Comics: The Children of Bathala: Volume One of Five

Illustration and Story by: Arnold Arre

Nautilus Comics

(4/5 ★★★★)

"Twenty years after the events of The Mythology Class...

Bidding a pleasant farewell, Mrs. Enkanta left to continue her journey through time. Nicole and her friends' adventures into the realm of myth and magic were seemingly over.

However, things have not been peaceful over the past two decades: Lane has lost her telepathic powers; Kubin is weakening; Rey and Misha have mysteriously gone missing; and doubts about Enkanta's true purpose are growing.

As their friendships, once strong and binding, slowly fall apart, Nicole senses a dark spell affecting them all.

Convinced that those cherished days they shared in the Mythology Class are fading away, Nicole is unaware that a new band of visitors from the magical world of Ibalon have arrived. These beings hold the key to unlocking an ancient mystery; one that may reveal a frightening terror, but also open an enchanting new world for Nicole, her friends, and her daughter Princess Marilag."

The Good:

The story brings us back to the world of Mythology Class years after they fought off the engkantos. The story and illustrations remain superb.

A lot of references to various books, personalities and tales were made. The most thought provoking concept presented was the Bukidnon Skyworld introduced at a Ted talk.

The Bad:

This first volume among five has a slow pace in story telling.

Many conversations were written using either baybayin or another Filipino language. It would have been a great idea to have the translations of these conversations written somewhere at the end of the book for those who don't understand the language.

The Verdict:

Nicole and her other classmates under Datimbang are back years after their initial quest. The curse of the ancient once creeps in as the blood moon starts to settle in. All hopes that the dark anitos won't find them.

More of Nautilus Comics can be seen at:

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Anthology: Buhay Ang Baston! ~ The 1st Philippine 24-Hour Comic Book Challenge

Created by: Jamie Bautista, Jonas Diego, Rex Espino, Jac Ting Lim and Elbert Or

Edited by: Jean Paul C. Zialcita and Niña Rica Marie L. Terol

Nautilus Comics

(4.4/5 ★★★★☆)

"Five Creators.

Twenty-Four Pages.

One Day.

"The creators whose work you see here should be applauded, not just for the stories they created but for their dedication. They chose not just to participate in culture by creating the comics but also to honor their culture and traditions with their topics. On top of all that, they chose to work against a clock, to create the risk of not just artistic failure but of failing to meet the 24 hour challenge. Even an artist who fails the challenge should be applauded for taking the risk, because it's only through taking risks that success can be found." - Nat Gertler, from the Foreword"

The Good:

The five stories did a great job of incorporating the Kali and/or Arnis in every story. We were given some good action sequences, a nearly silent comic, a love story, a revenge story and a cultural awareness themed story.

The best among the five would be Tiwalag by Elbert Or. Given the circumstance wherein this comic was made, under the pressure of 24 hours, it was really well executed. A very short insight of our history, a legend regarding a dragon and the bakunawa, and a critical view of the cultural identity of Filipinos was told very easily in 4 parts before weaving it all together to present to us a great story.

The Bad:

The story that didn't do well was the 1st story, Galera. The fight scenes of this story were great and very detailed compared to the action scenes of the other stories. However, the story might not get the interest much of the reader for reasons such as; what was the purpose of the octopus? Is it often sent by the sea princess or queen to attack people on land?

The Arnisadora story, whose dialogues were no longer finished being written due to time constraints, might have worked better if it was presented completely as a wordless comic book. The story would probably do better without the initial dialogues that had been written. A detailed illustration of the expressions of the characters might have been a better way of telling the story.

There was some bad editing regarding the placement of the 1st Snapshot segment in this anthology. Its placement destroys the climactic fight scenes of the Galera story.

A typo was also left uncorrected on the foreword of this anthology.

The Verdict:

Buhay Ang Baston proudly shows the results of the 1st Philippine 24-hour comic book challenge. It gives recognition to the artistic competency of the five challengers who emulated the Filipino martial arts of Kali and Arnis into their stories.

They further proved that fighting with sticks will always be an interesting story to tell.

"What we do is bring out things that have been waylaid over time. Stories that have been forgotten.

What we do is bring them out in the open, show people what we once were, what we still can be."

* Breakdown of Rating:

★☆☆☆☆ -

★★☆☆☆ - 

★★★☆☆ - Galera

★★★★☆ - Arnisadora

★★★★★ - Kali Island, Ang Huling Laban, Tiwalag

Comics: The Mythology Class

2nd Edition

Illustration and Story by: Arnold Arre

Nautilus Comics

(5/5 ★★★★★)

(Cover C "Nicole-Kubin Cover")

"Summoned to a secret gathering one stormy night by the mysterious Mrs. Enkanta, Nicole finds herself face to face with tikbalangs, kapres, and all sorts of engkantos - new found friends, she embarks on a quest into the realm of myth and folklore where she fights alongside heroes of her childhood against an age-old terror. Follow in their footsteps as their adventure takes them through the familiar streets of Metro Manila and into a world more fascinating than they had ever imagined."

The Good:

This comic opens our Philippine pre-hispanic era for discovery.

A cast of college students, old aged teachers and a familiar yet a new and extraordinary view of the local mythology, the story introduces us once again to those familiar tales. A time before the battle of Mactan took place. The era where the gods of nature took reign and the enkantos were still believed to be true by many.

The story has a lot of good points. One of those were certain conversations written using the baybayin alphabet. The use of this alphabet opens our eyes to the rich culture that our ancestors had.

References to Ibalon warriors, Alunsina, Bantugan, and the kris weapon were effectively used here. A new object known as the Narra tablet seems original to the ears. It's like a different version of the Code of Kalantiaw wherein instead of laws, stories about mythological creatures are the ones written on it by Bantugan.

Other references included Francisco Balagtas' Adarna bird, Francisco Coching's Pedro Penduko and a Philippine Legendary book, whom I think was a nod to some of Arre's source material.

The illustrations of this comic book goes hand in hand with the story perfectly. The distinction between reality and dream sequences were beautifully executed.

A couple of splash pages and the two-page spreads intensified a lot of the scenes. The best splash page would be the Aswang Reborn and Tikbalang Drift illustrations. They command a huge scene for the story. However, the most rewarding picture would be the two-page spread of the Monument of Batch 2000. It gives off that feeling of graduation even though the class only took 4 months.

Each design really played homage to our past. The most interesting design that Arre had created for this story would be his take of our local hieroglyphic type of drawings. These design may make you wonder of an early Egyptian type of culture, minus the pyramids and the giant sphinx of course!

The Bad:

The worse thing that occurred in this comic book is that the story has to end.

The Verdict:

The Mythology Class takes us to a ghost busters type of story, wherein capturing a couple of escaped enkantos were needed to be done before the morning class starts.

Mrs. Enkanta, Nicole and the rest of the group will truly be a memorable adventure that Arre has luckily invited us to join.

A story written more than a decade ago, the class always feels new and old. It's an adventure that Bathala calls all of us to accept.

So call on the others, for Mrs. Enkanta, Nicole and the rest of the group are just waiting for the story of our ancestors be told.

"Promise me never to forget those stories. Maybe someday you might find yourself in one of them." - Nicole's Grandfather

More of Nautilus Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Nautilus Comics"

More of The Mythology Class can be seen at:

Penlab: "The Mythology Class"

Comics: Trip To Tagaytay

Illustration and Story by: Arnold Arre

Nautilus Comics
(4/5 ★★★★☆)

"In this futuristic dystopian view of Manila, the streets are

tittered with high-tech junk, Aga Mulach is the aging

President, and the Eraserheads are playing in a reunion

concert on the moon. In the midst of it all is a

young man making his way to the Grand Liwayway

Terminal while relaying thoughts to his beloved

far away in an orbital space station."

The Good:

Arnold Arre's vision of the future Philippines is outstanding. Wrist watch smart phones! It doesn't look so futuristic today, but knowing that this comic was done in the early 2000s, we would have really applauded for Arnold's correct guess on that technology.

Speculations on what the future may look like in Metro Manila is presented in this comic. The Philippines loosing Mindanao, thus the creation of the United Mindanao nation; destructive calamities, such as Taal Volcano's eruption, the Dignan 291 tsunami, the monster hurricane Osang and the molecular acid storm Luha ng Diyos to mention some of the events that could happen. The future is frightening as Arre envisions it in this comic.

The illustrations really are a sight to see, as familiar logos lay scattered all throughout the city. This unfamiliar future was made cozy knowing that this is what our motherland may look like in the future.

A nice addition in this 2014 release under Nautilus Comics is the addition of A Trip In the Making by Arre and reviews, such as Fly Me To The Moon by Luis Joaquin M. Katigbak and What A "Trip" by Ruel S. De Vera, at the end of the comics.

The Bad:

There's not much story here. It's just a man declaring his thoughts to his loved one as he takes us to see the new Metro Manila.

The Verdict:

It was great to hold a copy of this, due to Nautilus Comics reprinting this work of Arnold Arre.

Arnold Arre takes us to a futuristic Metro Manila, through the eyes of a young boy telling his loved one the changes that happened to our nation. The visuals are a feast to the eyes as Arre uses well known brands and scatter them around the metropolis.

Who knew which things here will Arre get it right regarding our future.

"Dream! That's all you need to do."

More of Trip To Tagaytay can be seen at:

http://www.arnold-arre.com/trip

*Trip To Tagaytay was first published in 2000 by Tala Studios