Philippine is a very compact language. ‘Ding, ang bato!’ means: “My dear brother and sidekick Ding, could you pass me the alien stone, so I could change into the superheroine Darna, after swallowing it and shouting: DARNA!”
If you think this is just an Asian version of Wonderwoman, spiced up with Supeman and Shazam elements you’d underestimate the power of popculture. Pop is about copying, ripping, burning and re-evaluating things under new circumstances permanently. “DARNA is a cultural icon born at a time when the Philippines was struggling to come out of the devastation of World War II. She served as a salve to a country looking for a champion. Larry V. Sipin (The Manila Times)
Darna is the most popular pulp hero for the Philippines since when it was invented in the fifties by komiks legend Mars Ravelo. This myth instantly developed in over a dozen movies and hundreds of magazines and spin offs. In 2005 a tv series was broadcast that didn’t meet the spectator’s expectations and didn’t survive the first season. I personally thought Angel Locs was quite fitting in the bracelets of Darna, just too many foes and not enough script accompanied her. What a mess! But rumours say a new Darna movie is right now starting to be filmed…
Official Mars Ravelo’s Darna homepage
Most important Darna fansite
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