This is Manix Abrera's second collection of silent comics. Unlike 12's mishmash concoction of urban existentialism of a brew, Manix this time used a singular grape extract to ferment a very potent wine. Fourteen fantastic campfire stories weaved in one complete story arc as told in the eyes of the Manananggal, Diwata, Kapre, Duwende, Tiyanak, Tikbalang, and the Outsider.
I personally like the one where a man wins the girl by serenading her with his "magic song." Ultimately that girl became a mother of three and also became the hero of the story. How many times have we seen that mothers were just portrayed as annoying generals of the house or helplessly doing the household chores or just victims of their adulterous husbands? Not this time. Together with her kids the hero mom left the lousy husband in fantasyland in exchange for the real life for good. Seeing the simple fact that the scariest monster in the world is not the one hiding under your bed nor that monster in your nightmares but the one you can see on the street every day is pure eye opener.
Abrera's work here is not free from flaws. But creating a comic book story without dialogue or words I think is not really restraining nor self-limiting, but rather liberating. Because the artist needs a lot of creative synergy when using words, captions, dialogues, and ultimately the art to tell an effective story. I know how it feels because when I was young I love drawing comics and creating a dialogue that will fit every panel or pages is never that easy to complete the story than just drawing them in sequential without words. It's similar when you create a conceptual storyboard. But I'm just relating my own experience here and you need nothing of that. This is Abrera's work and I like it better than the first.
Genre: Dark Humor, Urban Fantasy
Rating: 4 archaic pedestals out of 5
I personally like the one where a man wins the girl by serenading her with his "magic song." Ultimately that girl became a mother of three and also became the hero of the story. How many times have we seen that mothers were just portrayed as annoying generals of the house or helplessly doing the household chores or just victims of their adulterous husbands? Not this time. Together with her kids the hero mom left the lousy husband in fantasyland in exchange for the real life for good. Seeing the simple fact that the scariest monster in the world is not the one hiding under your bed nor that monster in your nightmares but the one you can see on the street every day is pure eye opener.
Abrera's work here is not free from flaws. But creating a comic book story without dialogue or words I think is not really restraining nor self-limiting, but rather liberating. Because the artist needs a lot of creative synergy when using words, captions, dialogues, and ultimately the art to tell an effective story. I know how it feels because when I was young I love drawing comics and creating a dialogue that will fit every panel or pages is never that easy to complete the story than just drawing them in sequential without words. It's similar when you create a conceptual storyboard. But I'm just relating my own experience here and you need nothing of that. This is Abrera's work and I like it better than the first.
Genre: Dark Humor, Urban Fantasy
Rating: 4 archaic pedestals out of 5
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