Story by: Mervin Ignacio
Illustrated by: Ian Sta. Maria
Edited by: Budjette Tan
Rated: For Mature Readers
Alamat Comics
National Book Store Inc.
(5/5 ★★★★★)
"Every legend hides a lie
The Queen of the Asuang and her legion
have taken over the country
Alexandra Trese leads the resistance
along-side Makabo, a Tikbalang warrior,
and Kaio, a Duwende trickster.
Trapped in their epic battle is Andoy,
a teenage boy tasked with uniting an army
of Tikbalang, Enkanto, Kapre and Duwende
against, the Asuang.
But before he can lead them, he must
first recover a mystical sword
that was once part of
the fabled Yamashita Treasure."
The Good:
No doubt the story and the illustrations remains to be great and even better in this 2nd volume of Skyworld. The creators of Skyworld took us even further as we were reintroduced to familiar stories and characters. Stories re-envisioned through their own retelling, like the 40 days and 40 nights of flood story and the story of Malakas and Maganda were appealing enough to make you forget how they were originally told. We were also given a treat as famous individuals, such as the U.S. President Barrack Obama and General Tomoyuki Yamashita, makes an appearance.
Crossovers of characters from other Alamat comics continue to persist as Kadasig joins the team of Andoy in battling Rianka in Manila.
Every panel was great to read since none of them bear any text that was near to the spine of the book.
The Bad:
I'm not sure if this is a typo or it was written as such but on page 30 it can be seen that it says, "It was Treses's idea to evacuate everyone here when war broke out." It may appear that it does not only refer to Alexandra Trese but it could also allude to her brothers as well. It would have been mind blowing to see the creators of Skyworld do a crossover of all the Trese siblings in this story.
The Verdict:
The third and fourth books, Prodigal and Requiem respectively, in volume 2 of Skyworld brings all their game for the conclusion of the story in Rianka's takeover of the Philippines. An exhausting climax, unforeseeable twists, a last minute suspense and the surprise ending, the creators of Skyworld has indeed created their own Philippine legend with this book.
One of the Philippine's finest graphic novel that tackles very well our culture, from our legends up to our history. Skyworld takes us to a journey wherein stories we had heard and read from our childhood are revisited and re-imagined. Ignacio and Sta. Maria has indeed created a masterpiece that will be among those that will be cited if your looking for a great Philippine comic book.
"Imagine if you can - hordes of asuang, prowling the streets of Tokyo, climbing the Eifel tower, walking up the White House lawn!"
More of Skyworld can be seen at:
The illustrator can be seen on:
