Review: The Mask of Haliya, Vol.1: Heir to the Warrior Moon

San Diego Comic-Con was packed, but the small publishers’ area was even more crowded. All of the imprints were squished into a sliver of space in the far right of the building, completely unseen unless it was your intention to find them. And lucky enough for me, it was. My cohost had been raving about this all-women Filipino comic imprint we needed to interview, and I was completely fine tagging along to check them out. We made our way through the crowd, and against the very back wall, we found Kwento Comics. They had a small table with “Hot Girls Read Comics” merch and the most beautiful hardcover comic books I had seen that day. The cover of the first volume of The Mask of Haliya is stunning. Purples and oranges swirl behind a young girl looking upward, wearing an electric neon-blue mask that covers one eye, and a giant moon hovering over her. I was drawn to the energy of the contrasting colors and knew, regardless of the premise, I was buying the book.

Unfortunately, my love for the cover was buried under the chaos of the last year until very recently. I realized that SDCC was approaching soon and I didn’t want to return to the convection without having read everything I bought there. At the risk of oversharing, I started scripting conversations in my head and when I realized there was the slightest possibility of a conversation that asked me what I thought of their work, I panicked and started reading. And so I read The Mask of Haliya and kicked myself for not reading it sooner. The Mask of Haliya is a love story to Filipina women, culture, and mythology, which was a badass balm to my spirit. I found myself deeply resonating with the conflict between mothers and daughters and the need to connect to our histories.

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Summary

The Mask of Haliya: Heir to the Warrior Moon is a collected edition of issues 1-5 of the Mask of Haliya. The story follows two family members: Marisol, a Filipina-American teenage girl who moved to the Philippines with her mother after the death of her grandmother, and Isla, Marisol’s older cousin with a troubled past who is despised by Marisol’s mother. At their grandmother’s funeral, both of them receive inheritances: Isla, being gifted a black pearl necklace, and Marisol, finding a mask in the grandmother’s jewelry box. These two gifts tie the young women to their grandmother’s mythological past and to the people hunting them.

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Story

As I said earlier, the story is a love letter to Filipino women. Isla is THE badass of the story, from her aesthetic down to her fight scenes. You get a glimpse of her heartbreaking background with mysterious characters and interesting abilities. With Marisol, you are privy to the life of a teenage Filipino girl trying to make sense of her mind while dealing with a mother who seems to add to the mental stressors. Of all the women written in this book, I found the mom to be very fascinating. She is perceived as antagonistic the majority of the time, especially in her interactions with Isla and Marisol. And yet, she has a depth to her that shows her motivation is deeply rooted in fear and anger. It was wonderful to see the complexity of the women, something rarely depicted in the comic industry. I’m excited to learn more about how these women eventually heal and work together.

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The narrative choice that the creative team took to depict mental health left me just shy of indifferent. The premise pulls from Percy Jackson, where Marisol’s mental health struggles seem connected to visions of mythological stories and power. While I didn’t find the representation harmful (in fact, it was really cool in some areas), it raised questions about the connections between Marisol’s past and present. Thankfully, my questions did not overwhelm my interest in both Marisol’s and Isla’s stories. I’m invested enough to continue reading the next volume because I’m trusting that these questions will be answered in the next volume.

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Art, Colors, and Lettering

I thoroughly enjoyed the art, especially as it depicted various complexioned Filipino women and conveyed the dark atmosphere of the story. Even in the background, the characters are so diverse, not only adding depth to the art on a surface level, but cementing the fact that the Filipino community is not a monolith. It was beautiful to see a different culture conveyed in a story, especially in a time when diversity is being attacked, and proximity to whiteness is praised.

The art is well-balanced between the darkness and the love found within The Mask of Haliya. There are moments where the art becomes dark and grainy, which enhances the shift in atmosphere. When Marisol is going through an event that takes her to a dark mental space, the reader is taken along for the ride through the art and colors. It was a stark reminder that the book is telling a warrior’s tale. But then art captured the characters’ loves, their care, and their lives. The kids and their comic relief during the grandmother’s funeral made me smile. The opulence of the scene where we learn more about the mythologies took my breath away. This was a really hard balance that the creative team accomplished in spades.

I will admit the lettering took a while to get used to. I will refrain from getting to specifics because I struggle with determining if the issue is personal preference or something that should be corrected in another volume. By no stretch of the imagination is the lettering bad; it just took me a while to settle into it. But as I said earlier, it didn’t pull me out of the story to where I didn’t want to read it, so the lettering did what it needed to do.

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Do I Recommend?

YES. In fact, I want to get the second volume, but I couldn’t figure out if I should wait for a convention or buy it online. I love buying indie comics at a convention because you can usually get them signed, or you can get a discount on hardcovers and bundles (multiple comics). If you are interested in reading this comic, check out their website, Kwento Comics, and check it out for yourself. Also , you can request that your local library add this story to their collection! Libraries help financially sustain indie comic creators!