Review: The Filipino Heroes League: Book One: Sticks and Stones

The Filipino Heroes League: Book One: Sticks and Stones by Paolo Fabregas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“The Filipino Heroes League”. Just try chewing on that concept for a sec. Just think about a gang of supers running amidst not some skyscrapered American city, but among the road of EDSA, the community of Payatas, the incredibly politicized government of the Philippines. Yeah, I just realized how that looked like in my eyes.

Ok, I honestly can’t say that I’m knowledgeable in the field of comics, but man, was I taken aback by this band of heroes. Okay, you may have heard of the detective Trese of Murder On Balete Drive, maybe even Zsazsa Zaturnnah of Ang Kagilagilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsazsa Zaturnnah, or perhaps Andong Agimat of Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat, and these personalities may have (if you’re familiar with their stories) already given you beforehand of an idea of just how hard it sometimes gets when you wanna protect not just your family and friends, but the entire Filipino nation.

While I wasn’t surprised to hear of politics weaving its way into these heroes lives, I suppose I wasn’t prepared to see traces of recent history written in them too. The heroes themselves were very real and very human, while possessing their superpowers. [I wish I could make commentary on about how this volume is very much like or not at all like American comics, but sadly, as previously mentioned, I’m not very informed on the subject.] Their characters and habits are quite Filipino-like, really… Not to mention the setting and overall environment. <spoiler>Would you believe in the concept “Overseas Filipino Heroes”?</spoiler>

The art was pretty well-executed. The dialogues are quite readable and understandable, and I have not seen a typo here or there, heh. (Yes, it’s in English.) There’s a lot of action, surprising revelations, the sexy girl and the dashing dude. There’s even talk about costumes, of financial difficulties, of the unknown boss. There are definitely villains– even supervillains! The thread that maintains what is good and evil is somewhat thin, and it’s almost difficult to know who you should believe in. The storyline is interesting in itself, and I’m definitely looking forward to Book 2.

[Holy. I like reading comics made by Filipinos (Gerry Alanguilan, Arnold Arre, Budjette Tan, etc), and by God am I surprised to find this last book among a seemingly untouched Filipiniana shelf in some school supplies store. Suh-weet, I tell you 😉 I was also rather surprised to find out that this volume was copyrighted in 2009. Two years ago! Interesting. Budjette Tan’s foreword was dated Dec. 2010, though… Budjette Tan! Woo! Just… you know, mind blown n.nb]

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