KAITLYN FAJILAN reveals what lies behind THE MASK OF HALIYA

Interviews Editor, Andrew Irvin, is joined by Kaitlyn Falijan, head writer ofThe Mask of Haliya, now concluding the Kickstarter campaign for the second graphic novel in the series!

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COMIC BOOK YETI: Welcome to the Yeti Cave, Kaitlyn! I know you hail from Los Angeles, which has been beset by one of the most monumental disasters in its history - how are you and your loved ones doing in light of everything? 

KAITLYN FAJILAN: We are good, thank you! Quite a bit of the devastation was in the Altadena area, which isn’t too far from where I live. The air quality was poor for a few days, but all the fires have been vanquished and as far as I know, the city currently has everything under control. 

CBY: It’s good to hear you've made it through unscathed! To turn to your work, you published issue #1 of The Mask of Haliya in 2022. I understand it draws upon a variety of myths and legends indigenous to the Philippines. Kwento Comics co-founder, Cecilia Lim, is credited as the creator of this title, and her daughter Waverley serves as producer. How did you first become involved in crafting this story, which you’ve helmed as Head Writer since the beginning? 

KF: I first met Cecilia in 2017 through the group Fil-Am Creative, whose mission is to promote Filipino-Americans in media and entertainment. Her daughter and I were both acting in a short film at the time, and Cecilia told me she had enjoyed a movie I’d written and directed that had played at a local festival. Months later, she invited me to join the writing team of a comic book project she was undertaking. The story was going to be about a Filipina-American teen with superpowers. I jumped on board and started coming up with what I thought could be some cool ideas related to Philippine folklore, like the Biklano legend of the moon goddess Haliya and Bakunawa, an ancient sea serpent. 

CBY: Beyond your work with Cecilia providing continuity throughout the ongoing run of issues, you’ve had an ensemble of talented creatives supporting this story throughout. With editorial support and art direction from Jenapher Zheng on the writing team, the art team has included; Renoida Renovilla, Charlyn Duy, Susan Bin, Vik Caedo, Minerva Fox, Kristen Laroa, Liezl Buenaventura, La Guevarra, Mikaela Kaufman, Kielamel Sibal, and range of fantastic cover artists. I saw some interview footage where it looked like you had the whole team on a video call - what sort of role have you had in bringing together the talent behind the book, and what does coordination look like for a team of this size as you’ve proceeded through each issue?

KF: I’m very lucky - and spoiled, even - in the sense that there are members of the Haliya squad whose actual job is to corral everyone together. Jenapher Zheng, the editor and art director I’d worked with for the past six or seven years, would relay a lot of my story details to the team of artists, conveying narrative minutiae and overall tone into Haliya’s visual aspect. The producers, Cecilia and Waverley Lim, serve as the Nick Furies of the team, overseeing the general work process and contacting new artists to join the fray. Over the years, I’ve always kept my eyes and ears peeled for talented Asian female artists to recommend them, and I’m happy to say quite a few of the artists on our roster are ones I “scouted,” if you can call it that. 

CBY: It seems as appropriate a term as any. Additionally, when this title was introduced to the Yeti team, the role of Cecilia and Waverley in providing a platform for Asian women to create comics without facing the structural biases in the industry in the production process. Any opportunity to engage with stories that don’t adhere to Western monomyth conventions is welcome, or patriarchal power structures of the male and pale (I get more than enough by looking in the mirror). How do you get to flex your creative intent differently in producing work with the Kwento team, free of masculine energy?

KF: I think just the fact that we can produce a series that emphasizes a diverse range of female characters--from fledgling teenagers to suffering celebrities to wizened warrior shamans--is, in itself, a flex. The fact that at the heart of our story is a series of mother-daughter relationships helps affirm the creators’ feminine touch. Additionally, I’ve found that in my years working with female-led groups, a common trait I see is the effort to communicate empathetically with each team member and give appropriate praise where it is due. This is a dynamic I’ve also noticed within Kwento. 

CBY: To this end - this Vol. 2 graphic novel campaign was set to launch in March during Women’s History Month (congratulations on a successful campaign!) You’ve spoken to the internal team dynamics, and mother-daughter relationship dynamics are a non-trivial component of The Mask of Haliya’s story. As an individual with a cross-cultural experience, tied to both the Philippines and the United States, beyond interviews like this, how do you navigate working in an intersectional, multi-dimensional manner, promoting your work to a wider audience?

KF: I’m heavily involved in the Filipino-American community, whether it be through Filipino-focused art, media, and entertainment groups, or just cultivating ties with fellow Fil-Ams in general. I try to consume and monetarily support as many Filipino artists--and authors in particular--as I can. But in terms of promoting our work to a wider audience, I just try to make as much social media content as I can regarding the series, and art in general. Just showing my face in my videos constitutes as an effort at intersectionality (at least in my opinion), because if the mysterious godlike algorithm can show someone halfway across the world that people like me are out here hustling and creating art for consumption, we inch a little closer towards bridging those spaces. 

CBY: On the topic of promoting your work, prior to the launch of The Mask of Haliya, your primary creative effort was devoted toward acting, writing, and directing. How has your filmmaking experience translated to writing comics, and what sort of plans might you have in store for future cinematic productions? 

KF: I think it’s actually translated a little too much if you ask me! I’ve never been very happy writing shot lists--and I oftentimes feel constrained by panel-based scripts--so in writing Haliya, I adopted a sort of quasi-prose, quasi-screenplay format. This format was partially based on the fact that some of the artists wanted the scripts to be written in that way, and partially because my brain just naturally sees the series as something adapted to screen. Maybe that has caused grief for our readers more accustomed to traditional comics--it’s certainly caused grief for our storyboard artists and letterers! 

As for future cinematic projects, I still work in film and I am writing a period piece feature, as well as starting a production company with a fellow Pinay screenwriter/actor. 

CBY: Our readers will have to give keep an eye on your forthcoming film projects! Back to The Mask of Haliya, the epigraph preceding the start of the whole ongoing saga introduces a rendition of the myth of Bakunawa, a moon-eating serpentine dragon - a portentous figure associated with eclipses and impending disaster. With the diverse pantheon of gods and other figures of myth and legend across the 182 ethnolinguistic groups which comprise the archipelagos of the Philippines, how did you land on Bakunawa as the starting point? What sort of research goes into building a cohesive narrative that reflects the traditional characterization of these mythological figures? 

KF: Bakunawa became the natural villain of this story by virtue of Haliya being the protagonist (well, sort of! If you read the series, you’ll understand). Interestingly, the historical concept of Haliya even being a deity at all isn’t backed by any accurate sources. All we really know is that ancient Bikolanos practiced a moon ritual called ‘haliya.’ Pop culture later portrayed Haliya as a warrior moon goddess whose arch nemesis was Bakunawa, the sea serpent who ate her moon siblings (as you mentioned, the latter half of that myth does prefigure multiple Filipino beliefs about Bakunawa.) 

At the end of the day, I chose Bakunawa as the antagonist (again--sort of! Those who read the series will find out that Bakunawa encompasses multiple antagonists) because he is meant to represent being swallowed by one’s past, one’s familial trauma. It is a symbol of losing part of one’s self, which characters like Mari and Isla must confront throughout the series. 

In terms of research, I reached out to a number of Filipino pre-colonial folklore enthusiasts and experts, and tried to look up as many text resources that mentioned Bakunawa and Haliya from a pre-colonial standpoint. 

CBY: Regarding the pre-colonial cultural foundations of the story, on the note of the linguistic and cultural diversity in the Philippines, there is a variety of non-English dialogue peppered throughout the comic. While Wikang Filipino is the nationalized language, Marisol, the protagonist, is based out of Cebu, where Cebuano predominates. What considerations go into localizing representation, providing ties to indigenous belief structures, especially considering the ways you’ve woven in the postcolonial legacy of Catholicism and other power structures present in the Philippines?

KF: In 2022, I took a research trip to the Philippines (during election season, no less!) and made sure to spend some time in Cebu City interviewing locals and artists on everything from their opinions on the government, to amusing local customs, to the rollercoaster ride that is the Philippine zeitgeist. It was so inspiring and humbling to connect with these people over a culture that was at once distinctly mine and not at all my own. 

Because Filipinos are known to code switch, and because our team wanted to portray Cebu as accurately as we could, it was important to hire Cebuano translators to convert some of Haliya’s dialogue into something a Cebuano local might hear. We also made sure to keep an open dialogue between myself and the Cebuano artists on anything in the story that didn’t look or sound right. 

We also temporarily hired a research assistant to help me with details regarding Haliya’s parallel pre-colonial story set in what is now modern-day Cebu. (Fun fact: that research assistant is none other than the son of Whilce Portacio of Image Comics fame, and an invaluable mentor back in Kwento’s early days!) 

CBY: Ah, I just met Whilce Portacio (and his wife!) briefly at Supanova Melbourne. He was cranking away on a commission, so I didn't get a chance to interview him properly. We’ve now discussed a number of the cultural foundations upon which The Mask of Haliya is built - what about creative inspirations? While some classic superhero transformation tropes are drawn upon, what specific influences amongst the comics landscape have inspired your aesthetic and approach to the medium?

KF: I think reading the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga growing up really solidified my affinity for anything dealing with mentally unwell teenagers (haha!) As I got older, I found myself being drawn to stories with a slightly darker or even gothic aesthetic (classic gothic romance is hands-down my favorite genre), and I think a little of that has made its way into Haliya’s themes. Because anime is initially what got me into visual storytelling, I think a lot of Haliya is an homage to that culture. 

CBY: I think your genre preference is as good a segue as possible into our final question. As is Comic Book Yeti custom in our interviews, we close with the opportunity for you to share beyond your own work. What creators across comics, film, music, literature, and other art forms are inspiring you lately? What should our readers check out after they give The Mask of Haliya a read?

KF: In terms of literature, I’ve recently discovered Anais Nin (I know, super late to the party). I’m also embarking on the journey that is The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, and that is proving exceedingly eye-opening for my own creative faculties. Because I’ve always been attracted to spirituality and the woo-woo (and because I’m currently broke), I’ve definitely been enjoying The Witch’s Way to Wealth by Jessie Da Silva. Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente was also great (she’s the author of Gone Girl for those of you who don’t know). A fantastic Filipina writer I recently discovered is Yvette Tan. 

In terms of film, I’ve been geeking out a lot over Robert Eggers lately. He’s kind of my idol at this point. 

In terms of comics, I’ve been reading a lot of indie stuff by Filipino creators like Arnold Arre. Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay’s Somna was awesome (I’m currently writing a play partially inspired by it). Also reading Habibi by Craig Thompson.

Readers should check out any and all of the above once they’re done with Haliya Vol 2! 

CBY: Kaitlyn, thanks for stopping by the Yeti Cave to discuss The Mask of Haliya. If we missed any publication, portfolio, or social media links you’d like to share with our readers, now is the time and place!

KF: You can follow all goings-on of The Mask of Haliya series and the Kwento Comics team on our instagram @kwentocomics. You can also follow my own instagram, @kaitlyn.fae, where I post on topics related to film and writing!