Reaction on Zsazsa Zaturnnah

(Litt 21 crap)
The humorously long title kind of gives away the language it begins with. And having a gay lead character, well, suggests an even more interesting use of language. Set somewhere in the outskirts of Metro Manila, the story revolves around Ada, a gay parlorista who is the recipient of a space rock that gives powers to whoever ingests it, and becomes Zsazsa Zaturnnah. The first few scenes are particularly hilarious given the fact that the comic part has partly drawn the events unfolding, of Ada’s mouth opening beyond normal. And all along, Didi, Ada’s trusty sidekick in everything watches intently. Didi creepily resembles Eugene Domingo in some renderings. Every conversation bubble is a mix of Tagalog, English, and gay jargon. The eclectic mix of language used in the comics brings a unique flavor to it. It creates an avenue for the best utilization of each, producing quite a number of funny lines that neither of the languages can pull off singly. Every page is riddled with humor, in the form of funny renderings, or funny language. The comic accomplishes a lot of heart by giving the characters a life through humor. In essence, the intention is to entertain the reader and bring about some conscious realizations, especially on gay issues. Having a gay character foremost removes the stigma of discrimination. The comic made it possible for the gay community to be recognized as regular people, even worthy of a character in literature. The typicality of the story – beginning, tumultuous middle, happy ending – gives enough to prove that gayness is not a problem at all, as showcased by Ada’s heroism in the guise of Zsazsa Zaturnnah. It fills the gap in popular literature, effectively forwarding its relevance in today’s culture. Aside from the rights issues, Ada’s (as Zsazsa) astronomical feats of combat against the invasive aliens can be taken as territorial defense, defying invasion. Historically, we’ve had a lot of foreign invasions that created changes in our society. In effect, Zsazsa points subtly to these former events in the story. The story began to climb up the climax ladder when a giant frog came about the place. In a test of strength, Zsazsa was able to defeat the frog and send it off far away, and was able to prove himself/herself that he/she isn’t just a useless space-occupying person.
The comic, popular amongst the young crowd and the feeling-young crowd, is quite acclaimed for its ability to portray true Filipino characters immersed in a fictional world. What is interesting about this combination is that the characters were able to retain their Filipinism even in the midst of falling space debris, giant frogs, walking zombies, and super sexy aliens. Filipinism in the sense that their reactions towards these fictional events were Filipino at best. The noisy chatter even in the middle of an invasion cries Filipino. We, Filipinos, are a humorous bunch. Zsazsa Zaturnnah is no exception. The hilarity is not in the play of words, but rather, buried within the story characters themselves.