grrrly power

a reader (i can count those with less fingers than a veteran Yakuza gang member) suggested to feature more Filipino comic artists who broke into the market here. and i thought, 'why the hell not?' we got talent on that side of the ocean, and on the average, they get hired-gun work for the biggies. i've no problem with that, as long as you develop your skills, get to a wider audience, put some food on the table and turn in an honest day's work (or maybe a little bit less) - all the things i never did. anyway, i got a short list, though i will need to rely on readers' input (again, less than the fingers on a Yakuza hand) on who else is out there. there isn't much pub for guys like those, and i'm afraid even getting featured on this blog will barely dent anything. should i start selling out and clutter this page with ads?

so let's kick off this series with a creator-owned work, and whose creator is of the female persuasion, no less.

Fil The Heat: Jinky Coronado/Banzai Girls

i've been meaning to feature this book for awhile now, but never had the time or frame of mind to do so (trust me, my Drafts list rivals the Posted list). well, here we are, and i'm still not in the proper frame of mind LOL.

Ms. Coronado is a US transplant and following a comic convention appearance dressed in a schoolgirl costume, Banzai Girls was born. it is no coincidence that her choice of wardrobe (for the characters and for herself) appeals to a huge (and predominantly male) demographic. hell, just start with the pic below.

Banzai Girls, published by Arcana Studios, follows the adventures of well, Jinky herself (and her sisters Michelle and Katie) as a young Filipina hottie barely out of high school and already rivaling Hanna Montana in popularity (well, in her world). that popularity also results in incidents like these:

that behavior will get you jail time ... anywhere else

as to what school in Manila allows the female students to dress this way, you got me, sugar.

what "adventures" would a young girl have in Manila, apart from sneaking out under the noses of their parents to hang out with the boys? oh, you'd be surprised ...

my high school never had stairs. hmp.

apparently, Katie is a Stateside popstar and goes to Manila for her education. what? no paparazzi stalkers, no YouTube scandals, no public meltdowns?? what is this world coming to?

never had a classmate like her either.

right, she's a well-adjusted teenager that she puts Blohan and Brit-Brit to shame. and she has no problem titillating and exposing herself to her male classmates, and ... most importantly, to her (gasp!) ... father Pepito. if Pepito is her dad, then i'm a young and sprightly 24 year old stud.

big girl. you suuuuuuure are.

she takes jeepneys to and from school, she survives doing so wearing a skirt so short it wouldn't cover Mini-Me, and she lives near a forest (where is that? Antipolo?) where she encounters creatures (kapre, dwende) of local myth. go figure. i guess Shrek wasn't available.

taking a page from the Japanese masters of provocative storytelling-a-lie, said creatures take a fancy on our scantily-clad heroine, and make her scantily-er, provoking heart palpitations across the pimple-faced geeks reading this book (yours truly excluded ... on the pimple-face part). oh, by the way, i don't think they have cellphone signals in the forest.

at least that's La Perla? or Victoria's Secret? what, its Fredericks'?!

another adventure has them pitted against a huge monster robot gone haywire, courtesy of the incompetence of the military industrial complex, headed by a ... cyclops referred to as 'The Overseer'. not kidding. he's a one-eyed general named Ryan Presley. yes, i wrote that down correctly. Elvis had too much to drink his eyes melded into one, and ... oh, just forget about it.

at least you only need to track one eye, Katie

Ms. Coronado apparently found her niche market, and we don't begrudge for sticking to themes that are familiar to her. however, one gets the feeling that with some tweaks, you can get this series to a bigger audience than tweeners.

Banzai Girls is meant to be tongue-in-cheek fare, and at least coming from a lady creator (oh, i can see the clucking and finger-wagging from the feminists and the conservatives), we should just sit back and enjoy it on its on merits (and skewer it for the opposite). Danger Girls, this ain't.


to see more Jinky, click here. and if you're interested, her sister Michelle, who's a fellow FHM model. yowza!