Comics: Bravos ~ Cebu: Recruitment

Story by: Elbert Or

Illustrated by: Cy Vendivil and Jem Bernaldez

Studio Salimbal

(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

"Everyone wants to be a Bravo... except for Lea. She just wants to live a normal life, or rather, help her family get back to living a normal life after a devastating typhoon. But is refusing really an option, especially when the famous hero Pedro Pilandok comes to recruit her personally?"

The Good:

The story focuses on how the Bravos are helpful in our society whenever a natural calamity arises.

In Cebu, we were introduced to Pedro Pilandok and Lea Perrin, whose powers were super speed and the power to project oneself into animals respectively. Lea's power can be compared to Marvel's Professor X due to his ability to control people by entering the mind except that its the birds' mind whom she enters.

The villain, Bigatin, was a bit interesting but seems to have a lower power ranking in comparison to the villain in the Bravos ~ Manila story.

One remarkable idea that was made in this issue was regarding Maharlika High. It's being molded to be like the Philippine Military Academy version for training superheroes. The story ends with the mention of the continuation of the story in a Maharlika High comic.

The Bad:

The most troubling thing with the things introduced to us is mostly Maharlika High. It appears to be another school that aims to train gifted super powered individuals. The same plot of training them in order to fully develop their capabilities and be of use to the society in the future is hinted. The challenge will be on how to make Maharlika High's story be unique to schools such as Hogwarts and Xavier's School to name a few.

The Verdict:

As the Bravos universe expand, this one-shot story which presents how each bravos came to be picked was great. The cliff hanger of having a Maharlika High story looks a bit of a gamble. Depending on how that story would be told could determine the future interest of readers to that story arc.

Overall, the Bravos is still an interesting world created by Studio Salimbal. Elevating the police force of the country to be in the hands of the supers sure does change the landscape for different possibilities with regards to the security and safety in our country.

The preview could be seen at:

Studio Salimbal Comics: Bravos: Cebu

More of Studio Salimbal can be seen at:

http://www.salimbalcomics.com

Comics: Bravos ~ Manila

Story by: Paolo Chikiamco

Illustrated by: Butch Mapa

Letterer: Wilson Dela Fuente

Studio Salimbal

(4/5 ★★★★☆)

"In a word where only the Philippines has superheroes, a young Bravo is thrust into the spotlight when Mega Manila is attacked while the Datus -- the world's most powerful super team -- is away."

The Good:

The cover alone will get one's attention, especially to those who love stories of humans with superpowers. Aside from the great illustration, it's the concept of having dozens of superheroes in this story.

The organization of how superheroes work and the different rankings within that organization was an interesting idea. It also appears that each superhero has a classification which is based on their power.

The initial villain, Bertong Bangungot, that was introduced has a unique power. Hopefully, in the future, we will be introduced to more great villains that the good guys would have to beat up.

The Bad:

The initial fight scene was confusing to follow. It was a bit hard differentiating the two super powered girls in some panels.

The story needs more issues to follow up the last few panels involving the Consejo Supremo and Bertong Bangungot. However, this is a one-shot comic so the continuation of Kit Kamao's character might not be dwelled upon on the future Bravos stories.

The Verdict:

The Bravos story is another interesting world presented to us by Chikiamco. After throwing our local mythological creatures up in space, he repaints our country as the sole country that is able to produce supers.

This one-shot story gives us a possible scenario of what-if our population were mixed with individuals with amazing powers.

But despite a country full of superheroes, we still get to see the same old country that we know. We have the bad guys underneath the good guy image. Experimentation. Secret Plans. And basically the control for power.

The Bravos universe is the next thing to be look out for in komikons.

The preview could be seen at:
Studio Salimbal Comics: Bravos: Manila