World Comic Book Review

19th March 2024

Zsazsa Zaturnnah’s Marvelous Adventure (Review)

Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsazsa Zaturnnah
Self-Published (2002)/Visual Print Enterprises, 2004 (Graphic Novel)
Author: Carlo Vergara

Carlo Vergara’s “Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni Zsazsa Zaturnnah” (in English, “Zsazsa Zaturnnah’s Marvelous Adventure”) was originally released as a two-part, independently-published miniseries in 2002, before being picked up later by Philippine book publisher Visual Print Enterprises and re-released as a trade paperback graphic novel to a much wider audience. The comic attracted attention from mainstream media and built a big enough fanbase to warrant a live-action film and theater adaptation.

“Zsazsa Zaturnnah” is a spoof of a classic Filipino superhero named “Darna”. A blatant amalgamation of influences from Fawcett Comics’ Captain Marvel (this character is the subject of litigation for ten years in the 1940s and 1950s over allegations that it was a copy of Superman) and DC’s Wonder Woman, “Darna” is a poverty-stricken, crippled young woman who, upon swallowing a small stone that fell from outer space, turns into an adult superheroine with inhuman strength, speed, powers of flight, and metal cuff bracelets that can deflect bullets or energy projectiles.

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Justice League #50: The Broken Springboard

Justice League #50 (review)
(DC Comics, May 2016)
Writer: Geoff Johns

As the fiftieth issue of this title, American publisher DC Comics have published an extra long issue, concluding an ongoing story line entitled “The Darkseid War”.

The Justice League are a collection of DC Comics’ principal character assets, teamed-up and pitted against various threats in what is now many decades of stories. For reasons not explained in the issue but which have apparently unfolded in earlier issues of Justice League, some of the Justice League’s members are imbued with the powers of the New Gods. The New Gods were a concept created for DC Comics by legendary American comics writer Jack Kirby in 1971. The characters comprising the New Gods each have a separate and distinctive set of superpowers.

In this single issue, the superheroes face a panoply of threats:

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