Then the Japanese invaded us in World War II, and I wish I could find out what happened to the

komiks then, but I have no idea. I can only assume that all the komikeros went to war, and
according to this article by Gerry Alanguilan, the end of World War II saw the American GIs
introducing the serialized comic book format, giving way to HALAKHAK KOMIKS in
1946. The new breed of Filipino komiks showcased a lot of American influence, from characters
such as the detective D.I. Trece (I'll let you figure out the American comic he was based on) to
Mars Ravelo's characters, the most notable of which is Darna.

Co-created by Nestor Redondo, Darna is Superman, Wonder Woman, and most prominently,
Captain Marvel, all rolled into one package. She's our premiere superhero, and she's a little girl
named Narda who swallows a magic stone, enabling her to switch to the superpowered form of
Darna. You can read her origin here. (I like how when Narda first switched to Darna, her
grandma and brother just yell in fear.)

Darna has been the subject of multiple movies and TV adaptations. In addition to her and
Captain Barbell, the second most successful of Ravelo's co-creations, Ravelo also co-created a
bunch of other Filipino superheroes, thus showing the feeling of freedom and escapism that was
in the air at the time, having just driven the Japanese out and gaining our independence even as
an American territory. For the first time in centuries, we were an autonomous country.

As an aside, I want to point out two characters in this spread. The first one is Dyesebel, the
mermaid, who has also been adapted into multiple TV shows and movies.
The other one is Flash Bomba, who hasn't been adapted as much (though he has been adapted),
but I'm just mentioning him because I think he's awesome. He was cursed by a tikbalang (to be
short, that's a horse that walks like a man) to have big hands and feet. And so he fights crime,
with his big hands (capable of creating thunderclaps) and feet (capable of climbing up walls)!

All this time, Kenkoy was still having misadventures, and Ravelo wouldn't be outdone. Not
content with mythological superheroes, offbeat superheroes, and fantastical mermaids, Ravelo,
like many of his contemporaries, was also very versatile, and he released Bondying in 1951.