Line #7 ComicBook/TheMythologyClass


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mythclass001.jpg]]
2
3	->Never take things for granted.\
4	Never ignore what is obvious.\
5	For just when you least expect it... ''engkantos'' will always have a way of surprising you.''
6
7	''The Mythology Class'' is a late 1990s–early 2000s Philippine comic by artist Arnold Arre. The series, now complete, chronicles the adventures of a group of university students when they answer the calling of the old gods.
8
9	In 2020, Arnold Arre finally followed it up with a sequel, ''The Children of Bathala'', which reunites the class years later.
10
11	See also Arnold Arre's other novel, ''ComicBook/AfterEden''.
12	----
13	!!''The Mythology Class'' provides examples of:
14	* AerithAndBob: Western names and their derivatives for the students (Nicole, Gio, Sam, Rey, Misha, Gina, Lane, Angie, Edward, Lisa, and an actual Bob), vs. indigenous or Asian names for the mentors and heroes (Datimbang, Kubin, Sulayman, Aili (?), Tala, Lam-ang). Even Datimbang herself goes as "Mrs Enkanta" knowing that her students are used to Westernised names. (Lusyo the ''tikbalang'' is a sort of intermediate case, as he has a Hispanic name rendered in Tagalog spelling.)
15	* AfroAsskicker: Lam-ang. He's not a black African/-American, but the closest Philippine equivalent—part of the Aeta ethnic group, who are darker than the average (brown, relatively unmixed) Filipino, and typically have curly hair. He valiantly slices through a bunch of ''aswangs'' when they're accidentally released, [[spoiler:before they overwhelm him through sheer numbers]].
16	* TheAllegedCar: Sam's Jalopy. Gio describes it best: "It does look like crap on wheels."
17	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The ''aswangs''—bloodthirsty demons hellbent on making as many {{Human Sacrifice}}s as possible to appease Sitan, their GodOfEvil.
18	* ArcWords: Spoken by Nicole's grandfather.
19	-->'''Grampa''': "Just when you least expect it … ''engkantos'' will always have a way of surprising you."
20	* BadassBiker: Lisa. She sees a lot of action on her bike.
21	* BelligerentSexualTension: Rey and Misha. More ''romantic'' than ''sexual'' per se, but certainly very belligerent at times.
22	* BigBad: The Master Aswang.
23	* BlackEyesOfEvil: Averted with Kubin Ibalon, plus a few other characters. This appears more to be a consequence of Arnold Arre's drawing style than a conscious decision to identify heroes or villains, although Sitan has snakelike pupils.
24	* BoyishShortHair: Lisa.
25	* CannotSpitItOut: Gio's feelings for Angie. A magical fruit from the tree of Pedro Penduko forces him to spill the beans—as it does to Angie, who however confesses to something else. (Neither seem aware of this however when the fruit's effects wear off.)
26	-->'''Gio''': I love you!\
27	'''Angie''': I bite my toenails!
28	* ChekhovsGun: The "Kneeling Aswang" drawing. Nicole initially wonders if it was a mistake that its indigenous/precolonial artist used river symbols for the ''aswang'''s body. [[spoiler:Later she realises it was intentional—the drawing was a map, the body and limbs actually represent the Pasig and San Juan Rivers, and the head gives away the location of the ''aswang'' temple—beneath the Plaza of the Gods, in Makati.]]
29	* ChekhovsSkill: Even if by accident, Misha's "sickness" (i.e., her tendency to forget or leave behind the ''engkanto'' jars). [[spoiler:One of the jars she misses ends up capturing the Master Aswang when he pokes around inside it out of curiosity.]]
30	* CoolCar: In a huge contrast to [[TheAllegedCar Sam's dilapidated Jalopy]], the new Stallion Cedan 959, with its streamlined shape and bulletproof windows. It was on display at the Plaza of the Gods atrium until the class use it to fight off the ''aswangs'' (especially since they got to Jalopy first).
31	* CoolSword: Lam-ang's ''kampilan'' (a Philippine sword with a blade and a hilt both shaped like a dragon's mouth). Also Kubin's ''kris'' (a Philippine/Malaysian wavy sword, the symbol of which also forms a motif on the Mythology Class's invitationals).
32	%% * CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mall magnate Mr Quantos.
33	%% * TheDragon: Initially, the Master Aswang is this to Sitan.
34	* EveryCarIsAPinto: [[spoiler:Sam's Jalopy (commandeered by a gang of ''aswangs'') collides with a tanker truck (also hijacked by ''aswangs''). The two explode in an enormous fireball.]]
35	* ExtranormalInstitute: The University of the Philippines, where the main cast study, becomes this, in a way, at least where the titular "mythology class" is concerned.
36	* FairySexy: Tala, the celestial sprite who introduces the student characters to the titular class, depicted as a luminous nude humanoid (albeit with BarbieDollAnatomy).
37	%% * FireForgedFriends: Mrs. Enkanta's students.
38	* FishPeople: A ''syokoy'' with long scaly limbs and large fishy eyes makes an appearance in a river. Looks much more fishlike than humanoid, however.
39	* GlamourFailure: Nicole's adopted dog starts howling during a sunset—because he's actually an ''aswang''. All the other ''aswangs'' exhibit the same behaviour.
40	* GoneHorriblyRight: The music equipment that the A.U.C. team (Angie, Edward and Bob) devise to play back the "Dance of the Diwatas" song does its job so well of lulling one ''kapre'' to sleep, it ends up ''attracting the'' kapre's ''entire family'' … and the class thought they only had to deal with ''one''. More comically, the music—meant to "charm the savage beast", per the cliché—ends up lulling all the boys to sleep as well. Even Sulayman.
41	%% * GottaCatchEmAll: All the ''engkanto'', that is.
42	* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous Tagalog]]: Only one character speaks in Tagalog with any regularity. (Sometimes he veers into Taglish though.)
43	%% * TheHerald: Tala
44	* HumanSacrifice: The class very nearly became this for Sitan—tied up to stakes awaiting his waking—but they're saved thanks to supernatural intervention from some of the team left at Gina's house (including Gina, Mrs Enkanta, Edward, Aili and Nuno).
45	* IndianBurialGround: The Plaza of the Gods was built over the ''aswangs''' old temple, which makes it very easy for them to mount a counteroffensive by terrorising the mallgoing populace overhead—[[spoiler:and to capture the members of the Mythology Class, when they visit it to celebrate the completion of their quests]].
46	* InsistentTerminology: The ''aswangs'' refer to guns as hammers.
47	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The dog demon that got away from Kubin's attack is thrown into a truck headed for an ''asusena'' shop—i.e., an eatery that serves ''dog meat''. Plus, the guys who pick him up also find the magic sword capable of killing demons like him.[[note]]Stray dogs in the Philippines are sometimes cooked and eaten as an appetiser at beer-drinking sessions.[[/note]]]]
48	* TheMall: The Plaza of the Gods. It plays a huge role in the graphic novel mainly for being built, IndianBurialGround-style, over the ''aswangs''' old temple, [[spoiler:and is marked as such on the "Kneeling Aswang" drawing]]. The latter chapters of the comic involve a tour and shopping spree through the mall as the class' gift to their mentors—which then culminates in [[spoiler:the ''aswangs'' kidnapping them]], at which point the climactic conflict shifts into high gear.
49	%% * TheMentor: Mrs Enkanta, [[spoiler:alias Datimbang]]. Also, Sulayman.
50	* MsFanservice: Lane the telepath when she gets into her dance costume to appease the giant ''kapres''. Nicole also gets a ShowerScene complete with CensorSteam. Then there's [[TheHerald Tala]], who's seen mostly as a [[FairySexy nude]] ([[BarbieDollAnatomy if relatively featureless]]) humanoid.
51	* Myth/PhilippineMythology: A deep in-depth exploration of the mythos.
52	* ScaledUp: [[spoiler:The Master Aswang turns into a fully snakelike form upon the story's climax through the exceedingly creepy means of a dead Sitan's spirit fusing with his own.]]
53	* SealedGoodInACan: Most of the ancient jars simply contain mythical creatures and spirits with no ill intentions, and the class' job is to hunt them all down and return them to their jars--think ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'', in most cases. (Though a number of them can still be quite unpleasant—one scared the shit out of Misha and attempted to bite her until Sulayman returned it to a jar.)
54	* SealedEvilInACan: The largest vessel, however, contains the evil ''aswangs''. It functions sort of like a Philippine Pandora's Box; it's box-shaped, with a curiously shaped lid with a sculpture depicting two figures in a boat—the "ferryman of death and his passenger" motif, like in the RealLife Manunggul Jar. It induces enough psychological havoc and {{Greed}} that the mall-owner [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr Quantos]] is DrivenToSuicide over it and the El Diablo gang pursue Lam-ang over it, accidentally ''releasing the ''aswangs'''' when they shoot at it. It's their release that sparks most of the conflict of the story.
55	* ShipTease: Gio and Angie. Gio, in particular, CannotSpitItOut.
56	* SpiritualSuccessor: In some ways the "Spiritual Predecessor" to ''Comicbook/{{Trese}}'', a later graphic novel series also featuring romps through a metropolitan Manila filled with mythical beings and creatures.
57	* ShockJock: Lance. He can be ''extremely'' offensive and insulting towards his callers.
58	* ShoutOut:
59	** To ''Pedro Penduko'', a folk hero created by comic artist Francisco V. Coching and himself the star of several movies and TV shows since his inception. In this universe, Pedro Penduko is apparently real, and the class takes a trip to his forest sanctuary.
60	** Also to action star Fernando Poe Jr (FPJ). One of his classic movies is showing in one scene where he cocks a pistol and shoots at what appear to be zombies—that's how the Master Aswang learns to use the "weird-looking hammer" he found on the El Diablo gang. (He accidentally shoots one of his own {{Mooks}} in the learning process.)
61	* SymbolSwearing: Rey and Misha in particular, because they're often the most curse-prone, particularly with each other.
62	%% * {{Tsundere}}: Misha.
63	* UrbanFantasy: Most episodic adventures take place in Metro Manila. A few scenes take place in the outskirts and surrounding provinces.
64	* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: In this case, saving the world actually counts towards the students' class units, hence it being called a ''class''. (One wonders how Mrs Enkanta managed to get this approved with the university administration.) Nicole doesn't seem to balance her other classes that well though--in one scene she dozes off in one of her general-education subjects, with the rest of that class looking on disapprovingly.

Context ComicBook / TheMythologyClass