Finally, Paul Michael Ignacio releases the second issue of everyone's favorite pest-err-superhero... ANG ASTIGING BOY IPIS! Mike gives his best as Boy Ipis finds himself fighting a new batch of goons dispatched by evil mastermind Master Q. Fortunately, he gets a little help from guest-stars and fellow Bayan Knights: Phantom Cat and Gwapoman.
But this wouldn't be a Mike Ignacio story without some out-of-costume action, would it? Here we get a little more hint about Mike's past love which I'm betting will play some part in the next issue. We also learn more about how Boy Ipis' powers work courtesy of Professor Chits... and it isn't as Spider-Many as you may think.
Gilbert Monsanto pencils the issue. However, I'm a wee bit disappointed with the inking. It was a group effort by the Bayan Knights and it shows. The inconsistency was noticeable throughout the issue and quite frankly, it took me out of the story. I'm hoping that there would be a regular inker for issue three. Or that the inking style changes would be minimal and less noticeable. All in all, a good second outing. Mike, promise you won't make us wait another year for the third installment.
Everyone’s in it now. The issue is narrated by Sarhento Sagrado via a personal log entry about the recent events in the Bayan Knights’ universe. Two things happen in this issue: first, the encounter with the BANGIS team is resolved. Second and more importantly, the final chess pieces are gathered.
The main story also reads like a sort of encyclopedia -- reintroducing us to characters and giving hints about the new ones, reminding us that this is a very RICH universe and full of potential. Most noticeable about the latest release is the art which was digitally painted by Gilbert Monsanto. Though I find some of the roughs a little bit “rough,” GM still managed to wow me with a lot of wonderful pin-up styled shots and paneling. And can you believe how awesome that Harvey Tolibao (Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic) cover is?
Just finished reading ANG ASTIGING BOY IPIS #1. Isa lang masasabi ko - ASTIG! Released through Bayan Knights publisher Sacred Mountain, the issue is beautifully drawn by Sarge himself, Mr. Gilbert Monsanto. And he ain't kidding when he said that he enjoyed working on this book. It shows in the panels, the facial exressions and the attention to detail. It was also nice to see him draw Boy Ipis out of costume and deal with the other side of super-heroing.
But the real gem of the issue is the story brought to us by Boy Ipis creator Paul Michael Ignacio which has a great balance of both plot and character development. Not only does this episode give us Boy Ipis's first(?) solo adventure, it also as previously mentioned, gives us a glimpse of his life and struggles out of costume. Although I was a bit surprised with most of the characters delivering their lines in heavy tag-lish, I was quite impressed -- specially when the female lead self-refenced it in one of her thought balloons. I also liked the fact that Mike made it a point to give nods to the other superheroes in the BK universe such as Kalayaan and Unstoppable. It gives the shared universe more credibility.
Let me see, I may be forgetting something. Oh, there are a lot of jokes -- funny, silly and some naughty -- splattered across the 32 page story. There's also a sort of back-up feature/epilogue featuring Amy Vidal's Phantom Cat illustrated by Redg Vicente. The book promises to integrate her into the main storyline in issue 2 (can't wait!) and teases an appearance of a familiar silhouette. What else? Ah. I forgot to mention the villains in the story whose names I find really amusing. They are introduced and dispatched a bit quickly for my taste but I hope that this is not the last time we get to see them -- especially Android the Giant. That guy is just too cute and creepy at the same time.
A really great read. Thinking about the wait for the next installment is just too painful. Make this a monthly book already! And with sponsors biting that Boy Ipis powered advert at the back, it could happen.
Bayan Knights # 2 has been out since FCBD... so get a copy. Me, I got mine last Saturday but was unable to read it until today (I was bedridden with sickness ...still am). So here goes the reviewage:
The issue continues from where we left off last time: the CORE team being attacked by the Sipakas and the appearance of the POWERHOUSE Division to give a helping hand. And that’s just the first half! The book actually has more pages on it’s second outing. The second part introduces us to the GILAS team and foreshadows the appearance of the supervillain team BANGIS. And like last issue, we also get 2-page spotlights on some of the members of the Bayan Knights.
The art is quite good -- specially the spreads. The 6-pager involving the CORE and POWERHOUSE Divisions is a good example. The details on those pages are awesome. But I’m kinda on the fence about the pages that uses a lot of tones. I feel that it lacks a certain level of black-ness. That’s not to say that the combination of blacks and tones wouldn’t be cool. Just take a look at the GILAS panel. That’s eye-candy! They also got a special guest artist to do the cover -- Lan Medina (Fables, Punisher). So when will we be able to munch on #3? The issue leaves us hanging with a bunch of new revelations and cliffhangers. None of which I will spoil.
Since I was not able to attend KOMIKON last Saturday, I was not able to get a copy of Bayan Knights # 1 ...until today. Anyways, here goes the review:
NO MAJOR SPOILAGE! The issue deals with the aftermath of a bloody battle dubbed as "The War In Metro". But this war is not yet over. Still, a mysterious enemy is threatening the peace of the country and one man has made it his mission to stop whatever it is they're planning. But first, he must recruit heroes who will fight at his side.
I love this issue! I was already spoiled for the storyline 2 months prior but man, seeing the words on the art was awesome. As I've said before, the art is Gilbert Monsanto's best work to date. I love me those details. Reading the script for this 2 months ago, I was really psyched. It's a team book but the team is composed of superheroes created by different people -- the first time in Philippine komiks (I think). I like the way each character is introduced and how each of them plays a relevant part either in the plot or making the book more fun. Although, some characters do really stand out from the rest. Yes, Boy Ipis, I'm looking at you and all your ridiculous side comments.
Here's hoping we don't have to wait too long for issue # 2. Damn, it's hard reviewing this without giving away too much. So I'll be cutting this short. Oh before I forget, there are also 2-page spotlights ala DC's Secret Origins backup feature. This should give readers additional background information on some of the Bayan Knights.
This week, Sacred Mountain was finally able to release the long awaited second issue of Tropa. I was fortunate enough to find that a copy of the said issue was already available at Comic Odyssey in Eastwood City, Libis. So here goes... but first a complementary recap:
Last issue, we learned that for some weird coincidence (or it may be fate) a group of five friends have found themselves empowered with different abilities. Although at first not all of them knew about each other's powers, a reunion of sorts have had them reveal each others secrets to one another. However, this reunion was interrupted when they are suddenly attacked by a group of manananggals.
NO MAJOR SPOILAGE: Now... here's what I like about the story-telling style used by Mr. Monsanto: it's like watching the television series Lost. As the team go about attempting to ward off their attackers, we also learn a few more tidbits about their past... some more mysterious than others. And while some questions are answered, we also get new mysteries like: Who the heck is kuya? What the heck is she? What will happen to the new guy?
There are some beats of the story that I don't think fits one another: like mixing science-fiction (time-travel and an apocalyptic future) with fantastical elements (magic and monsters). But it's just me. Maybe in the long run I'll be able to love the mesh of these genres (like I was able to love the mesh of space and western on Firefly). I also have an inkling to where one subplot may go but I'm a sucker for this type of tragedies. I just hope that I'll get a wonderful surprise in the end.
I would also like to commend the fact that even though the art on this komik is a collaboration among may talents in the industry, it wasn't inconsistent. My greatest fear about this book is that the art would suck because we get a different artist on every page. I am happy to report that that is not the case. The artists' styles seamlessly complement one another resulting in a unnoticable change (okay, so maybe a little) in art style. I just hope that we always get this on every issue.
All in all it was a good issue and I will be coming back for more installments of this tale. I just hope that I don't have to wait another year for issue 3.
I was finally able to get my hands on Gilbert Monsanto's Sacred Mountain debut releases. First up is the flipbook RAMBOL KOMIKS which features Alagad Inc. (not pictured) and Metropolitan. What is most noticeable is ALAGAD INC's art style which gets much inspiration from Japanese manga and anime. The story is about some supernatural beings, most probably ancient deities of some sort, coming down from their domain to send a challenge to Earth's mightiest champions. A group called Alagad Inc. re-recruits some of its best agents to help in this time of crisis. On the flip side is Gilbert Monsanto's METROPOLITAN which brings back Monsanto's old characters from his 90's stint in Infinity, Sonic, GASI etc. Drawn by Monsanto himself, this Metropolitan features quite a lot of fight sequences. There is also some hint that the Biotrog character featured in this book may not be the Biotrog we know and grew up with.
Next is TROPA. This comics stars a group of high school friends imbued with different abilities via different circumstances. I'm not saying no more. All is explained in this "origin" issue. This comic was drawn by different artists like Gilbert Monsanto, Luisito G. Antonio, Jim Jimenez, and others. Though I was first bothered when I learned about this via Monsanto's blog, I was quite satisfied with the implementation and the results. Each artist draws each of the main character's origin story. Hopefully once we get a non-flashback story, we'll also get only one artist per issue.
All in all, I found the both books quite satisfactory. The materials used for these releases are also quite different from the komiks back in the day. Komiks before were printed on newspaper-like materials, Tropa was printed on glossy paper probably the ones used on magazines while Rambol on some thicker paper. My only big problem with the books specifically the flipbook Rambol Komiks was the coloring. Although Tropa was fully colored, Rambol only had colors on the first few pages, the rest were black and white. I would have preferred to have everything in black and white instead of having only the first few pages colored. I'm OC that way.
