Aaron Williams

Hoy! Philippines! Over the past few years, I've been watching a lot of Filipino movies and TV shows, and I'm glad for the context. The Mask of Haliya intrigued me early on because I love stories that blend mythology with modern problems. Filipino culture is rich and diverse, but has unfortunately not received as much mainstream attention, so I was excited to dive in and learn more. While this story started off strong, promising that deep dive into a fantastic and underrated lore, it also reminds me of those Filipino movies and TV shows, taking a "kitchen sink" approach to the story and throwing in every idea its creators had, all at once. The conflict switches from mythology -influenced action fantasy, to supernatural mystery, to melodramatic family soap opera, to gritty gangster drama, to high school slice of life in the matter of a handful of pages. All these conflicts are supposedly connected (I think) but by the time the narrative gets around to explaining any of it, about a dozen characters have been introduced and disappeared without explanation and a whole slew of what should be impactful sequences have taken place and been swept under the rug with little reaction from main characters. It's all very Filipino, but it can be overwhelming for someone unfamiliar with this narrative approach. I think in a different medium, it has the potential to rein in this dynamism, but as a comic book, it was ineffective for me. It felt overly busy for a book just starting out, and it felt like the writers had about 4 different ideas and tried to use them all at once, regardless of if they fit together. I like the premise, the art is competent and at times even breathtaking, but the story is trying to be too many things at once.