Comics review: Three chapters in, ‘Sixty Six’ still has it

With his unassuming cap and jacket, Celestino Cabal is unstoppable, in more ways than one. Knives don’t faze him, steel pipes get crumpled and wrinkled like paper upon coming into contact with his nigh-invincible skin… and more importantly, old age can’t slow him down. Apparently, neither can being in three installments of a high-octane comic.

Russell Molina and Ian Sta. Maria team up once again to bring us the third chapter of “Sixty Six,” the colorful story of an unconventional hero. “Sixty Six” looks and reads like a book that could have been published by Marvel, DC, or any other major foreign comics publisher. Also, considering it’s the third chapter in a multi-part series, this installment of “Sixty Six” is very reader-friendly.

You don’t necessarily need to have read either of the first two chapters (though if you happened to purchase a copy of “Abangan: The Best in Philippine Comics” – which I highly recommend – you would have gotten a taste of “Sixty Six” already) to make sense out of this issue. It’s pretty straightforward: it starts out as an action-packed, slice-of-life adventure showing what appears to be a normal day for Mang Tino, eventually revealing itself to be a crucial turning point for the character (and a large piece of the overall narrative puzzle).

Aside from having crafted a simple yet highly entertaining story, Russell Molina also shows his mastery in writing dialogue. Nothing sounds forced, out of place, or worse, like directly translated English thoughts; the exchanges between characters flow as naturally as they would between Filipinos in real life. The sound effects he employs are also quite amusing; I imagine there’s nothing as satisfying as using the word “TADYAK!” to represent the sound of a swift kick to the testicles.

Of course, stellar writing is only half of the equation that makes up a successful comic book, which is why it’s fortunate that Ian Sta. Maria has more than enough talent to do justice to Molina’s script.