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

BIC0027
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: 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.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"

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

BIC0007
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: Black Ink Comics' Shortcuts ~ Fairy Tails: Another Beauty And The Beast / For A Pair Of Legs / Jack And The Giant

BIC0013

(4/5 ★★★★☆)

Aside from releasing comics which consists of around 10 books more or less per series, Black Ink Comics also came out with Shortcuts. It's a comic book that consists of three short stories that are created by different writers and artists. In this shortcut, it presents Fairy Tails with stories like "Another Beauty and the Beast" as the first story. The other stories included are "For A Pair of Legs" and "Jack and the Giant".

Another Beauty And The Beast

Story by: Ron Mendoza

Illustrated by: Arnel R. Coronel

Black Ink Comics

"Maniwala si Beast na hindi mahalaga ang hitsura pagdating sa pag-ibig. "Bulag ang pag-ibig," sabi niya. Pero nang mawala ang sumpa sa kanya at bumalik ang kaguwapuhan niya, bigla ay nagbago ang pananaw niya sa pag-ibig lalo na nang ma-head over heals in love sa kanya ang isang halimaw."

This short story I may say is the best among the three stories complied in this book. It uses the Filipino language and the modern way of how Filipinos communicate with each other. Words like "Nevah", meaning never, was used in the story as a way to present how our current society talks informally. The story is based from Disney's Beauty and the Beast in which the author placed a twist. It answers the question, "What if the situation was reversed with the Beast turning to be a handsome prince, while the gorgeous Belle transforming into an ugly beast?" As much as the story was written nicely, its just sad to see that some of these lines were placed incorrectly. I find that some of it were positioned at the very side where the pages of the book are bounded to its spine, meaning you need to open and expose the pages of the book wide enough in order to read the texts. Then on page 9, where Belle and the beast are having a conversation, I find the speech bubbles to be a bit confusing as to whose lines are spoken first due to their arrangement. Nonetheless, with this shortcoming I find the story and the art to be good. I'd advice though that this story not be read by children in grade school and below for a bad word that it contains, which may highly be disapproved by most parents.

For A Pair Of Legs

Story by: Nald Tabuzo

Illustrated by: Cliff Renegado

Black Ink Comics

"Love makes the little mermaid foolish. She doesn't mind where her love for the prince will take her. Love is a source of joy. But she seems unaware that it's also a source of misery."

This second story is based on another Disney movie entitled The Little Mermaid. It has a less entertaining twist in my opinion among the three stories compiled in this book. In here, the same concerns with the first story like some texts can't be easily read, since it's placed near the center where the pages of the book are kept in place, are still present. It also contain some words which may be disapproved by some parents to be read by their little kids. I might say that the thing that I liked the most with this story was the part where Belle started doing a headstand and all different sorts of dances for a dance competition.

Jack And The Giant

Story by: Jeffrey Marcelino Ong

Illustrated by: Roy Allan Martinez

Black Ink Comics

"Jack climbs the giant beanstalk in their backyard to search for his missing father and brother. He finds a nasty giant whom he kills jubilantly, unaware that what he did would probably be his life's greatest mistake."

This third story of the compilation is now based from the famous Jack and the Beanstalk. The story starts with the beanstalk already in the backyard of Jack. The plot starts with his brother and father who were never seen again after they had climbed up the giant beanstalk. This story gives a different view about the giant that lives in the castle up on the clouds. Still the same problem with the previous two stories were seen to be present in this compilation such as having some of the texts not being easily readable due to its placement.

Overall, this compilation is worth the buy due to the twist that the writers had made to the fairy tails that most of us knew. The only downside is the placing of the texts. I only hope that this difficulty in reading the text won't appear in the next comics published by Black Ink Comics.

Note: Images were taken from the internet.

More of Black Ink Comics can be seen at:

Twitter: @BlackInkComics

Facebook Page: "Black Ink Comics"