Alanguilan’s Bakokak whets your kaiju
fix before Pacific Rim
by rick olivares
Pacific Rim 2, or Uprising as the
sequel to the popular film about giant monsters terrorizing what is left of the
free world is due in the next five weeks. And if you’re that Kaiju (the
Japanese term for giant sized monster films) fan, or even one who loves the
whole fantasy genre of comic books or who was weaned on anime and manga, you’ll
want to whet your appetite with this new mini-graphic novel, Bakokak, from the
fertile imagination of internationally renowned comic book creator Gerry
Alanguilan and Kevin Ray Valentino.
Bakokak is a 92-page black and
white story about this giant frog that is horribly mutated by the meltdown of
the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan and this kaiju arrives and threatens the
Philippines.
This is a fun read. I love how
Gerry continues to mine his childhood days – of things that fascinated him and
held his imagination. Bakokak is the latest and is an interesting left field
choice after Rodski Patotski which is about a child genius.
Gerry even as I knew him during
our college days was a kindred spirit; an old soul who thought deep and always
had a sense of humor. And looking at the cover of this giant frog looming over
the homes – I had to chuckle. It was like Bakokak and the creators were having
a piss at the genre; a laugh if you will. No highly intellectual stuff here,
folks. Plain old comic book fun.
You see even with Rodksi
Patotski, Gerry hasn’t forgotten that comics or komiks in the vernacular, is
escapist fare. Not everything can be highbrow and intellectual. Sometimes, it’s
plain old fun. Rock and roll, you know. Bakokak can be cliché-ish – the down-on-his
luck scientist, the arrogant and clueless military commander, but it is fine.
It’s fun. And I love it.
Valentino’s art is perfect for
Gerry’s prose or storytelling. A touch of Geoff Darrow here and there. And you
know what is coming – the carnage and the destruction. The spread of pages 32
and 33 is astounding. Just as Arnold Arre was perfect for Alanguilan’s Rodski
Patotski, so is Valentino for Bakokak. Minimalist but no less engaging.
The character of David Dalangib
reminds me (whether coincidental or not, it is cool) of Jeff Goldblum’s
character of David Levinson, the technical expert in the film, Independence
Day.
The way Dalangib deals with the
threat of Bakokak is smart, novel, but also appalling. Truly, war, especially
against kaijus, is hell. That giant fly
robot? Man, it reminded me of Mechagodzilla in the first Godzilla film I ever
saw.
I am not going to delve into any
pseudo-intellectual analysis because this is not what this graphic novel from
Alanguilan’s Komikero Publishing is all about. It’s fun, short, and reminds you
of things that we enjoyed from a much simpler time. And that is why we should
be thankful to creators like Gerry and Kevin Ray. And to the medium, black and
white warts and all, of comics.
