Bagong Buwan | Stories from the New Moon

11.15.2019 – “Bagong Buwan” (New Moon) is a collection of three stories compiled into a single graphic novel anthology featuring Hulyen (Creator of UGH.), Julius Villanueva (Ella Arcanghel), and Mervin Malonzo (Tabi Po). It was considered an experimental project for all three authors of the book as stated by Mervin. It would be considered a ‘sleeper’ graphic novel that basically flew under the radar for majority of local readers that followed indie komiks in Manila. Bagong Buwan was released in Summer Komikon 2019 and it is quite an interesting title. Entirely all three stories are in Filipino (Tagalog) language and it actually works in this dialect due to how deep the stories are connected to Philippine culture. The cover is a simple image of a moon with two ‘Xs’ making them a pair of eyes for the lunar planet that’s crying as the second ‘X’ is dripping with paint. But then when you flip through the very page that moon was actually smiling back. The moons is actually sort of symbol for the Haliya Publishing that Hulyen, Julius, and Mervin has formed to further cement their collaboration under this banner.