scans_daily

By this, I mean the little ditty in Invincible Iron man #2 in 2008. They revealed a Filipino super hero team called the "Triumph Division", and a bunch of people had about a dozen bones to pick with Matt Fraction for it.

Now me... Well, I went righteous anger on it too, but then I thought for a while, and made sense of some of their ideas.

You know, besides KILLING THIS TEAM OF FILIPINOS OFF AFTER THREE PAGES.

Eh, but the possibilities! Hope they keep coming back.

Now, here's some clarification in scan form.

So before we go on, the characters:

Red Feather is in reference to cocks. Roosters, I mean, because I'm quite sure no eagles here have red feathers. The only reason this is significant is because in the Philippines, we have something called Sabong--cock fights with gambling. Uh... So yeah, there being a superhero with just that theme is.... well, how is that good?

TO COUNTER MY NEGATIVITY: It could just show the majesty+humility of the bird with Red Feather taking on its theme.

Next is St George.
I'm sorry, what? Besides him being a Saint, we don't actually have much of anything to do with St. George. We're a Catholic country, sure, but I have no real clue as to why it was St. George he chose. Seriously. But meh, not such a big deal.

Mighty Mother.
Okay, this one, I laughed at so much, in a good way, because DAMN this was inspired. In the Philippines, the one with all the power in the household and in general is the mother. So... heheh.

Anitun:
I liked this. Anitun Tabu is a goddess in Philippine mythology. She and some other Phil. gods actually appeared in Marvel's encyclopedia mythologica. She's a storm goddess, as Thor will mention later. Apparently, they were friends.

Fighter One:
I don't know. I don't recognize any Filipino martial art in his outfit. Our martial artists usually wear a white shirt and red pants. Like glorified PJs.

The Wishing Man:
Don't know either. Could be an interpretation of the Albularyo, our medicine man, but nothing specific.

Great Mongoose:
Okay, seriously, do we even HAVE mongoose in the Philippines? Last I checked, that was a no, unless there was something I'd missed. And it's not really known to the Philippines at all.
Although my theory is that the Great Mongoose was a fighter from another country that rode into the islands thousands of years ago and stayed, or something. Maybe. It would be great to explain later if they appear again later.

NOW, since you're all probably asleep by now, here's what happened to these guys two pages in:

The monks... Well, we don't have Buddhist monks in this country, and we definitely don't have exploding Buddhist monks. Which was what they were.

So yeah. They died. But no fear, they're replaced by their kids!
Yeah, okay.

This made me laugh so much though:

Why, you ask? Because Triumph Hall is known to myself and most people as THE PARISH OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE. My church actually. I've been going to church there ever since I was born. I am liable to go around and look for an entrance to the Triumph Hall now.

Anyways, we later see a man named Tim Cababa who works for Tony Stark, who used to work for the Triumph Division. In all accounts, this is a pretty cool thing, if it promises more appearances.

Now I don't have all the scans, but someone on the internet found a bunch of easter eggs of Filipino characters in American comics (balut eggs, heheh) over here.

I'm torn between happiness that Filipinos are being shown around the Comics scene and the inability of most people to write them properly.

Seriously, twice now, there have been Filipino speaking DEMONS in the movie Constantine and in a Black Panther comic.

So are we supposed to be the next well-abused characters of the comics scene, or the next big thing? I'm sincerely hoping the latter.