COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Bleak #1 – Takes The Philippines Into An Alien Infested Future.
Plot and Art: Avery Hipol
Words: Sherwin Uy
Published by: Lightbox Comics
Bleak is an alien invasion story set in the Philippines in the year 2065. Earth has been conquered by a malevolent alien race, and with the country in turmoil, it’s up for the remaining Filipinos to defend whatever’s left with the country, and possibly drive the invaders away completely.
Bleak is a fast-paced story. It’s so fast-paced, that after a few page flips, 400 days have passed since the initial invasion. To be honest, I think it could have done without those full-panel Day X highlights, and have them delegated into smaller focus panels instead. It’s a short story totalling just 20 pages, and it could have used a bit more flavouring in the middle. The comic tackles an end-of-the world scenario caused by a cataclysmic alien invasion. So yeah, been there, done that. In cases like this, you try really hard to find that one pivotal detail that would give a theme so commonly used a fresh perspective. I failed to find one in this story. It’s an endless stream of literary tropes—a tragic backstory, a possibly false beacon of hope, and a literal bomb that might be the reason for their redemption. There is also no significance in it being set in the Philippines, or at least it hasn’t manifested itself yet. In fact, if you blot out all the tiny details and inscriptions such as “Manila”, “Philippines”, and other related words, in English or otherwise, the story could as might as well be set in downtown Detroit. Is the Filipino identity coming into play in the story? These issues however could be addressed by the fact that this is Bleak’s debut issue. The creators are just setting up the primary details of the story, and things might come together in the succeeding issues.
The art is pretty okay. There are some panels in need of refining but it sure has the earmarks of something that could be potentially good. There were some scenes that were rendered pretty well, such as the bird’s-eye view of the cityscapes, the whole “this is my life now” montage, Officer Rey Macario’s skydiving scene, the smoke billowing outside buildings, and of course, the cover, which was beautifully coloured. If the cover is a testament to the artist’s colouring prowess, then I guess, rendering Bleak in full-colour would have been a much better affair. I especially liked the way Hipol coloured the sky, smearing it with dark shades of red and orange, setting it against the battle-damaged Rizal Park and our war-torn hero.
7/10 - Bleak’s debut issue lacks a certain quality that would set it apart from stories of the same genre. However, since this is just the first issue, refinements and adjustments could be done to ensure that Bleak‘s future wouldn’t be bleak.
Julius Sambo
COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Bleak #1 – Takes The Philippines Into An Alien Infested Future
Bleak is an alien invasion story set in the Philippines in the year 2065. Earth has been conquered by a malevolent alien race, and with the country in turmoil, it’s up for the remaining Filipinos to defend whatever’s left with the country, and possibly drive the invaders away completely.
Bleak is a fast-paced story. It’s so fast-paced, that after a few page flips, 400 days have passed since the initial invasion. To be honest, I think it could have done without those full-panel Day X highlights, and have them delegated into smaller focus panels instead. It’s a short story totalling just 20 pages, and it could have used a bit more flavouring in the middle. The comic tackles an end-of-the world scenario caused by a cataclysmic alien invasion. So yeah, been there, done that. In cases like this, you try really hard to find that one pivotal detail that would give a theme so commonly used a fresh perspective. I failed to find one in this story. It’s an endless stream of literary tropes—a tragic backstory, a possibly false beacon of hope, and a literal bomb that might be the reason for their redemption. There is also no significance in it being set in the Philippines, or at least it hasn’t manifested itself yet. In fact, if you blot out all the tiny details and inscriptions such as “Manila”, “Philippines”, and other related words, in English or otherwise, the story could as might as well be set in downtown Detroit. Is the Filipino identity coming into play in the story? These issues however could be addressed by the fact that this is Bleak’s debut issue. The creators are just setting up the primary details of the story, and things might come together in the succeeding issues.
The art is pretty okay. There are some panels in need of refining but it sure has the earmarks of something that could be potentially good. There were some scenes that were rendered pretty well, such as the bird’s-eye view of the cityscapes, the whole “this is my life now” montage, Officer Rey Macario’s skydiving scene, the smoke billowing outside buildings, and of course, the cover, which was beautifully coloured. If the cover is a testament to the artist’s colouring prowess, then I guess, rendering Bleak in full-colour would have been a much better affair. I especially liked the way Hipol coloured the sky, smearing it with dark shades of red and orange, setting it against the battle-damaged Rizal Park and our war-torn hero.
7/10 - Bleak’s debut issue lacks a certain quality that would set it apart from stories of the same genre. However, since this is just the first issue, refinements and adjustments could be done to ensure that Bleak‘s future wouldn’t be bleak.
