| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Comics & Graphic Novels |
| Author: | Gerry Alanguilan |
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For those who are lucky enough to experience reading this work of fierce passion while coinciding with a recent heartbreak, WASTED is a much-needed cathartic therapy. Any young man who has ever loved a woman, only to be taken for granted - and ultimately rejected in favor of another - will readily relate to the experiences of Eric, the protagonist/antagonist of the story.
It is an extremely violent work, with depictions of people being shot, mauled and killed in very graphic detail - all by Eric. These were presented in a background of numerous odds against the main character - odds which his heartbreak is only one part of, but is also intertwined with.
As the story reveals, there's Eric's father pressuring him to abandon his career in music in favor of law school, the same father being murdered by people close to the mayor whom the latter was trying to bring to justice, and there's even his best friend - his only anchor to reason - being killed in a shootout by corrupt/incompetent policemen. As Alanguilan (in the voice of Eric) so accurately expresses, "Sh*t! A conspiracy! It's a conspiracy! I don't believe this! You're doing this on purpose! You're all trying to drive me crazy!"
And "crazy" Eric turned out to be, specifically of the murderous kind. In the process, paying back to society what he believed to be injustices heaped on him.
In her introduction, Karen Kunawicz observes that "WASTED of course, is not about violence. It is about intensity, passion, and most of all LOVE.", to which I completely agree. It is a credit to Alanguilan's storytelling prowess that despite all the scenes of violence, the reader will never lose track of love being the central theme. No it's not the same "love" that appears in romantic books or movies wherein despite hardships and privations, a man and a woman would eventually end up happily ever after together at the end.
No. WASTED is of a completely different sort. WASTED is the type of love story that has no happy ending - and this is evident even if one reads just the first few pages. It is the ugly side of unrequited love, where right or wrong is no longer recognized in the face of overwhelming suffering and tribulation. This is something familiar to all, but has been conveniently tucked away in the secret reaches of one's memories - the exposure of which might lead to shame, embarrassment or simply the recurrence of the hurt that the act of remembrance brings.
WASTED strikes a chord in anyone who has loved, in as much as anyone who has once loved has been hurt as a consequence, regardless of the intensity. This is one of those rare works that have been drawn and written purely from the heart. As Alanguilan himself reveals in an interview, he wrote WASTED at a time when he was undergoing something similar to what Eric was experiencing. He wrote the story as a form of self-therapy - a process that spanned years.
WASTED affects one in such a way that no matter how one tries to cope with a heartbreak, no matter how much time has passed, there are certain wounds that will never really heal. In the same way that Alanguilan himself has benefited from his own work, so does it help one who has tried to recover without the benefit of closure.
This work is especially for men who are normally averse to showing any emotion, and whose collective pride eschews any form of "opening up" due to it being perceived as a form of weakness. In one's private moments, a man can pick up this book, read it, and cry to his heart's content without anyone ever knowing.
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For the simple reason that the artwork leaves much to be desired, I'm rating this just 4 out of 5 stars.
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