Janus Silang and the Creature of Tabon volume one in the Janus Silang Saga by Edgar Calabia Samar, Natasha Ringor (Illustrator), and Carljoe Javier as the adaptor is more of a 2.5 than a two. There was this “niggle” as I was reading saying, “This is good, pay attention.” But another part of me was saying, “you are so missing something about this book” and therefore I cannot give it a 3 but also, there was too much I did like to just give a flat rating of two.
This feeling of disjointedness mostly came from the fact that the story flow did not feel even and there were at least two images where this also was obvious. The story jumped around, there were several plot points that you are told to “just believe, it’s okay.” And those two images had people in them that made me think, “Well, who the HECK (only I didn’t say heck and it stared with an F) are YOU?” Not to mention the images with the (TRIGGER) very dead dogs (and dead mom earlier). Why is the older looking dog alive but the other two are not? And why does it look like the cat that ate the canary, sneaking around like that? (This was extra disturbing as earlier there was an image of this dog that really made me want to cuddle it… and I’m not a dog person.)
On top of this flow issue, the violence was too much for me (some/most felt gratuitous). This is a horror graphic novel/comic if you had any question about that. At first, I thought, oh, a bit of a “thriller horror” book, I’m okay with that. Nope, it is 101 Horror and by the end you’ll graduate with your PHD in Icky! A lot of the “just believe me” without any backup, without telling/showing was (again) awkward and I was wondering, “Why didn’t the mother know this?” And “If that happened to Janus, why is he still alive?” Why all of a sudden do we get the character Joey who seems a bit too creepy for my own good? And okay who are the twins, why does one not like Janus, and what happened to them? 
Was there a possible translation issue for me as this was an adapted graphic novel from a novel by a Filipino author? Was it because the illustrations felt like they had different artists because it felt like different styles in different parts of the book? Though it is available I read it via an online reader copy, so did that make things not completed? Was it something else or all of the above that made this book “off” for me? Honestly I am not sure. I do know that there was something there for the right reader, but I was not that reader.
Two things to end this with, I liked the idea of having the mythology, legends, lore of the Philippines as its focus. This was fun as I enjoyed reading mythology and comparing it to other Asian cultures (the similarities and differences fascinate me). What little horror comics I have read have been Korean so this was also a chance to compare the styles. And second, there is a sequel, Janus Silang and the Struggle for Kalibutan: Volume Two. It is currently available and I’m hoping to find a copy of it just to see if any of my questions are answered.
