The 7th book written by Bob Ong and the 3rd book that is fiction [unless if you consider Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (literally translated as Judas’ Favorite Book)]. Like most books written by Bob Ong, this book doesn’t disappoint readers. The book has a total of 166 pages and can be read within a span of 2 days if you are not busy.A repairman named Rogelio discovered that he has superpowers. His friend, Bok-bok persuades him to use his powers to help people… and he did. At first, he appeared as a naked ninja thanks to his shirt wrapped around his face. Later, his friend, Tessa created his costume, allowing Tessa to discover his secret. His first attempt to save people as the guy with a silver costume was failure, turned out to be a shooting of a film. The real crime happened somewhere not near in the film shooting.
… That is the first time it happened… or so he thought. As he continues to fight wrong doers, people named him Kapitan Sino. As Kapitan Sino, he saved countless lives, like any other run on the mill superhero. But we forget one thing. Remember, this is a Bob Ong book and most of his books target society and politics as a whole.
The entire turning point of the novel is the death of Tessa, his love. Like what Regelio’s father pointed out, superheroes are also humans; they can’t save everyone especially the one they truly cherish. As we are reaching at the climax of the novel, Rogelio was arrested because of one stupid reason. You will laugh if I will write what is that said reason! While inside jail, a terrible disease broke out. Later it is found out that Rogelio’s blood is the cure. His blood saved countless lives but he didn’t survive. He became a hero as Rogelio and not as Kapitan Sino. Rogelio died a hero’s death.
At the end of the novel, we found out that Bok-bok survived and Pelaez returned into its old way of living.
On to the review, Kapitan Sino is in my own opinion, is one of the best books Bob Ong has written. Before I read this, I thought his non-fiction works are his best works. I was proven wrong. This book had a spectacular plot, and a concept so rare that the only one graphic novel/movie comes in my mind when I heard the term, deconstructing, humanizing superheroes, and that is, Watchmen.
Like I said earlier, this is a Bob Ong book, thus it had sociological and political implications. A perfect example of these implications is the part where it is revealed that the kind-hearted mayor turned out to be a monster with a son who has an appetite for too much protein (Note: I will not reveal what kind of protein is it. It would ruin the fun factor!). After his death, instead of remembering the humble deeds he did as a citizen, the citizens only remembered him as the monster that Kapitan Sino defeated.
Bob Ong made his readers realize that superheroes are also humans. Humans who have weaknesses, who have doubts, who have fears and who have desires. Kapitan Sino made me realize that we look up to superheroes because we want to so something but we can’t because we think of our weaknesses and our own personal doubts.