Jinky Coronado is a woman of many talents. The talents that are currently being showcased by Arcana Studio are her writing and artwork. She is the creator of Banzai Girl: The New Adventures of Jinky Coronado. Her illustrated alter-ego is “a sexy Asian schoolgirl whose nightmares of being a Princess and a Futuristic Freedom Fighter foretell extraordinary adventures that affect and inspire her real life. She deals with school, romance, grades, and friends until her life ‘makes a right turn into weird.’ Her teachers, and eventually her whole town of adults, become controlled by invading creatures they call the Shadow Whisperers. But Jinky and her best friend Katie J. discover their parents are acting oddly as well—and they need to take matters into their own hands to save the world.”
Banzai Girl showcases a truly odd rogues gallery of foes for Jinky: Filipino urban legends, including “a sinister Snakeman beneath a shopping mall and the menacing Manananggal, a revolting, horrifying vampire that splits apart at the waist.” The story is “steeped in Filipino lifestyle and culture,” but it’s an allegory for the relationship troubles and alienation many teens feel in their high school years all over the world.
And according to Arcana, “Banzai Girl is unique in its creation: its author is also its artist, its main character, and its photo cover model.” The covers pictured on this page (issue #1 upper right, issue #2 middle left) represent the beginning of a new series that picks up eight months after the storyline chronicled in the original Banzai Girl (see below right). “Everyone is a little older and Michelle and Jinky have missed a whole semester of college touring to promote their new CD in the storyline. While they have been gone, friend Katie J. graduates high school. The three enroll into Empire University together where they will experience adventures dealing in Filipino urban legends.”
The new, 32-page comics are $3.95, while the 160-page volume is available for $12.95, all at the Arcana Studio web site.