Comics: Si Janus Silang at Ang Tiyanak ng Tabon

Adapted by: Carljoe Javier

Illustration by: Natasha Ringor

Anino Comics

(2/5 ★★☆☆☆)

"Ang akala ni Janus,

pangkaraniwang laro lang

ang TALA Online.

Sunod-sunod ang pagbabago sa buhay niya

matapos ang kahindik-hindik na pangyayari

sa RPG tournament na sinalihan niya.

Pero nang matuklasan niya

ang tunay na kaugnayan ng larong ito

sa alamat ng Tiyanak ng Tabon,

wala na siyang magawa

kundi ipagpatuloy ang paglalaro!"

The Good:

The cover of the book was wonderful. The layout was also neat. The smooth illustrations of the main story in contrast from the TALA online game was nice to be seen visualized in this book.

The Bad:

The story was poorly adapted from the source material. Several details have been omitted to give space due to the illustrations and restriction of the number of pages. An example was the huge trust that Janus immediately gives to a stranger he has just met online. It was also strange for Renzo to speak about the same experience of almost being taken away by a Tiyanak like creature just like what happened to Janus' father. It was peculiar since Janus never disclosed that information prior to Renzo's recounting of his experience.

The news report was also inconsistent. Initially it was reported that the deaths at the Malakas internet cafe shop was an addition to the total number of deaths of children who died after playing an online game. This is in contrast to Mang Joey's narrative to Janus as he tells him that the deaths that occurred at the Malakas internet cafe shop was not the first case since earlier cases were overshadowed by bigger news reports.

Further improvements to the illustrations are suggested. It would have been better to have 2 different art styles whenever the story focuses on the present and whenever it shifts back to the olden stories regarding the tales of Tiyanak and Tala.

The background also needs refinement. The sharpness of the edge of the corners of the house or the cabinet as an example doesn't quite work to be pleasant to the eyes. Also, the bird's eye view of a character looking up needs to be polished. The eyes of the character was drawn looking to be cross-eyed (exotropia) on page 46.

In some panels, the story and art does not convey the same message. Such is the moment wherein Janus is playing TALA  at home while Mang Joey and Renzo faces a Do-ol. The message of Mang Joey from the speech balloon doesn't match with what appears on Janus' cellphone. It also gives a misconception that Mang Joey has telepathy in contrast to cyberkinesis or technopathy that was explained in the novel.

The Verdict:

Janus Silang is a great young adult series created by Edgar Samar. However, this comic book adaptation does not seem to be at par with the novel.

It does not give enough hype for new readers to pick up the source material or the next book in the series if this is the starting book.

It's best to recommend the first novel to the new reader of the series before introducing them to this comic book adaptation.

Anthology: Trese ~ Book 1: Murder On Balete Drive

Story by: Budjette Tan

Illustration by: Kajo Baldisimo

Alamat Comics

Visprint, Inc.

(4.25/5 ★★★★☆)

"When the sun sets in the city of Manila,

don't you dare make a wrong turn

and end up in that dimly-lit side of the metro,

where aswang run the most-wanted kidnapping rings,

where kapre are the kingpins of crime,

and engkantos slip through the cracks

and steal your most precious possessions,

When crime takes a turn for the weird,

the police call Alexandra Trese."

The Good:

Trese is a great masterpiece done by an excellent writer and an incredible artist.

Who knew that our Filipino creatures would also adapt with the changing times. The best example among them is the Nuno sa Manhole.

There's a lot of great elements here but the best story, or case, would be the 4th case. Tan gave a wonderful homage to a well known Filipino superhero. The last panels of that case poetically ends with so much love and care.

The Bad:

No matter how incredible the story and art seems to be, it is a disservice to see how the layout was done. A reader cannot fully appreciate Kajo's illustrations. It is because some details of his art were at the edge of the panels which in turn were seen to be near the spine of the book.

The spell done on the 1st case, which was written in Baybayin like characters, could have been better if it was an actual word written in Baybayin.

A typo can also be seen on Case 3, in the scene where Oriol is in the bathtub.

The Verdict:

This comic is a gem that stands among the great number of komiks the Philippines has produced. The "Trese universe" presents to us fresh eyes of what our Philippine mythology creatures could be doing in our present time. An investigation of the paranormal world is unleashed in this cases.

Tan and Kajo paints the Philippine society as a society that has not changed despite the advancement in technology. Despite our history being slightly touched, such as the Bukidnon Massacre and the Great Binondo Fire, the same injustices and inequalities remains the same to this day.

This comic book is heading towards a great future. Trese shines brightly like the first star that you would see at night.

"But these aswang are the blood thirsty and stupid kind."

More information about the Trese comic can be seen at:

http://tresekomix.blogspot.com

 

* Breakdown of Rating:

★☆☆☆☆ -

★★☆☆☆ -

★★★☆☆ -

★★★★☆ - Case 1, Case 2, Case 3

★★★★★ - Case 4

Comics: Hands of the Dragon ~ Book 1: Rise of the Zodiac Circle

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Story by: Jeffrey Marcelino Ong

Illustrated by: Gilbert Monsanto

Black Ink Comics
(4/5 ★★★★☆)

This is one among those first books from Black Ink Comics (BIC) that I had gotten since their launch in the previous Komikon.

The Plot:

The story is set on Dongwu, a dimension inhabited by shape-shifters that either belong to the Dark Side or the Bright Light. A race was held in order to secure peace. The safety of the 5 elements and the balance of the universe lies in the hands of the zodiac circle with Xian Long, the dragon warrior, as their leader. Things change as the balance is disturbed when Xian Long is held behind bars by Wang Zhi, leader of the lion clan. It is now up to the little dragon to save the universe from going dark.

The Good:

The story and the plot are nicely told. It is another retelling of the origin of the zodiac signs. The illustrations were also great. But the thing that I really love is the layout of this book. It does not contain any pages whose texts are not easily seen and read. That is remarkable especially since most of the other books that are part of the first batch that were released have that problem.

The Bad:

There are a lot of origin stories about the zodiac signs. That will be the challenge for this comic book to take that story of a race and the fight vs good and evil into the next level. Otherwise, this will just really be a retelling of that race and the similar plots of the good winning in the end without any big obstacles.

The Verdict:

The Hands of the Dragon is a nice comic book. The next books are interesting to look on whether they will better or not.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Comics: Dark Side ~ Book 1: 2:00 AM

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Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Erwin J. Arroza

Black Ink Comics
(4/5 ★★★★☆)

"Whenever a case that

seemingly involves

supernatural reaches NBI,

it is automatically assigned

to Agents Roddy, Nick,

and Janet. Cases from the

Dark Side, they call them.

And the three were known

as "The Shadowcatchers"

because they chase suspects

that, just like shadows, could

not be arrested."

This is one of the goodies that I got from FCBD 2014. I like this comic book as a whole, most especially its layout. Comic books that requires its pages to be spread out in order for the texts to be read is a pain for me. As a collector of worth-reading books, I like the spine of my books to be in good condition and each pages still attached to it.

The Dark Side is a story about NBI agents that handles paranormal cases. There are three agents namely; Roddy, Nick and Janet who are part of the team and often are called as the Shadowcatchers. Here in book 1, the case revolves around the death of a vampire's fiancee. Dave, the vampire, called up Roddy at 2:00 a.m., hence the title, to seek help. He called for the agents' aid to restrain him from looking for the killer of his beloved and unleash a vampire nightmare to that person. He says that his vampiric powers remains inactive unless he gets a taste of human blood, in which he does not wishes to do so. The case is solved with a neat twist that involves an apparition of the soul of a vampire.

Once again, Ron Mendoza amazes me with the nice stories he comes up for Black Ink Comics. He always gives us an interesting new twist to old and familiar elements that we have been accustomed to. Although this may be compared to the ongoing Trese series, which also has a paranormal investigation theme, I would still be looking for more stories from this series. Another thing that makes this worth collecting is the nice art cover made by Erwin Arroza. The cover is a plus in attracting the attention of anyone into this genre. The image depicting Roddy surrounded by supernatural entities is also a nice art from him that can be found on two pages of this book.

Overall, I'd say that this is another keeper from Black Ink Comics. It is a series that I'll surely be putting on display in my bookshelf.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Comics: Pepe: The Lost Years of Rizal ~ Book 1

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Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Arnold Renia Cruz

Black Ink Comics
(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

"Jose Rizal - or Pepe as a young boy - while lost in a forest, meets a mysterious old hermit who gives him a pendant. The pendant turns out to be a magically powerful amulet which could grant him all his wishes and could give him anything he wants - even his country's freedom from Spain.

There is only one problem: the governor-general is also looking for the said amulet, intending to use it to shackle the Filipinos more - and make him the most powerful man on earth."

This is an interesting fictional historical book. It tells of Jose Rizal's supposedly unknown adventures when he was still a young boy. So far the first book was an interesting start. It has been a good introductory story. The thing that I noticed most with this comic was its art. In my opinion it seems some of the expressions made by different characters seemed inappropriate for each given situation. Most of them were smiling in the face of a serious situation. I know that Filipinos are known to be seen to still be smiling despite being faced with great problems, its just that when faced with a life and death situation I don't think you'll find yourself smiling that much. This is evident on the 2nd frame of page 16 wherein after being held up at gunpoint most especially by a Spaniard, in which he'd be the last person you would still be able to smile even if he has a gun pointed at your face. In the next scenario that I noticed, I could say that maybe in here one can still manage to smile despite the given situation. This scenario can be seen on the 3rd panel of page 40, regarding the character of Jose Rizal's Ate Neneng. Another descrepancy regarding emotions can be seen on the 3rd panel of page 46. It is regarding the narration which says that Pepe, the young Jose Rizal, didn't feel any tiredness. But from the looks of the art which tells otherwise. It can be seen that Pepe has that tired expression on his face. Well those are just bits of my view regarding the art.

In general, the story from the first book attracts readers due to the fictional fantasy that has happened to Pepe. I just hope that the layout artist would do a better job or at least the publisher tries to see the final layout of the book before it gets printed. It is a shame that parts of the book, both the illustration and texts, are not easily seen due to way it was laid out. Hope that these won't be encountered in the rest of the books.

Note: Images were taken from the internet.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

Comics: The Reaper ~ Books 1 & 2

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Book One: Acerbus The Lord Of The Reapers
(5/5 ★★★★★)

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Book Two: Love And Death

(5/5 ★★★★★)

 

                                             Book 1                                                                        Book 2

Illustrated by: Vovoi Lim

Story by: Nald Tabuzo

Black Ink Comics

Black Ink Comics, brings to us a new set of comics that started last year with their introduction at the Winter Komikon 2012. Among those they released first is book one of The Reaper. The second book was released on Summer Komikon 2013. As of now, only two books out of the eleven for The Reaper series have been released.

The Reaper tells an interesting story on the point of view of those entity that guides the souls after a person dies. They are the temporary care takers of the souls until a judgement has been made and the souls are made to ride either an ordinary or an airconditioned bus, haha hanep nu, on the way their respective final destinations. Book 1, introduces to us all of the different reapers and their abilities on how they collect souls. On the other hand, Book 2 picks up the story of how a reaper thinks of getting back at a human that has hindered him from collecting a soul in time. So far as the story was written, it is quite enjoyable to read such as a part on book 2 wherein it depicts that despite the reaper's busy schedule, he'd still do yoga in order to relax and destress after a busy day of collecting souls. :p As for the illustration, it goes along nicely with the way the story is being told. I just hope that this series goes out well from the beginning until the end. As much as I am anticipating for the release of the rest of the books for this series. hehe.

So far, I recommend buying this comic which can easily be found at most bookstores nationwide.

Note: Images were taken from the facebook page of Black Ink Comics