worked on the film, and figure out who to follow and seek advice from on LinkedIn. And for aspiring Filipino comic artists, there’s a little “gotcha!” moment in the credits: Among the long list of creatives who worked behind the scenes of Spider-Man: Brand New Day is Filipino comic artist Stephen Jorge Segovia, who earned a special credit on the film.

Getting inspiration from the generation before them is not uncommon for comic artists, especially if they grew up consuming this type of media. Such is the case with Segovia, who found inspiration in Japanese mangakas like Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball, Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin, and CLAMP, while Todd McFarlane’s Spawn comics urged him to create. Among these is the local publication Funny Komiks, which shaped his aspirations as an artist.

In his creative journey, he switches up his drawing style based on the different projects he’s working on. Sometimes, he’ll go all in with heavy shadows and high contrast, and other times, he keeps it simple with clean lines to focus on storytelling. This style of his caught the attention of Marvel Comics, the American comic book publisher and home to multiple famous superhero characters in pop culture.

“It felt surreal when they reached out to me to work on their titles. They asked which characters I would love to draw, and as a huge fan of Spider-Man and especially Wolverine from the X-Men, I excitedly mentioned those titles. Fortunately, I landed a Wolverine miniseries. It felt like winning a contest,” he says.

Of course, this achievement doesn’t come without its struggles. Working for one of the biggest comic book publishers in the world also means keeping up with a fast-paced environment and multiple deadlines. One of the toughest parts for Segovia is drawing action scenes against a city skyline while racing against the clock. “Most comic books have just four to five weeks to finish all 20 pages plus the cover. So, we’ve got to crank out at least a page a day, if not more, to hit that deadline.”

Despite his personal experience, Segovia hopes that aspiring Filipino comic artists continue pursuing their dreams, regardless of the challenges they may face during their training, as “it is important to embrace the journey and continue to seek knowledge and improvement.”

And while what he has achieved is a big feat for a creative, he hopes to step up his game and be part of bigger projects, such as writing and illustrating a Spider-Man miniseries. “I would absolutely love to see that come to life! It’s been a goal of mine since I started my career. Fingers crossed that it could happen one day,” he says.