Komiks' rebel daughters at Coching's centennial exhibit

Gabriela Silang by Coching

In celebration of the centennial birth anniversary of Francisco V. Coching, National Artist for Visual Arts, the exhibit Nasaan Ka Na, Mara-Bini? Tracing Liberation and Empowerment in the Stories of F.V. Coching’s Rebel Daughters is currently on display at the Pasilyo Vicente Manansala (2F Hallway Gallery) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Presented by the CCP in cooperation with the Coching family and independent curator Alice Sarmiento, the exhibit explores the unique women who graced the pages of Coching's komiks. Characters like Mara-Bini whose creation predated Wonder Woman and Darna, La Sombra from Espada, Nida from Kontra-Bida, Isabel from Bella Bandida, and Esper from Talipandas, just to name a few are the fierce, driven, rebellious, and unconventional women who at the time defied the norm that typically reduced them into mere love interests and damsels in distress.

Spread from Bella Bandida

Remarkably, some of these tales have made the leap from the page to the silver screen decades before comicbook adaptations from Hollywood started to dominate the box office. Short clips from these komiks adaptations can be seen at the exhibit.

The exhibit features panel enlargements on sintra of the strips along with pages from the actual printed komiks written and illustrated by Coching along with some that were illustrated by Federico Javinal. It made me wonder what has become of the originals, especially the gorgeous Gabriela Silang watercolor piece, if they were even stored or archived at all. The same applies for the movies if any of the reels remain intact and in good condition. It would be a shame if these were lost forever.

RAd's Page Turners | Francisco V. Coching's El Indio and Ang Barbaro

So far, the only readily available works of Coching that I know of are the collected editions of El Indio and Ang Barbaro released by Vibal Publishing.

El Indio is regarded as his artistic peak and was released first even if it is actually a sequel to Ang Barbaro. These two volumes are probably the best we have right now to grasp Coching's contribution to the industry and to see how he has inspired the current generation of Filipino comicbook artists who have been making waves here and abroad.