Anthology: Lunatic

Created by: Mel Casipit, Kai Castillo, Maika Ezawa, Paolo Herras, JP Palabon, Tepai Pascual, Brent Sabas and Redg Vicenete

Meganon Comics

(3.75/5 ★★★☆☆)

(Cover by Redg Vicente)

"It's a Mad World.

During the full moon, energies are heightened,

releasing five crazy stories from eight deranged

and outright insane comic book creators.

Lunatic is the new normal."

Lunatic is the first anthology created by Meganon Comics. It contains 5 stories.

The Good:

Most stories did a good part of creating a story related to the title of the book. We were given stories that lean on foolishness due to man's desire, curiosity, need for wealth and by having a sense of false integrity.

The best story among the 5 would be Contestant by Ezawa and Casipit. For those who, at one point in time, have been watching our local noontime shows, the darker version of these noontime shows was vividly depicted to be a horrific scene. It's Fear Factor meets Survivor for the elimination rounds of this show! A player needs to go through all those crazy challenges in order to play for the jackpot round. It's one heck of an insanely twisted noontime show that they had let us watch.

The Bad:

The one that didn't do well was the last story, Ghost Parade. It started with a kid disturbed by loud noises which was later on said to be the sound of his own heart beat. The story ended a bit fast so that it just left me raising an eyebrow in confusion as I reached the last page. The conclusion was really confusing if the boy has just died or if he experienced astral travel.

Personally, it was a disappointment reading that story most especially since it served as the closing story of this anthology. The first story did absolutely great to the extent that I was expecting the last one to give the same chilling feeling towards the end of this anthology.

A small detail was also confusing regarding to the title of the 4th story. There's a discrepancy on the last letter of the second word. The chapter mentions it to be Hoodie Fernandes, however, upon checking the first page of that story, one would notice that it is titled as Hoodie Fernandez. This is just a small error that could be seen in this anthology.

The Verdict:

Lunatic is a good anthology that could send chills to your bones.

This first anthology by Meganon Comics has been a nice way to showcase the talents of different comic book creators through the crazy stories in this comic book.

Close that TV. Remove that mask. Loosen up your strings. Lunatic deserves to be read even by sane individuals. Trust me. The gong doesn't need to be played yet.

"Good people can do bad things.

It doesn't make them bad.

It only makes them

good people who do bad things."

More of Meganon Comics can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Meganon Comics"

http://www.meganoncomics.com

* Breakdown of Rating:
★☆☆☆☆ -
★★☆☆☆ - Ghost Parade
★★★☆☆ - Hoodie Fernandes/z
★★★★☆ -
★★★★★ - Umbra, Strings, Contestant

Comics: Buhay Habangbuhay ~ Chapter 1: Buhay Buwis Buhay

Story by: Paolo Herras

Illustrated by: Tepai Pascual

Rated: Parental Advisory Mature Content

Meganon Comics

(3/5 ★★★☆☆)

"Everybody has a

dark and light side."

The Plot:

The married lives of Joel and Sandy changed forever due to the abrupt death of Sandy. It sure is difficult to see how your loved one would continue his life without you.

The Good:

The story was nicely told with minimal words used in the illustrations. The life of Sandy was a bit easy to follow and understand as she discovers life after death.

The cover was the best part of this comic. The artist gave us two images on its front cover.

The Bad:

The illustrations were great but I'd still recommend further improvements to it. Some details could have used more inking (graying/shading? I'm not sure with the term) rather than leaving those images to appear as mere outlines, of course I'm not referring to the ghostly images of Sandy.

Then, there's this confusing character/s that was placed in this story. Another woman alive/ghost appears on the comics as she says that she enjoyed sleeping beside Sandy's husband, Joel. A few pages after this confrontation and the death of Sandy, Joel is seen to come home with a woman who shares similar features to the first one that Sandy had encountered. I'm not quite sure if these are two different individuals or they are just the same one. In case that they are just the same, a big question lies on how could that woman suddenly vanish into thin air after her confrontation with Sandy. How on earth did this scenario really happen?

The Verdict:

My greatest concern would be for the creators to devise a way to distinguish the characters, such as those that I had mentioned earlier, including the other illustrations in the environment. They were good, but, I must say, I prefer some objects be added with more shades and details, especially the ones closer to the point of view of the reader rather than leaving their outline as the final image.

This is an interesting series from Meganon Comics. A story about life after death here on earth is a fresh story in the komiks medium.

More of Buhay Habangbuhay can be seen at:

Facebook Page: "Buhay Habangbuhay"