Story by: Elbert Or
Illustrated by: Cy Vendivil and Jem Bernaldez
Studio Salimbal
(3/5 ★★★☆☆)
"Everyone wants to be a Bravo... except for Lea. She just wants to live a normal life, or rather, help her family get back to living a normal life after a devastating typhoon. But is refusing really an option, especially when the famous hero Pedro Pilandok comes to recruit her personally?"
The Good:
The story focuses on how the Bravos are helpful in our society whenever a natural calamity arises.
In Cebu, we were introduced to Pedro Pilandok and Lea Perrin, whose powers were super speed and the power to project oneself into animals respectively. Lea's power can be compared to Marvel's Professor X due to his ability to control people by entering the mind except that its the birds' mind whom she enters.
The villain, Bigatin, was a bit interesting but seems to have a lower power ranking in comparison to the villain in the Bravos ~ Manila story.
One remarkable idea that was made in this issue was regarding Maharlika High. It's being molded to be like the Philippine Military Academy version for training superheroes. The story ends with the mention of the continuation of the story in a Maharlika High comic.
The Bad:
The most troubling thing with the things introduced to us is mostly Maharlika High. It appears to be another school that aims to train gifted super powered individuals. The same plot of training them in order to fully develop their capabilities and be of use to the society in the future is hinted. The challenge will be on how to make Maharlika High's story be unique to schools such as Hogwarts and Xavier's School to name a few.
The Verdict:
As the Bravos universe expand, this one-shot story which presents how each bravos came to be picked was great. The cliff hanger of having a Maharlika High story looks a bit of a gamble. Depending on how that story would be told could determine the future interest of readers to that story arc.
Overall, the Bravos is still an interesting world created by Studio Salimbal. Elevating the police force of the country to be in the hands of the supers sure does change the landscape for different possibilities with regards to the security and safety in our country.
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