Arnold Arre is the creator of the famous Pinoy graphic novel The Mythology Class. Last year, he released The Children of Bathala, the first book of The Mythology Class sequel—20 years after we got to know the story of Nicole, Kubin, Sulay-boy, and friends.
One character that immediately charmed me in The Children of Bathala is Kaalo, a deaf-mute whose sign language is not exactly used in the present times. This made me notice how genius Arnold Arre is pushing his stories forward with palpable movement.
I mean, I’ve long been aware how well Arnold Arre takes his reader in a journey with his comics, especially since my favorite work of his is Trip to Tagaytay—which literally moves me every time I read it.
But laying them out in this one piece here just makes me remember why comics are so nice and how noteworthy Philippine comics are.
So, let me spam you a bit with panels showing movement in Arnold Arre comics!
From The Children of Bathala:
From The Mythology Class:
From Halina Filipina:
From Martial Law Babies:
From Rodski Patotski (written by the late Gerry Alanguilan):
Mind you, I think his best ones are the silent panels—where the readers get to focus on the movement and the emotion in the movement. His characters are very expressive. Ugly cry kung ugly cry!
Luckily, Arnold Arre is still very active in creating stories and his works are available for anyone in need of a good comic book, anyone who want to be inspired to make comic books, and anyone interested in Philippine literature.
I can’t wait for the next four books after The Children of Bathala and other stories in the works (like Busilak, which he teased back in 2015). I’m sure they’re going to be worth the wait, just like The Children of Bathala was!
Paintings and Musings 