Ardie Aquino. Photo provided by author
When I look at Philippine pop culture, our folklore remains a constant source for ideas and concepts in storytelling that is played across cinema, drama, and even comic books. For me, it has become like the zombie-genre – it refuses to die (pun intended). You really have to pick and choose because it has become almost all the same – die gruesome deaths in ways we have never seen before, and where the villains are not only the undead, but also the living.
Yet there are the novel takes if not ones from left field. Komiks creator Ardie Aquino takes the "Shaun of the Dead" route in his stories – humorous, ridiculous, toned down danger or evil, and yet, so entertaining. I’d say "Shaun of the Dead" more than "Afterlife with Archie" that is significantly darker than the usual fare of the eternal dayglow of Riverdale’s famous characters.
Ang Manguulam
Written and illustrated by Ardie Aquino, "Ang Manguulam" is a spin on the normally frightening “mangkukulam” where the hero instead of black magic, uses his culinary skills to dispatch the supernatural.
In order to exorcise a young boy possessed by an elemental, the Manguulam whips us a meal of sinigang na baboy that the elemental cannot get enough of. The elemental gives up the boy in exchange for eternally eating sinigang. As Bleu, the elemental exclaims after tasting the Manguulam’s sinigang, “Sumasabog ang asim. Nakakagising. Ramdam ko 'yung lambot ng baboy at linamnam ng sabaw. Parang gusto ko tumalon sa saya at isigaw, ‘Ang sarap!’”
In the next chapter, the Manguulam whips up dinuguan to get rid of an aswang-like creature called, Ungo, that is intent on turning an entire barangay into similar monsters. To rid the effects of the Ungo, the barangay is fed dinuguan and they all fart the bad juju away.
Hilarious!
Nakakagutom! And no monsters were harmed in these stories’ creation.
At the end of this, "Ang Manguulam" will sit nice to your comic box of modern titles such as "The Mythology Class," "Trese," "Tabi Po," and "Ella Arcangel" to name but a few of the local komiks that have mined our rich sources of folklore.
School Run
Written by Macoy Tang and illustrated by Ardie Aquino, this one is closer to "Afterlife with Archie" or "The Walking Dead" or "28 Days Later" as this is life during the zombie apocalypse. Or as "Trese" writer Budjette Tan put it, "Stand by Me" meets "The Walking Dead."
With the world overrun by zombies, it is about trying to live or reclaim a normal life in an abnormal time. Including going to school in an area some distance away. But this being a zombie story, where is the gore without the school bus being attacked and some students taken for lunch.
Instead of a typhoon, a zombie horde is scheduled to make landfall (as they swim across the West Philippine Sea). The results for the students are disastrous, and they try to make it on foot to their fortified campus. But can they?
This goes well with other local komiks such as "Zombinoy," "Mars May Zombie," and "Patay Kung Patay."
On a lateral note, Aquino’s art reminds me of the great Paul Smith who did some terrific artwork on "Uncanny X-Men" and the vastly underrated supernatural series, "Leave it To Chance."
The copy I have is the fat 265-page compilation of the original eight-issue limited series. 
For inquiries about "Ang Manguulam" and "School Run," you may check out Komiket’s website or message Ardie Aquino through his Facebook page.