At the recent summer Komikon, I had the pleasure of finding a rather interesting comic on the table, produced by Polyhedron Comics. For those of you who wish to ask: yes, we have confirmed that it is named for the d20 – these guys are dice chuckers!  The title of the comic in question is “CADRE Presents: Amerikanong Hilaw”, and its tale was penned by Emil Flores, a known short story writer and a teacher at the UP Department of English and Comparative Literature.  An advocate of comics, he finally decided to grace us with a work in comic form, after a history of staying well within the realms of prose.  With a cover done by none other than Mr. Arnold Arre and having been written by a published short story writer, “Amerikanong Hilaw” promised to be an interesting read.  And was it ever.

The main protagonist of the comic, Arturo Ganigan, an N.B.I. Agent, had appeared before in one of Flores’ short stories, but even without reading the story in question, one could immediately connect with and understand Ganigan’s character.  Working in the Philippines but having grown up elsewhere, this particular protagonist has all the makings of a Pinoy private eye-slash-action superstar with a steady moral compass that points toward “right”.  With the help of his colleagues, Noel Galzote (the show-off) and Barbie Benigno (the tech girl), Ganigan tracks down leads and gets to the bottom of cases –- although this does not necessarily mean that there is a satisfying resolution, a device which allows us to echo much of what Ganigan likely feels.  Couple this with the rather interesting mix of English and colloquial Filipino –- Ganigan thinks in English, and communicates in Tagalog or Taglish with the people around him for the most part –- and we find that who this man is in his head is not quite the same as who he presents himself as.

With regards to the execution of the comic, there is this to be said: brilliant.  It managed to retain a film noir feel to the entire tale without resorting to gritty artwork, for which, I commend artist Ronald Escultura.  The depictions of the characters themselves seem to be very well done, not necessarily being predictable, but still quite suitable for their personalities; no caricatures in this work. 

Apart from doing so well with the character designs, Escultura, probably working closely with Flores, made good use of the paneling.  Again, it must be pointed out that paneling is KEY when comes to pacing a story in the comic format.  The paneling of “Amerikanong Hilaw” puts to mind the movement of a proper film, with some parts slow and steady, denoted by panels that are roughly the same size, while others have more impact in terms of the time lapsed, smaller panels are “speedier.”  There is enough action and subtle comedy in this comic to make my toes wiggle with glee.

Character complexities, well-executed designs, and very good pacing makes “Amerikanong Hilaw” a very memorable comic, and, as we speak, I find myself waiting for the next one-shot comic that Polyhedron Comics – along with Emil Flores – will produce. 

For more information on this comic series, visit their multiply account.