Peow’s comics are exactly for me and my stomach ⊟
Sometimes people go on wild runs making the exact art you want at that point in your life, a wonderful period when each release feels iconic and speaks to something thus-far unattended in your heart. Remember how Aaliyah followed up “If Your Girl Only Knew” with “One in a Million” and “4-Page Letter”? Or when early-2000s Adult Swim had the TV game locked up with programs like Home Movies, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Cowboy Bebop in the same evening lineup? Or indieszero’s decade-long reign when they were grinding out gem after gem with GameCenter CXs, Theathrythms, and NES Remixes?
That’s how I’m looking at comic book publisher Peow Studio lately. They caught my eye with Jane Mai’s Animal Crossing doujinshi Pond Smelt years ago, and I kept seeing them pick up intriguing books from talented artists like Valentin Seiche (Pocket Fantasy). More recently, they put out Patrick Crotty’s Black Border Flowers, a webcomic combining sports manga with Magic the Gathering tournaments; and Jean Wei’s Heat, a “beautiful slice-of-life centered on a naked 8-foot fire demon and farm life with an old Aunt and grand-niece”. They are not playing around when it comes to keeping my attention.
And now they’ve brought out Mami, a lovely, lighthearted book from Manila-based illustrator Diigii Daguna that follows a detective’s career as he chases after a slippery and often hungry art thief. The criminal’s empty stomach keeps getting him into trouble, but it also gives Diigii a chance to introduce readers to delicious Filipino street foods with flavorful intermissions.
No lie, I had to go out and buy tocino (pork belly cured in a sweet mix) at our local asian grocery store to eat with garlic-fried rice and eggs after developing a sudden craving from Mami’s “Pinoy Breakfast” page. And the food intermission for taho, a syrupy amber-colored drink teeming with sago pearls and silken tofu, left me longing to book a trip to the Philippines to enjoy the treat again.
You can buy the 65-page book now for $13.50. Peow Studio has more comics you’ll want on the way – Jane Mai’s Painfully Embarrassing Otaku Weekend apparently includes “Pond Smelt 2”, and Valentin Seiche’s Trigger Soul graphic novel for Samurai Gunn 2 (coming to Switch next year) will have a release with the publisher. Expect posts on those, too :o)
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