BIC0013
(4/5 ★★★★☆)
Aside from releasing comics which consists of around 10 books more or less per series, Black Ink Comics also came out with Shortcuts. It's a comic book that consists of three short stories that are created by different writers and artists. In this shortcut, it presents Fairy Tails with stories like "Another Beauty and the Beast" as the first story. The other stories included are "For A Pair of Legs" and "Jack and the Giant".
Another Beauty And The Beast
Story by: Ron Mendoza
Illustrated by: Arnel R. Coronel
Black Ink Comics
"Maniwala si Beast na hindi mahalaga ang hitsura pagdating sa pag-ibig. "Bulag ang pag-ibig," sabi niya. Pero nang mawala ang sumpa sa kanya at bumalik ang kaguwapuhan niya, bigla ay nagbago ang pananaw niya sa pag-ibig lalo na nang ma-head over heals in love sa kanya ang isang halimaw."
This short story I may say is the best among the three stories complied in this book. It uses the Filipino language and the modern way of how Filipinos communicate with each other. Words like "Nevah", meaning never, was used in the story as a way to present how our current society talks informally. The story is based from Disney's Beauty and the Beast in which the author placed a twist. It answers the question, "What if the situation was reversed with the Beast turning to be a handsome prince, while the gorgeous Belle transforming into an ugly beast?" As much as the story was written nicely, its just sad to see that some of these lines were placed incorrectly. I find that some of it were positioned at the very side where the pages of the book are bounded to its spine, meaning you need to open and expose the pages of the book wide enough in order to read the texts. Then on page 9, where Belle and the beast are having a conversation, I find the speech bubbles to be a bit confusing as to whose lines are spoken first due to their arrangement. Nonetheless, with this shortcoming I find the story and the art to be good. I'd advice though that this story not be read by children in grade school and below for a bad word that it contains, which may highly be disapproved by most parents.
For A Pair Of Legs
Story by: Nald Tabuzo
Illustrated by: Cliff Renegado
Black Ink Comics
"Love makes the little mermaid foolish. She doesn't mind where her love for the prince will take her. Love is a source of joy. But she seems unaware that it's also a source of misery."
This second story is based on another Disney movie entitled The Little Mermaid. It has a less entertaining twist in my opinion among the three stories compiled in this book. In here, the same concerns with the first story like some texts can't be easily read, since it's placed near the center where the pages of the book are kept in place, are still present. It also contain some words which may be disapproved by some parents to be read by their little kids. I might say that the thing that I liked the most with this story was the part where Belle started doing a headstand and all different sorts of dances for a dance competition.
Jack And The Giant
Story by: Jeffrey Marcelino Ong
Illustrated by: Roy Allan Martinez
Black Ink Comics
"Jack climbs the giant beanstalk in their backyard to search for his missing father and brother. He finds a nasty giant whom he kills jubilantly, unaware that what he did would probably be his life's greatest mistake."
This third story of the compilation is now based from the famous Jack and the Beanstalk. The story starts with the beanstalk already in the backyard of Jack. The plot starts with his brother and father who were never seen again after they had climbed up the giant beanstalk. This story gives a different view about the giant that lives in the castle up on the clouds. Still the same problem with the previous two stories were seen to be present in this compilation such as having some of the texts not being easily readable due to its placement.
Overall, this compilation is worth the buy due to the twist that the writers had made to the fairy tails that most of us knew. The only downside is the placing of the texts. I only hope that this difficulty in reading the text won't appear in the next comics published by Black Ink Comics.
Note: Images were taken from the internet.
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