Comics: Earth 0

BIC0061
Story by: Herbs Navasca

Illustrated by: Jana Dhel

Black Ink Comics
(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

"Huwag mong hahayaan na lokohin ka nila.

Mabilis ka nilang papalitan, pilit na babaguhin.

Pero iba ka sa kanila.

Patunayan mo na iba ka.

Kahit gaano pa katagal, maghihintay ako.

Sa isang sulok ng kalawakan hanggang sa dulo ng magpakailanman.

Hindi kita buburahin sa isip ko.

Ang alaala natin ang gabay mo.

R.E.M.

14.644956, 121 003507"

The Plot:

The story takes place on Earth RR51. It centers on Sal, a human who dreams of going to Earth Z90 the newest and largest earth, and Rem, a phased-out model of a home robot who dreams of returning back to Earth 0. In  reaching their dreams, they rely on each other for the most important thing that they could give in helping one another. Trust. For how could you trust a human you just met and a robot whose batteries are dying out.

The Good:

This short story was nicely told and illustrated by Navasca and Dhel. The idea of a future wherein humans have the capability of just constructing another planet is a nice concept. Earth 0 is the one designated to be the original earth. Then we have Earth Z90 as the newest and largest earth. Tourism is planetary as Earth N44 serves as the place where all plants and animals were transferred into while Earth N56 houses replicas of the famous attractions like the pyramids of Egypt. It is a strange concept for a futuristic way of tourism.

The Bad:

The story does not give much disappointments. There's just a funny and weird set-up for the early part of the story that can be seen in two consecutive pages. The words "Later that day" and "Later that night" might work better if lunch time, evening, after 6 hours or something of the sort was used. Nevertheless, these did not hinder much in the story.

In the illustrations there were two things that I noticed. The first one was the depiction of trees in Earth Z90. I just presumed they were trees. But regardless if they were a place like a residential house, it was weirdly drawn. It's like an empty speech balloon that looked really odd, especially the ones beside the castle. The next would be the inconsistency of the drawing of the clothing of Rem as he got back to Earth 0. It appears that Rem is no longer wearing a shirt in comparison to the previous pages.

The Verdict:

Despite some of those minor things that I had seen with the illustrations, I would say that the artist had done a good job in showing to us the story about reaching our dreams. Having faith in one another and fulfilling one's promise will bring us one step closer to those dreams.

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Comics: Black Ink Comics' Shortcuts ~ Manga: Some Sweat, Some Love / A Decade of Waiting / The Tree of Happy Leaves

BIC0012

(4/5 ★★★★☆)

The copy that I got was from the first printing so most of my complains would be regarding the layout that was done to this comic book. Because for me it was poorly done due to parts of the texts and illustrations that can't be seen.

This Black Ink Shortcuts contains stories which were drawn in the manga style of art. In this compilation, it features three stories about love which are titled, "Some Sweat, Some Love", "A Decade of Waiting", and "The Tree of Happy Leaves". The cover art features the three stories that are included in this compilation.

Some Sweat, Some Love

Story by: Nald Tabuzo

Illustrated by: Jeff Nice

Black Ink Comics

"It starts when they meet in a gym.

Misty wants to loose weight for Kim.

Adron wants to look brawny for Jigs.

Friendship starts and love happens.

But does physical appearance really matters?"

This is a nice short story. It talks of love that should not be dictated by society. Such as society's opinion of only those who are beautiful should end up together. This story talks of that subject matter. It shows that love should not be contained to the figure of a person. Because love happens to people of all shapes and sizes. We should not be dictated by society on who we should love and force ourselves to change in order to be of a good match to that person. The story was well written, although I found a grammatical error on the short synopsis that was written on the back cover of the book. The illustration was nice that really went along with the story. There's just a funny thing that I noticed on the art on the lower left panel of page 9. In the scene, the screen of the mobile phone shows PJMA 3G. I don't know if a name of that network exists or near to those initials exits. I just found it really funny. The only downside that I could say for this part is the layout that was done which hinder readers to be able to read the texts and see the illustrations more clearly. But in general, the story is a good one.

A Decade of Waiting

Story by: Herbs Navasca

Illustrated by: Enjelia Villanueva

Black Ink Comics

"We live in such a small world.

It is possible that we have crossed paths before...

We just didn't have the chance to truly meet.

But if you had the chance to know me,

I'm sure you'd fall for me."

Among the three stories in this compilation, I would say that this would be my favorite. It talks of the soul mate kind of love. It says that we might have already seen or encounter face to face our soul mate. We just didn't really notice them. But if you can only look back, you might notice that they had been your seatmate in a bus or even the person in front of you in the grocery. As I quote from page 23, "We have seen each other. You just weren't looking." The art was nice and i really liked the cover art, the one that can be seen in the book, was nice. The only downside was the layout that had been done, in which the art and text near the spine of the book can't be seen.

The Tree of Happy Leaves

Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Jayron Zapanta

Black Ink Comics

"Annika loves Eiji dearly.

But Eiji has been forever ignoring her.

Then a dry, golden leaf falls on Annika's head.

Annika knows a thing or two about leaves.

"Finally," she smiles, "I can make Eiji fall for me...""

This is a cute story. It talks of a legend regarding a magical tree that bears golden leaves. It was said that during a full moon, the leaves were said to become magical. You would just take home one of the leaves that would fall. Then by writing the name of your beloved on it, the leaf would wield its power and grant anyone's wish about love. Its one of those stories that you would usually encounter in the movies. The story was nice as well with the illustration that accompanied it. The only downside, which is the same with the other two stories, was the poor layout that had been done.

This compilation holds nice love stories. I don't know if the authors had conspired on one thing but, for the stories "Some Sweat, Some Love" and "The Tree of Happy Leaves", I saw that they had some hunger for lasagna. Maybe they were eating lasagna while they were writing the story, but it was a reappearing object in the course of the two stories. The only downside was the layout that had been done. This prevents us from seeing the rest of the texts and illustrations that are near the spine of the book. Things like that would really take a toll in a reader's likeness of a book, whether it may be a graphic novel, comics or just an ordinary novel book. If it was seen that the layout for printing was not really checked by the one in charge of it before it gets printed, the reader then would sometimes think if he is holding a literature that is of poor quality, even though it was really great. I haven't purchased a new comic from Black Ink Comics for some time but I'm presuming that the next time I get one of those new titles that they are releasing, we could be guaranteed of the improvements it would have due to changes in the layout.

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