Jholeebird triumphant: A review of "Ang Maskot"

You never forget those little moments that bleed away your childhood innocence. I still remember when a friend of mine asked me this question: “Why do you think mascots always put their hands on their cheeks?” (If you'd like to retain a bit of your own childhood naiveté, I’d recommend that you skip over the rest of this paragraph.) "They're being cute?" I answered, to which he shook his head. "Nah," he said, with a sad smile. "They do it to keep the heads from falling off." I swear a part of my six-year-old self died at those words.

For most of us who grew up in Manila, brand mascots (whether of fast food chains or children's products) were an integral part of our childhood landscapes. While members of my generation were used to seeing anthromorphized animals on-screen in Batibot or Sesame Street, it was quite another kind of thrill to see a boxer with a hamburger for a head waltzing up a staircase, or to have --whatever Grimace is-- grace your birthday party with his perpetual smile and girlish 24-36-48 figure. I think I knew the names of every member of Ronald McDonald's posse, or Jolibee's gang, and they seemed as real to me as my next-door neighbors.

Like many aspects of childhood though, when no longer viewed through the prism of a youthful eye, mascots take on a different kind of reality. Those cute costumes, while a joy to children, are—literally—burdens for those who wear them. Heavy, unwieldy, and ill-ventilated, the suits can be furry hell for the poor employee forced to wear them, especially given that most mascots are expected to do a variety of dances nowadays instead of merely stand around; it’s hardly surprising then that while the façade may be locked in a goofy grin, the person inside might be feeling an entirely contradictory emotion.

(Image source: mac0y’s deviantart gallery)

This is the reality explored by Ang Maskot, a komik written and illustrated by Macoy. It opens with the nameless protagonist sitting on the curb in full costume (sans head), smoking a cigarette. His very first act and his very first word makes clear his current mood—and things just go downhill from there, at least for a time. While our hero is not a man of many words (unless such words are the type banned from polite conversation), Macoy does a good job of making the reader aware of the hero’s motivations at every turn. We may not always agree with what the hero does, but we’ll always know why, even if it’s not explicit in the text, and that’s what makes him a sympathetic character we can root for throughout the story.

The story itself is both funny and, surprisingly, heart warming. I’d initially thought that the komik would use the idea of “angry man in a bird costume” to make an ultra-violent black comedy, but that’s not the case here—a good thing, to my mind. Not everyone who has a bad day goes on a murderous rampage, nor becomes blind to the fact that other people may have bigger problems. This is not to say that the komik is about teaching life lessons—it’s primarily a humor book, and it does that humor well, not solely through the sight of a cuddly mascot doing decidedly un-cuddly things, but through the tried and tested method of placing the hero in the worst possible situation given his frame of mind-- then leading him out of that frying pan and into, not a fire per se (there is no escalation of situations), but another pan cooking a different yet similarly unappetizing dish. Macoy does a good job with pacing, and he makes sure there’s a logic and flow behind the movement from one humorous scene to another. (I also liked the outtakes at the end. A nice touch.)

Macoy also does well as the illustrator, with an art style that suits the tone of the komik. The lines are simple, yet dynamic, and clearly convey both action and emotion by means of creative panel and scene design. Macoy also has a deft hand in portraying the feelings of his characters by means of facial expressions, from panic and malice to more subtle emotions. The cover is also well thought out, catching the eye; our hero’s expression already gives you an idea of what the komik will be about, but the design leaving enough unsaid (and, perhaps because of what Da Vinci’s works connotes nowadays, adding an air of mystery) piques the potential reader’s curiosity. The cover was certainly the reason why I picked it up, and it is one purchase I do not regret.

Ang Maskot (as well as Operasyon, another komik by Macoy with a darker tone) should be available at Sputnik Comics at the Cubao Expo, bookay-ukay in Teacher's Village, and Comic Odyssey's Robinson's Galleria branch.

Further Reading:

(Image source: Macoy’s deviantart gallery—specific image found here)

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites