Seven Ways to Die



When you hear the title Killer 7, what comes to mind probably may be a movie, such as the European 'Survivor with Guns' flick Series 7. Or maybe the newest, bloody and controversial Japanese film in the vein of Battle Royale. Well, actually you're not too far off... at least, if you see the trailer. The images are graphic and pretty disturbing. Various individuals, obviously experts in murder, stalking about and shooting or slashing apart various demonic beings that shatter into countless little spheres of blood. There's a man in a luchador's mask (Mexican Wrestler) blowing away baddies with shotgun in each hand. A town explodes with a force like a nuclear blast. A woman in a bloodstained white dress stalks monsters armed with a pistol with a ridiculously large telescopic sight. Maniacal laughter follows as the hideously grinning creatures are blown away. An old man in a wheelchair aims a sniper rifle at a target in the next building- a cute, seemingly innocent schoolgirl with angel wings sprouting from her back. It all seems like a nightmarish TV show.

What the Hell?

No, you're not in Hell. These are just images from Killer 7, an upcoming action-shooter adventure game from Capcom, the makers of Streetfighter and Resident Evil. Described as a "Post-Modern Action Drama", Killer 7 tells the story of Harman Smith, a 60-something senior citizen confined to a wheelchair. He's been hired by a 'U.S'-type government to assassinate Kun Lan, the leader of a powerful terrorist organization that is behind the sudden appearance of Heaven Smiles, the aforementioned hideously grinning monsters which are in effect walking time bombs. So how's a 60 year old cripple going to stop an army of exploding monsters and the terrorists that created them? Well, it's not appearances that counts- just what he has inside. Harman's got a unique condition- he's got seven distinct personalities inside his brain- seven deadly killers who can actually step out of Harman's grey matter and take actual physical form to dish out some pain.

The Seven members of the "Smith Alliance" are a varied bunch. There's Garcian, a dapper dude in a suit who's pretty much a take-no-prisoners agent and Killer 7's front man. He has clairvoyant powers and can sense Heaven Smiles when they are close. Then it's all a matter of blowing them away. Garcian is also 'the cleaner', and as such he cleans up the messes the other personas leave- so if they get killed, it's Garcian's job to collect their remains so they can be put back good as new. Cool, huh?
Dan is your all-around tough guy with the ability to ignite deadly fires. Coyote is a sneak thief who, like Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, is a 'Master of Unlocking'. Con is a blind kid who nonetheless can fight pretty well and move faster than lightning. Mask looks like a luchador (Mexican wrestler) with his mask and big physique- he's got the most firepower and the muscle to back it up. Then there's Kevin, who's a bit of an outcast, who uses exclusively knives to lay targets low.


Man, this game would make a great movie.

Finally, there's Kaede, the only babe in the bunch. She's a shy, introverted young lady who appears usually dressed in a lovely white sundress that seems perpetually splattered with blood. Oh, and while she's armed with a pretty large and imposing pistol, her main power is the disrupt enemy energy barriers and other obstacles by slitting her wrists (Yeesh) and spraying the surroundings with her virus-infused red stuff. Well, that explains the dress. Obviously, Killer 7 is an cinch to have a Mature rating.

Killer 7's visuals are pretty cool stuff, exhibiting the same cel-shaded look last seen in Zelda: The Wind Waker and the shooter XIII. However, the mad characters and the odd direction have me gripped. It's all so twisted and weird, like how the interface between your characters looks like an old style TV, and how thhe disjoined scenes in the trailer make it look like a movie.
The game will be played from mostly a 3rd person perspective, but actual shooting will switch your view to first person. The camera angles are also unusual, giving interesting views (which coincidentally give players a nice view of Kaede's bare legs as she runs down corridors).
I'm hoping though that all this weirdness still gives way to an understandable story, though the producers have said in some interviews that the game is meant to have an "open-ended" story (which means ya gotta watch it several times to get it). I've actually got high hopes for this game- a combination of those wild Japanese live-action movies and gritty anime (like the disappointing Gantz) where you can be the hero. Or better yet, SEVEN heroes.

This is pretty out-there stuff, and I love it. The best thing is that it's coming very soon! Killer 7 will be coming to both Gamecube and PS2 in early June 2005. Yummy.

Angel Ace JET



The next Angel Ace story I'll be working on publishing will be entitled Angel Ace JET. As the story goes, Angela Gale aka Angel Ace has been staying at Mike's place in Newhaven. Things are just peachy for the adventurer-fugitive-turned-everyday girl-next-door. Well, that is, until the pizza guy comes in with a salami special laced with plastique. It soon turns out that The Sorcerer is back and he's aching for revenge against those who put him in the slammer several months ago. And when the masked menace finds out that Angel is still alive, he ups the ante and brings in some heavy artillery to take down the Flying Princess once and for all.

This is a much more action-packed story than anything else, and will show off Angel's skills fighting in the air against multiple enemies. It was pretty cool drawing this the first time around at least a year ago, since I've never really drawn Angel doing aerial battle sequences until that time. Good thing that the pencils have grown well- I'll have to touch up several pages, but I think I can use most of the art for the release.

With K.I.A. looking like it's selling well (which is good for the book's price), I'll start working seriously on JET probably starting May. Things go well, we should be seeing the book come out later this year or early in 2006. Yep, Angel's gonna fly again... and then some.

To Market! Market!


Doing lunch at China Star.

Today, the denizens of the Salt Mines threw off their yoke and hied off to the sunny land that is Market! Market! I've heard a lot of things about this huge mall complex, particularly about how jologs it is. Well, imagine my surprise to see a nice, roomy and fun-looking place with lots of places to eat and have fun. I'd love to get a chance to really explore the location- perhaps when I take a break or something. But for now, it was just fun to enjoy an office-sponsored lunch (celebrating our favorite suit-person Neenu) and then to make an ocular inspection of places to put ads. Still, afterwards I felt really sleepy after gorging myself on dimsum, hot-and-sour soup, stewed pork, tofu and shrimp. Darn, that was good.
Of course, the fun didn't last and soon the overlords had us marching back to work. Oh well. It was great while it lasted. Heh.


The wildlife here is pretty interesting... AAAAHH! MY ARM!!!

Megalomaniacally Hilarious

Read this.

Nuff said. Heh.

Gaming Bits

Went over to the gameshops after lunch. While other gamers were going ga-ga over Grann Turismo 4 or Doom 3, I got myself a copy of Rise of the Kasai, the sequel to the stylish stealth-action fantasy adventure, Mark of Kri. This hack-and-slasher puts you in control of the various Raku warriors- main man Rau, his vicious sister Tati, and their seniors Baumusu and Griz in a story that spans both past and future to save a hero's life and soul. The game, once touted to have an online component and/or two-player cooperative play, is not limited to a one-player experience, with players fighting alongside a CPU-controlled ally. This has it's share of hang-ups, mainly because of the A.I. partner's tendency to space out and act like a doofus when you least expect it.

Still, I'm pretty excited to play through Kasai mainly to see the intriguing story unfold through beautiful cinematics that have been described as 'oriental brush paintings come to life'. If only for that, I'll be happy.

In some other gaming news...

The next Xbox, or Xbox Next (Nextbox?) will probably have no shortage of cool fighting games, since a newly-released list of publishers for the upcoming platform includes fighting heavyweights like Capcom, Sega, Namco, Tecmo and Konami. Tekken is almost certainly a Sony exclusive, as much as Dead or Alive is sure to be a Microsoft Ace in the Hole. Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter... hopefully we'll see where these flagship fighters end up when more is revealed this coming E3 in May.

More and more Playstation Portables are appearing in local stores. But you won't be seeing me plunk down the 17K for a unit anytime soon, what with games having questionable quality AND a high price of about Php3,000+ a UMD. This plus all those rampart rumors of dead pixels and screen glitches. Nah... I probably won't get a PSP until the fourth or fifth generation of games. Time will tell.

Where IS the next Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy XII? The game seems to have totally slipped every schedule or due date so far given, and we've seen nothing on the game or it's characters. I really didn't find the art or designs so far revealed to be that intriguing at all, so if the game's been sent back to the drawing boards, fine. Has the vein of gold that was FF finally run dry? Once again a waiting game. Sigh.

Can't wait for the weekend to try out some new Cheats with my new Action Replay disc. Nice stuff, like, all characters and costumes unlocked in the raunchy Rumble Roses. Or fiddling with character models in Tekken 5. This should be fun. Heh. For tonight though, I'll try to slip in a session or two with Tati and Rau. Chop-chop!

Body Clock

It never fails. If I have something at work that requires me to go early in the morning, I usually make it a point to go to bed a lot earlier than usual- say, midnight or so.

The odd thing is, eveytime I do so, I end up waking up too early, at which point I go back to bed and then wake up a couple of hours later, groggier than ever. BAH.

I had a nine o' clock thing today, so I got to bed at about midnight. Woke up at about 2 AM. Bile, bitter-sweet bile, rose to my throat and you know, that really SUCKS to have that taste in the back of your mouth. I go to the bathroom to gargle and try to clear my throat of the taste. My Dad hears me and then he thinks I have a throat thing like I did weeks ago and he says that I am still having that throat thing (which I don't) because I don't follow his instructions to gargle thoroughly hot salt water and swallow it after (Ugh). Well, I didn't, really, but then I didn't have the throat thing either. I tried explaining this, but gave up after a couple of fumbling words.

"No, no, it's not my throat- well it is but not what you think. It's just that bile rose up..."

My words trail off and I drink some water to clear my throat. My brain wasn't working well. It's darn 2 AM and I woke up five hours too early.

Flopped back into bed. Woke up again at 6:30 AM, an hour before my alarm clock rings. The thing is with airconditioned rooms, it seems to suck out all your moisture so my lips and throat are parched. I go out and have a drink of cold water, then flop back in. I hover between sleep and waiting as the seconds tick to the loud alarm.

So when it finally does come, I'm groggy. Can't complain though... I'm up and sleep has more or less given its quota. Off to take on the rest of the day. Yay.

Mindless Action

Over the weekend I got myself a couple of below-par fighters/beat 'em ups for the ol' Xbox.

One is Iron Pheonix, an oriental fantasy-themed multi-player weapons fighter. The game is set in a land that kinda resembles ancient China. As the story goes, a meteor crashes into the kingdom, and the metal found at the crater is soon made into powerful, magical weapons. It is in these weapons, and on the hands of those who wield them, where the fate of the entire realm will be decided. That premise is all the story we're going to get since Iron Pheonix doesn't have a Story Mode like most fighters. There's just basically an offline mode for non-Xbox Live players, and the more copious options for online play. Well, for the most part the game looks nice, but I've seen much better. With no real meat to the characters (which range from various males and females and the odd undead) and this game is just not my style. Probably cool for party gamers, but again, the lack of character, substance and presentation just communicate dull, dull, dull.

The other title I got is Spike Out Extreme, a title originally from Sega. This basically is a Final Fight-style battler, with players taking their chosen brawler out to put paid to various thugs and the occasional boss. There's a story mode, where you play as a main character chosen to save his estranged dad and defeat an evil gang. For the most part, the game looks good, albeit a bit retro. The action is all about using your punches, kicks and combos to get from one end of a stage to the other to fight a boss and break down a gate. Sega fight fans may appreciate the retro feel of the game- and the easy gameplay should please anyone looking to let off a bit of stress. The cheezy in-game cinemas are pretty hilarious, like an eighties American karate revenge flick- and we all know how good those things are. Well, I gave up after an hour. Wow. That was time well spent.

I guess I really can't express any more grade-A titles on the Xbox... or perhaps even on PS2 anymore. Soul Calibur III seems to be the last great fighter coming to the present crop of consoles. The next generation of games are already being produced right now as we speak, to so far unseen consoles and platforms. Can you say... Dead or Alive 4 on Xbox Next? Heh. We'll see. Anyway, I still have some cool games right now to look forward to playing: Rise of the Kasai and Brothers In Arms. Those should take up my time better. WHEN I finally get a chance to play them, that is.

M.I.A.

Went to Comic Quest yesterday and looked over the comic rack. I looked for the sample copy of K.I.A., which I assumed had been mixed up with the other books. It wasn't in the rack. It wasn't in the nearby comic book bin or the big magazine rack for Summit publications.

Maybe someone stole the K.I.A. sample copy!

I'd actually feel flattered, instead of irritated, if this happened. But probably the copy was just misplaced. Still, wouldn't it be cool if someone actually took the effort to steal an issue? K.I.A.'s a steal! Heh.

Seen City


Best. Comic-Movie. Ever.

Walk down any alley in Sin City, and you can find anything.

That’s a line you’ll hear Mickey Rourke’s character Marv utter from the movie Sin City, and this seems to also hold true for here in Metro Manila. For literally, in some back-alley, I found myself a dvd copy of this Robert Rodriguez-Frank Miller opus. Now, suffice to say that I would NEVER go through the lengths I did for just any film (the only other film I can think of is Final Fantasy Advent Children). But this was Sin City, a movie that is touted to be THE most true translation of a graphic novel to cinematic form, and I just could not resist the temptation. It’s fitting, I think. Anyway, I did promise myself that I would NOT watch the film if the copy was bad- well, the picture is obviously a film transfer, but it is actually quite watchable- thanks to the fact that most of the film is in black and white anyway. It was the sound though- very good sound- that got me going forward and watching the whole thing.

My gosh. What a rush.

Sin City is a visual feast. It is, literally, a graphic novel, a comic translated into film seemingly panel-for-panel, image for image, character for character. It also seems to have gone through word-for-word, since the film has tons of dialogue- monologues, comic booky-lines and paragraphs of text uttered as blatantly as text boxes. However, it works. You watch the rich images onscreen and absorb every word and it works.

Suffice to say that this film is not for everyone. It doesn’t shirk from the expected violence gleaned from the source material. The hard hits are toned down by the fact that blood is often of a different color than red, or the comical reactions of some characters to getting perforated by bullets or impaled by arrows. Stilll, it’s not for the squeamish, though all of us movie geeks who loved Kill Bill will feel right at home.
As for the nudity, there are several scenes with frontal nudity, which I feel will get the censors’ scissors… get the DVD, people, for the full view of Carla Gugino’s perfect bumpers. Heh.

The blood and T&A aside though, Sin City is a menagerie of dark stories, interconnected slightly as characters from each of the three chapters appear throughout. The best of the three is easily The Hard Goodbye, involving concrete-hard thug Marv’s relentless, shake-heaven-and-hell hunt for the murderer of his ‘angel’, Goldie (Jamie King in a double-role). As I’ve heard and read in reviews, the casting of Elijah Wood in the role of the silent but deadly Kevin is a master stroke.

The Big Fat Kill comes in second, relating the attempt of shadowy good guy Dwight (Clive Owen) to protect the Ladies of Old Town (gun-toting, self-protecting hookers) when a fragile truce is endangered. This has tons of ladies in leather and skimpy outfits with guns, though it’s head superbitch Gail (played by Rosario Dawson who looks a UNIVERSE away from her character in Men In Black 2) and mute super slayer Miho (a thoroughly ninja-licious Devon Aoki) who own the screen. My only gripe is that Michael Clarke Duncan’s villain Manute isn’t given enough screen time or explanation. Otherwise, this chapter has girls, guns, swords, IRA hitmen and Devon Aoki jumping around with swords. DAMN!

Finally, there’s the chapter devoted to adapting That Yellow Bastard. This story is split, both beginning and ending the film. It’s mainly about aging honest cop Hartigan (Bruce Willis at his most intense) trying to protect the life of lovely Nancy Callaghan (Jessica Alba), a girl targeted by the titular Yellow Bastard (Nick Stahl from Terminator 3). Some say it’s the sweetest yarn, a love story between an old soldier and an innocent angel, and it is easily the most dramatic- though I reserve the sweetest for Hard Goodbye. Still, Jessica Alba is radiant, while Bruce Willis is at his most brooding best here. Can’t say no to that.

Overall, the movie is the same as the comics- dark, brooding and often depressing. But with the depression and despair comes courage that defies all odds and ultimately wins redemption for the blood-spattered souls in Basin City. It’s not hard to see why the Sin City books are so popular. I’m already a fan just from watching the movie.

Sin City delivers. Yes, I agree with the gushing reviews. Yes, this is THE most perfect comic to movie translation yet. It’s true, it’s true. The casting and imagery perfectly capture the comic. The performances vary, but all in all this shows solid work by an incredible emsemble cast. The men are men, the ladies and ladies and damn sweet. Ah, the ladies.

Darn great watch. Right up there with Kung Fu Hustle for my fave movies of the year so far. Gonna watch this film again with the gang at the theaters. Gonna get the DVD. Might even get the comics. What can I say? Sin City ROCKS. We want more, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Miller. MORE!

It Came From The Cyberzone...

Went around the Cyberzone at Megamall last night. The Nokia 3230 smartphone is already available at the shops for about 22K, which makes it a lot cheaper relatively to phones like the 7610 and 6630 did when they debuted. For that, you get a nice 1.3 Megapixel camera, a big screen, cool multimedia and an FM radio, and more. The form factor's actually a bit odd... it kinda looks like a TV to me, with the scrunched-up keys at the bottom, but it's a cool phone. I winced when I saw displays of the O2 XDA II Mini and the I-mate JAM (which are basically the same)... the smallest PPC phone is already being advertised on TV, and from what I can follow it's pretty popular. Which is GOOD since that will hopefully drive prices down a lot later this year, when I MAY consider upgrading to one. Mmm.

What else... no new games... I am still looking to get a copy of Rise of the Kasai despite some reviews mentioning some faulty AI. I really want this game, so there. Got a copy of EGM, which was pretty cool... but I am reeling from how crappy the DVD of the latest PSM Magazine was. BAH. Well, whatever. I'll try to go to Greenhills this weekend and get me a Clone Wars dvd and a game or two. Oh, how I love my breaktime.

Better Late than Never


Mike Banting and me at Comic Quest.

The first time I met Mike Banting was apparently two years ago, at the C3Con. I do remember him, though I'm horrible with names so I couldn't connect very well faces with names. Anyway, it was during that Con of Cons that I formulated the idea for K.I.A. and started recruiting people like Hai, Wilson Tortosa and Gerry to do stuff for the anthology.
I saw the work of Mike and Chad in their ashcan, and I was particularly struck by an artwork of a martial arts girl they drew. I liked the style and so I e-mailed them, asking them if they would like to join the K.I.A. project. They were very enthusiastic and sent in cool art and pages. All our communications were through e-mail, so it was pretty cool that, almost two years later, with K.I.A. finally a reality, I was able to meet them. Well, at least Mike, since Chad is out of the country. Too bad they missed out on the pizza and chicken and meeting the other Team K.I.A. members, but we'll have another meet and greet someday.

It was really nice to meet such talented and enthusiastic comic people, and to be able to have their talents on board to make stuff like K.I.A. what it is now. Thanks, Mike! Let's all work together again soon.

Old Favorite



Last night, it was just me and Vin, and for dinner we took a drive over to Countryside restaurant over at Katipunan. This place is an institution in the area. No ambience, really- though it does possess a simple, back-to-basics provincial charm- but the barbecue is divine. We ordered our staples- me just simple sticks of pork barbecue, while Vin has his chicken gizzards and pork ears. But the capper for us was the chicken sotanghon soup, which we both loved and first tasted at least a year or two ago. Since that first time we haven’t been able to get an opportunity to order the soup again (it was either not in stock or in one instance, even forgotten), but tonight was a reunion.
The soup had that comforting, strong flavor- may be a bit salty for other people, but we both were getting second and third helpings. Yum. This was something to be savored, since we probably wouldn’t get this meal again anytime soon.

On the television in the common area, we watched the funeral of Pope John Paul II. We talked about stuff both about the Pope and about the world at large. Good things, bad things, weird things. But in the end it was all about that yummy chicken sotanghon soup. If only every problem and argument could be solved or at least forgotten over a meal. Oh well.

Tightening Belts

Though K.I.A.'s out, I am still paying for it. The balance for the printing is due at the end of the month, and so I have to cut down costs when I have to. This past week had me paying bills, and more will come next week. But really, things should go smoothly, so long as I minimize extravagant expenditures. So I just have to...

Minimize my morning taxi rides- which come at about Php200 from home to the office

Resist any bloodletting at the Blood Bank that's not a priority title or book

Avoid going to Comic Alley or anime shops and keep my eyes away from any Gashopon figurine sets

Resist getting any DVD sets or splurging on large numbers of anime VCDs

Just following these four items should help get me through the month comfortably enough. I still see myself getting my bare essential comics every week, and maybe a game or two this weekend at Greenhills. After everything's said and done I can finally think about other stuff and maybe even be a Phone Whore again. HOHO! We'll see.

Battle Stations

This whole week has been a bit of a storm of work. It was so busy, I couldn't afford to not come to the office, though a couple of days I was teetering on the precipice of getting sick. Usually I'd come home and stay up for a while, enjoying replays of primetime series on AXN after midnight... but for this whole week I came home, just watched the news and was in bed by midnight. However, this has its drawbacks too. Going to bed early makes me get up early. I'd suddenly bolt up at about 5:30 AM, take a bathroom stop, have a glass of cold water and flop back into bed. Then I'd wake up from the alarm clock groggy and befuddled as if I'd gone to bed at 3 or 4. BAH.

Anyway, thankfully I didn't get totally sick. Taking vitamins helped, and though I felt like a rotting zombie by Wednesday, a couple of pills and some more rest helped a lot. Ya gotta love drugs. Mahahaha!

So by now, I'm almost normal. Still busy though. And that should carry through for several more weeks. Sigh.

At leat this week's about to end, thank goodness. Looking forward to a pause in the action, even for a little while.

FedExecution

Jeremy posted this COOL K.I.A.-themed strip to celebrate the arrival of his copies. Awesome, Jeremy! So if you haven't gotten your copy of Kai's debut comic yet, take a jaunt down to Comic Quest and grab a copy. Especially since having K.I.A. delivered seems to be pretty dangerous...


K.I.A. Delivery by Jeremy Arambulo.


K.I.A. Vol. 1 - Kai: Indomitable Assassin is now available at Comic Quest, for Php195. Get your copy now!

More Manga



This is a pleasant surprise. The last time I saw Cherry Blossom High was last, last year, during the C3Con. This project, helmed by Jason, got a bunch of us together (including me, Vin, Dean, Elbert, Hai and Joel Chua) to produce a manga anthology for girls (shoujo manga). Yep, this predates Mango JAM, though admittedly we may be at a disadvantage since NONE of us are girls (at least, I think). Well, it's now out so we hope you give it a shot.
The four stories inside range from Buffy-like supernatural action (Crystal) to fantasy (Clockwork), mystery (Beach Blossoms) to teen romance. The art's pretty good, the stories nice (in a girly way) so check it out!



Jason and Armor Troopers' artist Armand Roy Canlas bring you a one-shot about a youth thrown into a war between magical fighting machines and aliens.

Both of these books are priced at Php80 and can be found exclusively at Comic Quest, your indie comic source! Go get 'em! And a copy of K.I.A. in case you haven't gotten one already. Heh.

Tomb Raider Legend


The New Lara Croft.

Despite a thoroughly horrible second movie (which not even uber-babe Angelina Jolie could make interesting) and lackluster games, Lara Croft is still a hot character, and she's just waiting for that big score to strike it rich again. That just may be the next game, Tomb Raider: Legend, which has been officially announced by Eidos. The game will be a 'return to the roots' for the character and the games, and to support this, original Tomb Raider designer Toby Gard has been brought on board in the development. Supposedly, the new game will return to the 'fundamental exploration and solve' experience which made the first games so addictive.

Thankfully, despite a 'back to basics' theme, the next Tomb Raider won't be featuring the original graphics of the first game. As you can see from the image above, Lara will be a LOT more detailed, featuring lots of spry and sexy new animations and moves, and an arsenal of new tomb-raiding stuff.

Tomb Raider: Legend is set for release on PS2, Xbox and PC. We'll see then if Lara still got the goods.

Ding! Nakakabato!


Angel Locsin takes flight as Darna!

It's been hyped to death in full page print ads on the broadsheets, preceded by TV documentary features and even segments on GMA news. This week, the wait ended for Pinoys as the much-anticipated Darna TV series finally went on air. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the 30-minute pilot episode, since the show's at the primetime slot in evenings, at a time when I'm out on the road or having dinner at Megamall. Well, the first episode is THE talk of the town right now at the Alamat mailing list, and it's pretty hilarious. I mean, the mailing list is pretty full of comic book people who are VERY fickle and have high standards. Of course you'd expect them to say if crap is crap.

Well, the word on the first Darna episode is pretty clear. It's the same old, same old. Expecting something fresh and new and groundbreaking that will appeal to both masa and comic-book fan alike?

What the hell were you thinking?

We've got the rich vs. poor angle yet again, perpetuating the fact that this tripe really is just for the masa who love rooting for the underdog. Rich people burn down poor people's houses, harrass and oppress them and generally gives a young Narda the reason to kick their asses once she becomes Darna (of course that won't happen since she's a good guy). BAH.

You've got CRYING, SCREAMING, BAWLING and more CRYING. CRY, CRY, CRY. This is a superhero adventure, not a tearjerker drama, DAMN IT. Get the the action!!! Give us strength, give us faith! Don't give us more reasons to hate rich people!

You've got designs of spaceships ripped from Star Wars. Hmm. Maybe Lucasfilm is using Darna to hype Episode III?

You have cheesy acting and cookie-cutter characters. Well, that was pretty much expected.

Darna doesn't even show up in the first episode! Wow, I guess a lot of Angel Locsin fans were disappointed. Heh.

Even in the office, people are saying that so far the first couple of episodes are slow, slow, slow. And I thought our scriptwriters learned something from all those fast-paced and addictive Korean/Mexican series that are gobbling up ratings? Take two steps back...

Anyway, I still want to see an episode, if only so I can rant more effectively. But then, if this is like Mulawin, I'll probably lose interest if nothing but boring dialogue or flirting happens for five minutes straight. Moving on...

Around the World in 80 Girls

Watched an episode of Oprah which was pretty interesting. It featured segments from all over the world and showed what the life of a 30-year old female was like in countries aside from America. It was pretty fascinating to see and learn stuff like...

Women in Kuwait live like royalty, getting free education, world-class health care and cash gifts from the government. The Kuwaiti woman featured owns her own fleet of luxury cars, has her own home and can shop and buy anything she likes. The only con? She can't vote. Poor baby.

Women in Mexico don't diet or watch their weight since Mexican men love curves. Unfortunately for the tequila-drinking, siesta-taking Mexicanas, infidelity is rampant and the law heavily skewed in favor of the philandering males.

Women in England are very available since there are 4 women for every man.

Women in Australia have to take lots of sun block since Down Under is the Skin Cancer capital of the world...

Women in Brazil work more on their bodies and beauty treatments than much anything else.

As for women in The Philippines, our local lasses are personified on the episode by model Angel Aquino, who talked about how we Pinoys enjoy breaks like merienda, and how we love our coffee (we have 67 Starbucks!).

It's not all sweet and light though; women in Iraq have to contend with the danger of rape, murder and the constant lack of order and basic necessities like electricity and water. Good thing some women can pack an AK-47 to defend themselves.

The climax of the show was the feature of a 30-year old woman in Ghana, where a terrible act of genocide almost massacred an entire race of people. The woman survived and escaped the murderous militia that killed her entire family, and went on to become a mother to her child and two adopted orphans. Oprah finished the show by having the woman on her show and granting her most fervent wish- to attend college.

Wow. I should watch this show more often. Heh.

Local Comic Buzz

Over pizza and chicken during the K.I.A. Meet and Greet, I was able to chat with old and new friends, and learn about stuff that's going to happen in the future. Well, since the people I chatted with are all Komikeros and grafictionists, the range of predictions is limited to this arena. Sorry, no Lottery combinations.

Anyway, Arnold Arre is working on a gaggle of stuff, including a collaboration with Lastikman scribe Gerry Alanguilan for a super spin-off title starring their new heroine Atomika, a remastered edition of his classic Mythology Class complete with all-new scenes, fleshing-out of character and other goodies (think the Star Wars sequels but a LOT better acting and no Jar Jar Binks) and the mysterious Martial Law Babies book.

Dean Alfar has been teased into taking out his first, though as yet incomplete, comic project, The Lost from the back burner and hopefully into the light as a trade paperback/collected release.

Jennyson Rosero showed off his lovely lovely No Man's Land manga from international publisher Seven Seas, and we can probably look forward to at least several more issues of this Witchcraft meets Wild West title. More BABES, Jen! More BABES!!!

Marvin del Mundo and Michael Seludo are still working on Ignition Comix, their cool anthology comic-zine, with issue 3 on the way.

While he was conspicuously absent during the Meet and Greet, Baylans master Jason Banico has secured the release of a couple of Psicom-published local manga comics- the teeny-bopper anthology Cherry Blossom High (which the gang worked on), and the fantasy-mecha adventure Mystic Machine Maharlika.

As for what's next for me? The beginnings of the next volume of K.I.A. is already being worked out in my head. What about Angel Ace? I am trying to work out how to keep both characters running, if not both books. We'll see what comes out... suffice to say, Kai and Angel are forever linked, and you can never really have one without the other... at least not for too long. Flip book? Cross-over? Somehow, someway, I'll make it work. I guess only time will tell. Heh. Yeah, I AM a tease.