MANGA CREATION
Golden Realms
Inheriting the Panay Sugidanun
Golden Realms: Inheriting the Panay Sugidanun is the first-ever manga adaptation of the Sugidanun, the indigenous oral epic of Panay Island in the Philippines. The Golden Realms consist of stories regarding two heroes, a man of steel and a man of gold. It depicts their adventures, battles, and prowess within the many-layered kalibutan, or world. These ancient stories found their way into the modern age.
| Title: Golden Realms: Inheriting the Panay Sugidanun Origin: Co-produced by ThriveArt Projects (Iloilo) and The Japan Foundation Manila. Languages: English and Japanese. Story Highlights: The manga adapts episodes from the Sugidanun epic, featuring legendary heroes and mythic battles. Chapter 1 – The Encounters of Labaw Dunggon Dalie stumbles upon the story of Labaw Dunggon while browsing the internet. This chapter depicts Labaw Dunggon’s struggle with the giant woman (muwa) Amburukay and the sky-dweller Pahagunong who was eyeing for Matan-ayon, Labaw’s wife. Chapter 2 – The Enchanted At a family reunion, a group of cousins dare each other to go inside a cave while recounting their grandmother’s story about Nagmalitong Yawa, a heroine who saved Humadapnon from the enchanted Tarangban cavern. Chapter 3 – Humadapnon’s Journey After chewing on a betel nut, teenager Precy falls into a golden realm that bears a striking resemblance to her grandmother’s stories. She meets Humadapnon who was searching for his wife, Nagmalitong Yawa. Humadapnon battles a giant seven-headed snake, and even his other self, but will he win back the heart of his wife? |
For the longest time the idea of creating a manga based on Panay mythology called “Sugidanon” bounced in my head for quite some time. That time I was familiar with it only as “Hinilawod” as a theatre performance that I saw when I was a kid. Unfortunately, trying to get hold of its literature was nearly impossible. It was an oral literature that was passed down from one generation to another. It was only recently through the efforts of Dr. Alicia Magos and A Razel Bidaure-Limoso Ramirez when all 13 volumes of the “Sugidanon” was published. Me and my sorta cousin Allyn (Thrive Project) floated the idea of creating a manga based on the “Sugidanon” lore. The opportunity arrived when Japan Foundation opened grant program. It was during the pandemic and of course with nothing much to do, we shot our shoot. To our surprise, the proposal was approved and the rest is history.
It is very important to know that any project you undertake that involves the IP of indigenous people. It is required to get their consent. You have to coordinate with the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous People). A general meeting will be set and you have to compensate people for making time to attend the meeting. What happens in the meeting is where you will present details of the project and they can make suggestion on the project. After getting everyone’s approval will then the project will be green lit. The purpose of the meeting is to ensure that the Indigenous people’s culture is presented ina way that best represents them.
A team was assigned for every chapter of the comic. Mine was the chapter 3 of the story. It was a breeze going through the pages. Unfortunately when the elder villager who was in charge of overseeing the project has passed away from COVID. The project was assigned to a different elder, revisions were made based on their interpretation of the story. After working on the project for several months. It was finally available to read online. Go to the link below to access the site. Just ignore the warning on the browser since there’s no SSL on the site.