Photos courtesy of Kawangis Komiks
Set in a speculative past heavily referencing the Philippine 1890s comes Incognito, written and drawn by Faye Villanueva, and published by Kawangis Komiks. Incognito follows the adventures of fictional character Heneral Antonio Malik, war hero of the nation Intramuros, in his task to catch the delinquent “Anino”, who is terrorizing the lives of people from his homeland. As his mission unfolds, a world full of steam-punk concepts mixed with Filipino colonial aesthetics builds a setting that is both familiar and new to the audience.
The Good
There is no mistake that Incognito is a love letter to the Philippines’ colonial past, often overlooked in history books as something as linear as domination, revolution and independence. In the comic series comes a fiction that sprouted from 333 years’ worth of Spanish rule, with pages full of baro’t sayas, barongs, and guardia civil uniforms mixed with steampunk machineries like Aserong Soldado (steel soldiers), and occult components like soul sacrifices and fantastical powers. This love is truly felt and communicated through Incognito’s community with its fans commenting on how unapologetically Filipino the comic is.
Incognito fully utilizes Tagalog with ease, from its dialog to action prompts. Even with its complete use of Tagalog, it is easy to read and to follow linguistically. The form is a good mix of familiar and unfamiliar terms, completing the colonial feel.
In the latter part of the series, there was some innovation found in utilizing a QR code to heighten the reader’s immersion using music, a detail that shows care and creativity.
The Bad
With all its intentions, some factors can welcome improvement. Reminiscent of Japanese manga and anime such as Inuyasha and Yuyu Hakusho (Ghost Fighter), the art is inconsistent at best. In some issues, screen tones were used but other issues lack the same care. Dark parts are overpowering in some pages and worsened by its full black and white production. The perspective of settings drawn can be awkward, with panels and spreads needing more direction and angle work.
The plot can benefit from pacing, with rushed expositions using dialog to tell rather than show. Examples of these are when characters reveal information without explanation of how they have found the said information. The introduction of concepts like extraordinary powers did not have precedence besides dialog.
There is also the matter of an issue ending with a cliffhanger fight while the next issue starts with the background of a villain, establishing a connection between him and a character that was not in the fight scene. Then the fight scene resumes and ends with the continuance of the villain’s background story, completely halving the immersion of the reader.
In addition, the background characters’ speech can be immersion-breaking with unnecessary comments on the protagonist’s looks.
The Ugly
There are some components that should be completely rethought, like the comic’s depiction of relationships with women. With comments like “nakakapanibagong makakita muli ng dilag na may makinis na kutis” and “Bilang kapalit ay ibibigay ko ang aking Unica Hija para maging asawa nyo. Maganda siya’t matalino at marunong sa baha—” leaves a bad taste of othering, a sensation that forces an idea that a certain group of people (in this case women) are acting out of norm just for merely existing.
Granted, the time period Incognito in reference to was more patriarchal, but this justification fails when we consider the author’s efforts in subverting the time-period’s other characteristics such as modesty (Antonio is seen shirtless in many public instances), respect for authority (Antonio disrespects his higher-ups in many instances), and actual magic.
It puts into question why in the first place these comments were written in when clearly there is space not to.
Female characters don’t exist outside of a man’s gaze either; outside of being an object of either mystery, affection or sensuality. There is little to be said about them, a concern that is worsened by the main character’s off-handed comments about women characters’ identity like “masakit pala matalo ngunit mas masakit kapag babae ang tumalo sayo” and “hoh !hindi mo dapat tinatago ang ganyan kagandang mukha, binibini!”
This odd relationship with women can be seen with the comics villain, Anino. Revealed as a woman in the first issue, there is a significant amount of comments pertaining to her sex even going as far as to say it hurts more to lose because of it; there was no effort by the author or artist to explicitly portray this as something misogynistic or wrong. To a certain extent, Antonio Malik is even rewarded when he is behaving like this; societally speaking, he is seen as handsome and charming when in truth there is nothing charming about unwanted comments, even during his time when modesty obligates men to practice censorship. The problem lies not in the lack of women characters but rather the lack of thought in how they are treated.
The protagonist’s connection to women hits a terrible height when it’s established that his adoptive sister is his object of romanticaffection, implying a disturbing dynamic. In the comic, this type of relationship is unsavory to the Intramuros public; even when it’s not one must wonder why it had to be his sister and what message it is trying to give to the audience.
To conclude, Incognito has a lot of heart but falters in execution. It would benefit a lot in editing and refinement in order to deliver the kind of edutainment Kawangis Komiks offers to its intended audience, the young adults. With such impressionable minds, the media company must be prudent and careful with what kind of end result they’re aiming for; may it be a newfound appreciation of colonial history or a question on the norms and characters they should leave with.