Geoffrey Borgonia's SERVANT # 1 and 2

Another day, another review. w00t. Servant created by Geoffrey Borgonia tells the story of Gabriel Barreon, a call center agent slash superhero. His origin is that he is the son of the king of the pagan gods of old. Sent to our world for his own protection, Gabriel grew up as a human, taught about truth, justice and power and responsibility. He's also a geek and a big nerd.

The first issue of Servant also introduces us to the Del Maestro sisters: Katsuko, the brainy and uptight sister (who for some reason looks evil to me even though it seems that she's not) and Alexandra the carefree (and hotter) younger sister. There is also Victor, the patriarch of the Del Maestro family who seems to be the evil man behind the curtain. The weakest of the bunch though is the Mighty Ruler whose line delivery IMHO is a bit cliched.

The art on this book is rendered in 3D and is gorgeous. It looks like Borgy spent a lot of time creating the models for this. It reminds me a lot of ReBoot, one of my favorite programs growing up. My only problem is that the girl clothes needs a little loosening -- literally. They look too tight around the chest areas. Come to think of it, the same goes for Gabriel's civilian t-shirts. It's a bit distracting but still, as I said, gorgeous. Something that I think really needs work here are the fonts in the dialogue and also the speech balloons. The narration boxes in issue 1 looked a lot better but was changed in issue 2. One thing I found that improved in issue 2 though were the panels. It looked more like a comic book with the panel borders in there.

All in all, these are good first issues. It raises a lot of questions like: Who attacked Servant? What happened to Servant's world? What plans does Victor have? Does Gabriel like Alex (the obvious choice) or Katsuko (twist!)? Or maybe it's the girl reporter whose name I can't remember off the top of my head. Here's hoping that the next issues I read would be the collected edition. And yes, I am also beginning to shift my komiks collection from single issues to trades because TPBs would look better on my shelf.

Review: MARK 9 VERSE 47

When I went to KOMIKON last weekend, my intention was to get a lot of local TPBs. Yes, indie komik creators now publish their komiks in TPB format. I usually don’t get single issues if I don’t know the creator or work, so the TPB format is appealing to me. First, it looks more professional than photocopied comics. And second, I get to read a whole lot more of the story.

One of the titles I got was MARK 9 VERSE 47 by Maika Ezawa and Tepai Pascual. I read volume 1 at the airport while waiting for my flight back to Singapore so forgive me if I don’t remember a lot about the story. It’s about a mysterious man named Visdei who was tasked to look for a certain gatekeeper. He has the ability to see angels and demons but aside from that he is blind. There are a lot of other character introductions here and I kinda forgot some of them except for the main antagonist named Mal. The second volume which I read just now depicts the “origin” of Visdei. It’s a more compelling read than the first one since we learn how Ron Hunter turned from a vicious a-hole prize fighter to the agent of God we first met. My only problem with the second volume is that it ended (bitin!). The art on this title is gorgeous. Depicted in manga-style, the action sequences and layouts are dynamic. You can tell that the artist really knows her craft because you’d think that this was really a manga from Japan. I hope the next time I go to Komikon there is already a third volume available.

Ang Astiging Boy Ipis: Reptullo's Revenge

OH MY F*CKING GOD! This book is bad-ass. Mike Ignacio delivers a retelling(?) of the Boy Ipis mythos and it is without a shadow of a doubt, a masterpiece! An unexpected ride that will make you crave for more.

In the book, not only did Mike re-introduce Boy Ipis' origin, he also demonstrated his world building skills by introducing a bunch of interesting supporting characters and a villain with purpose. Not an easy task on a single issue but I think this TPB format that the Frances Luna boys are using has given Mike the space and freedom to do what he does best -- tell an awesome story. And I think Boy Ipis has now moved from a western "superhero" format to a "shonnen" style epic.

And in a surprising twist, Mike handled the art chores on this 100-pager himself (with ink/tone assists from some friends). His style reminded me of the art from Combatron/Tinay Pinay from the olden days of komiks (at least for me). I can say that not only is Mike a great storyteller, he also has a great eye for action. He has delivered the most awesome and brutal fight sequence I have ever seen in a local book. This book is surely one of the best buys from the last Komikon. I hope Mike releases the next volume very soon.

Mark Rosario's "MY WIFE IS PREGNANT"

When I got back from KOMIKON, the first book I read was the last one I picked-up: Mark Rosario's "My Wife Is Pregnant". I've seen Mark's strips posted on Facebook and it really was amusing. It made me smirk or LOL in front of the screen, disturbing the peace of our office.

I was excited when I heard that Mark planned to leap into indie publishing by making those strips into a full-fledged comic book. "An Authobiographical Comic Book". It was right there on the cover. I should've known that this wouldn't just be a humorous and sometimes self-deprecating take on his road to fatherhood. What Mark made was a "love letter" to his wife and kid.

Keep it up Mark and start writing/making the second installment. I am sure dads and expectant parents will enjoy your work. I DID. And my "wife" isn't even pregnant.