Alternative Canons
Comic book artists such as Pol Medina, Jr. (author of hugely popular comic series Pugad Baboy or Swines’ Nest) and Manix Abrera (author of Kikomachine) have enjoyed success in their no holds-barred depictions of the daily lives and preoccupations of Filipinos. Pugad Baboy especially has carved a niche for itself as a barometer of the sociocultural climate in its representations of Filipino domestic life as well as general Filipino sentiments on issues of corruption in the government and popular culture. Similarly, writer Bob Ong’s satirical works about the state of Filipino society have also been widely received; he has sold close to 2 million copies of his works. Popular romance novelist Martha Cecilia has sold numerous titles of her works as well, having multiple reprints of certain titles over the years.
And yet, popular texts remain by and large stigmatized as lacking the necessary capital to be properly representative of certain cultural milieu or heritage. Theories of national identity abound, yet most of these theories do not explore the more mundane aspects of the nation: things that exist in the day-to-day spaces of the popular. These theories are primarily built upon an examination of cultural elements that exist as part of the
