This week, our editors-at-large take us around the world for updates on the global literary scene. In the Philippines we celebrate the anniversary of the country’s most significant superheroine, and in the United States scholars of Latin American and Caribbean literature convene to discuss methods of promoting alternative and countercultural literary production.
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from the Philippines
Last month marked the 75th anniversary of the Philippines’ iconic komiks superheroine Darna, honouring a dramatis personae turned cultural cornerstone. Created by writer Mars Ravelo (1916-1988) and artist Nestor Redondo (1928-1995), Darna debuted on 13 May 1950 in Pilipino Komiks #77 during the ‘Golden Age of Comic Books.’ The character has since headlined fifteen movies, four primetime television series, stage plays, video games, and more, securing her status as a queer pop icon and an emblem of the nation’s unyielding spirit.
The story centres on Narda, a working-class girl with mobility impairment who transfigures into a flying superheroine by swallowing a stone carved with ‘Darna’ and shouting her name. The stone, originally from another planet, remains in her body, with only her grandmother and younger brother Ding, her sidekick, knowing her secret. José B. Capino, in Contemporary Asian Cinema (2006), outlines Darna as ‘arguably one of local cinema’s most popular and representative figures,’ comparing her with America’s Wonder Woman. Unlike Diana’s aristocratic (even demigod) roots, Narda’s working-class, disabled background reflects her Global South origins.
Born out of the idea of the Superman-inspired Varga in 1947 for Bulaklak Magazine, Darna was Ravelo’s artistic response to the Philippines’ cultural imperative for a homegrown hero after the Second World War. The period, according to scholars Kristine Michelle Santos and Febriani Sihombing, saw komiks burgeon with stories rooted in indigenous folklore. After the Philippines gained independence from the United States in 1946, komiks pivoted to local culture. Santos, in Queer Southeast Asia (2023), adds that in the next decades, publishers greenlit commercially viable stories to elude government censorship.
Darna’s story transitioned to cinema on 31 May 1951, before the 28-issue comic run ended, with Filipino-American actress Rosa del Rosario starring in the first movie produced by Royal Productions under actor-turned-director Fernando Poe Sr. In 1973 and 1975, the performance by Vilma Santos, later an acclaimed actress and politician, redefined Darna: Narda became Darna, spitting out the stone to revert and swallowing it to transform, now a Warrior of Light rather than an alien. Only Ding knew her secret, and her catchphrase, ‘Ding, ang bato!’ (‘Ding, [give me] the stone!’) achieved legendary status, inseparable from the heroine itself.
The superheroine’s reach extends beyond any single form of media, encompassing a 1977 television series starring Lorna Tolentino on RPN, a 1986 animated series on GMA, a 2003 National Book Award-winning miniseries by Mango Comics, among others. Theatre productions include a 1993 musical, a 2003 ballet, and a 2018 play, Ding, Ang Bato!, which mingles with Filipino Sign Language. Darna has also been the lead character in an animated short, a battle royale game, a webcomic, a rock song, commercials, and a Funko Pop! figure.
Ravelo created Darna to inspirit hope amid the aftermath of the war, a mission the superheroine continues 75 years later, representing resolve and rebellion for Filipinos facing the ongoing crises of our time.
Miranda Mazariegos, Editor at Large, Reporting for Latin America
Last month, the 70th annual conference of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) took place in New York City, bringing together a mix of librarians, scholars, archivists, and writers. The focus this year was on countercultures, spotlighting the ways in which marginalized and underground cultural production across Latin America and the Caribbean can be preserved and studied.
In a partnership with NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, along with Columbia University Libraries, the City University of New York, and the New York Public Library, the conference welcomed papers that dealt with “the myriad ways we can and should work to ensure we are preserving and making accessible narratives that challenge prevailing hegemonic understandings.” Some of the possibilities included the collection of ephemeral or nontraditional materials such as zines and pamphlets, alternative genres in music and literature, critical literacy instruction on using countercultural materials, and the promotion of minority languages.
The conference comes at a crucial time in history. As authoritarianism gains traction in parts of the region and state funding for arts and education shrinks both in Latin America and the United States, preserving alternative narratives has become both a cultural and political act. Therefore, SALALM 70 was also about using archives, books, and libraries as a form of resistance. By focusing on non-canonical forms of literature and academia, SALALM is reshaping what counts as literature and who gets to decide.
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