Anthology: Balik Tanaw

Illustration and Story by: Ardie Aquino

Ardie Aquino Comics

(4.167/5 ★★★★☆)

"Ang librong ito ay koleksyon ng mga komiks na nagawa ko noong 2015. Ito ay anim na kwento na tungkol sa paghanap ng kaligayahan, pagluto ng sinigang, pag-hingi ng extra rice, lihim ng kasama mo sa bahay, pagkain ng bawal at pagbalik tanaw sa buhay. Sana sa bawat paglipat mo ng pahina ay madama mo din ang mga emosyon na nadama ko noon."

The Good:

Ardie's craft really has improved. This could be seen from the changes that he made with the Extra Rice with Extra Tries story as an example. His illustrations also improved, if one would compare this 2020 version to the 2015 original.

Balik Tanaw is a new story included in this 2020 remastered edition of Ardie's 2015 comics.

The best story in this compilation is Ang Roomate Kong Aswang. It tells about the battle between a human and an aswang, which mostly centers on the aswang pictured as a bad roomie rather than his identity.

Reading beyond the surface of this story would give the picture that every person is different and unique. It could be due to gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality and even species. Despite these differences, what really matters is how a person interacts with others. Being angry to an individual does not need to be discriminatory but rather it could be plainly due to his or her awful demeanor towards others.

The Bad:

This anthology would have been better if the layout was improved. Some pages are hard to read due to the parts that are near to the spine of the book. This problem is already evident on the foreword page.

All stories exists in the same world except for Balik Tanaw and Hipon sa Hapon. It would have been interesting if they were connected in some way.

The story that didn't do well was the bonus story, Balik Tanaw. Its never ending story didn't work with me. If your future self went into your past to try to save your past self from doing the same steps, why on earth would you repeat the same things. It could have easily worked out by not helping the character find the crystal in order to prevent the same things from happening once again.

The Verdict:

Ardie's throwback to his previous works by creating an updated and better version of them is a good concept. It measures the growth you have achieved with your craft in doing so.

This anthology is a gateway to Ardie Aquino's weird and absurd ideas. Be sure not to miss it.

He can be seen at:

Facebook Page: Ardie Aquino

* Breakdown of Rating:

★☆☆☆☆ -

★★☆☆☆ - 

★★★☆☆ - Balik Tanaw

★★★★☆ - Burn Baby Burn, Sinigang: Kwento ng Lumbay, Extra Rice with Extra Tries

★★★★★ - Ang Roomate Kong Aswang, Hipon Sa Hapon