This picture sums up, in many, many ways, that which I cannot put into words.

Like a friend of mine said, a regular Davy Jones.

There’s also Caveman Batman, who looks like he gutted Man-Bat and wore his skin as a cape.

(via IGN)

But anyway, what I’m writing this for is to praise how good Batman looks in this specific instance of his character design. Look at him! Heavily built, long gloves and boots made of leather, torn trenchcoat-like cape billowing in the wind. It’s all very steampunk and dapper, in a rugged and vicious crimefighter way.

A quick research told me why this design resonated so loudly with me: Mike Mignola. I dug his character designs for the past two Hellboy movies, as well as in Pan’s Labyrinth. Well done, sir.

I’ve got my own community of insane web-warriors right here. Maybe I should raise the idea with them. Who knows to what new low we can sink. :D

Welcome to the ongoing adventures of JESUS CHRIST, by Eric Peterson and Ethan Nicolle. Check in every week to read the exploits of Jesus Christ– savior of mankind and die hard action hero.

The line art is very good for a webcomic, and the story has been nothing but fantastic so far.

Body of Christ, sucka!

Suffice it to say, it was a very violent comic.

Fast forward fourteen years later, and good news. It still exists today, copies of the compilation still in the hands of some still lucky people – and I still hope to join their ranks one day. A hard copy is always a pleasure to have. What’s really amazing though is that it actually started being distributed, part by part, as photocopies. Can you say fledgling industry?

But I guess the best part of seeing a creation of yours grow, flourish and be thoroughly enjoyed over a long period of time by lots and lots of people is that after the initial need to gain renumeration from your work (living expenses do not pay themselves), you can afford to share it with other people who didn’t get to catch it, free of charge. I mean, you’ve gotten the most you possibly could out of it anyway, so why not share?

That’s exactly what Mr. Alanguilan did. He released the entire 8-part work online. It’s actually been there for a while now, so I daresay it’s become even more permanent than having it in a tangible form simply because it’s on the Internet. It’ll be there for future generations to have, even if no reruns are done any more. Just look at me as an example.

The tale told in black and white is still a powerful read, even today.

Oh and before I forget, Wasted’s subject matter was also revolutionary. It was three years ahead of Grand Theft Auto in terms of going postal and freaking the fuck out. Take that, Rockstar.

But then again, I’ve been out of touch with the local scene for so long so it could just be me. This is the first book by Arnold Arre that I’ve read. Before this, the last local comics that I went through were the first two issues of P-Noize and the first (and last) two issues of the original Angel Ace. That was back in 1997 – time really flies.

With all that said, The Mythology Class is a wonderful foray into the medium of the graphic novel. It’s endearing and it’s magical, and it’s mainly due to the subject matter.

The story, set in the (then) modern day Philippines, revolves around a group of students called together by a dream they all experience. Soon it’s revealed to them by Datimbang, Sulayman, Kubin and Aili, several heroes from our own folklore and history, that they were chosen by the gods to find and capture engkantos that have escaped from the spirit world and scattered themselves throughout time.

The premise is all at once great: it provides itself with a rich source of material, gives quite a bit of creative freedom to the writer, and it’s already somewhat familiar to its target audience. After all, for those living in the country, who hasn’t heard of (if not encountered) spirits, kapres, tikbalangs and aswangs? The setting also aids in this familiarity, with events taking place in the University of the Philippines, Bulacan, Tondo, Binondo and an eerily-early version of the SM Mall of Asia.

Casual readers may be put off by the black and white presentation, because it may make the work look sketchy, amateurish and newspaper-y. I thought this too when I first bought the book, but then I realized that unlike Western comic productions, where there’s often big studios and big budgets involved, Philippine comics are often self-made endeavors: for this one, Arnold Arre did all the writing, the pencils and the inking by himself. Plus, this was originally done way back in 1999, just a few years after the explosion of the local scene at around 1992. Colored print would have been too expensive then.

Altogether it’s great what he accomplished, given those limiting factors. I’m imagining it would be even better though if he’s given the chance to explore this in full color.

I don’t usually post about just anything, so when I do, I usually recommend it. This one is no different – it’s a revival of Philippine tales of old, paced well, and brought to you in a manner that is highly enjoyable. It’s certainly worth your time to check out.

It’s not that it wasn’t good, or it wasn’t worth the money I paid. Quite the contrary. It was both of those, and how. The origin of Batman’s crazy archnemesis told in an equally manic fashion garners a buy from me anyday. Considering how much I seem to love the works of Alan Moore, it’s no wonder I grabbed this as soon as I saw it.

No, it wasn’t because of those. The whole thing left me a bit unshaken because I had already seen it, some 16 or so years before. Remember the original Batman movie? Ah, there we go.

In the film, the origin of the Joker (and what an awesome Joker Jack Nicholson was) was also played out. Chemical factory, break-in, Batman arrives, gives chase, some poor dude falls in a vat of green liquid and is presumed dead. He resurfaces later with bleach white skin and candy green hair, mind twisted beyond recovery.

In the comic, almost the exact same thing happens, albeit with a little more exposition on the story. The infamous Red Hood gang has managed to persuade a down-on-his-luck comedian into helping them break into the nearby chemical plant. Of course things go awry and soon the poor comedian is the only one left standing. Being chased by the Batman and in a state of panic, he jumps into the river and comes back to land damaged beyond all recognition. Enter the Joker.

Although I already knew the main revelation of the story, I found the rest of the read enjoyable nonetheless. Moore shows off his penchant for raising suspense by telling the story with flashbacks alongside the rest of the action. In the end the book poses the question of whether or not Batman is really all that different from his greatest enemy.

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.

That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.

Truer words were never spoken. It’s all chilling stuff.

I have the new deluxe edition, which apparently is a recolored version of the original. The color palette this time around is much colder and less… 80s. Seriously, see for yourself. Brian Bolland did a fantastic job of going over John Higgins’ old work, for sure.

Yes, I was underwhelmed. But don’t let that fool you: it’s the Joker’s origin. How can it not be good?

Most of the novels that float around now, while having their own artistic and literary merits, tend to focus too much on fantastic and otherworldly concerns. There’s too little social relevance. Now that might not be too bad in itself, as the graphic novel medium (and on a wider perspective, the comic book) exists primarily for fantasy storylines, but you have to wonder, if it’s only fantasy we’re going to be reading, what’s the point? If we’re not going to be getting anything, why read in the first place?

Watchmen is the finest of its breed. Or maybe, I should say it’s of another breed entirely. No other graphic novel I’ve come upon has really managed to so successfully pull off social commentary beside artistic pursuit. There’s so much meat, so much to uncover beyond the great art by Dave Gibbons and the colors by John Higgins. Sometimes I think Alan Moore, writer of other notable works like V for Vendetta, is a genius or a magician or a psychologist or a political scientist or maybe all of them in one. He must keep all those powers hidden in his wildman-beard.

Watchmen starts off flying. There’s been an apparent murder and vigilante investigator Rorschach is on the case. What he finds leads him and the reader deeper and deeper into the world of the masked adventurer – two generations of them, and of which the former is a part of – all the way to the uncovering of a plot that endangers the entire world. This is juxtaposed against the uncertain politico-military situation near the end of the Second Cold War back in 1985. Interspersed in measured intervals come various side stories and metafiction that add to the dystopian world of the work, as well as provide glimpses into why things are the way they are in said world. It’s a very intricate plot that mixes both reality and fantasy to great effect.

What strikes me most about this work is the depth of characterization. There’s so much to each individual player in the story: their innocent (or not) backstories, their own individual as well as collective efforts in fighting crime, their dillusionment and their psychologies, all presented in a manner which never lets the reader forget that these are not superhumans like Superman or the X-Men, rather, just people dressed up in some elaborate costume, with their own personal problems and issues. In the subject of heroes which often degrades into a battle of the superpowers of each character, having one that looks from the perspective of problems you and me face everyday is quite refreshing. Perhaps that’s what makes Watchmen so strong and accessible as a story: despite the fact that there are inclinations to the superheroes we’ve become familiar with through the characters’ costumes, aliases, gadgets and such, there’s still that human element residing in each and every one of them. Even the one who isn’t entirely human anymore still has memories of his past.

Watchmen touches on many themes, but at its heart it’s about the fragility and possibly the banality of human existence, alongside the struggle of people to survive through the history that they themselves create.

Very highly recommended. It isn’t on Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Best Novels for nothing, you know.

Consequently, there’s a movie adaptation which just finished filming. In the manner of Rorschach, “Movie out in 2009. Will wait patiently. Lots of expectations.”