For this week’s exploration of komiks, I found another short read on Penlab. Ched De Gala‘s Dear Ma, I’m a big girl na. is a simple comic that explores isolation, the COVID-19 pandemic and living alone for the first time. The first story is moving and heartbreaking, but there are lighter moments in the following strips. Only the first three installments were on Penlab, but Tapas and Webtoon have the remaining 5. The comic is primarily in English, with some Tagalog words that are easy to translate.
During this pandemic, isolation, unemployment, and death became normal every day; we sigh in resignation and reach for that last misplaced sweet style spaghetti sauce on the shelf, a mist of alcohol, and then move on. It got me thinking of the people who passed before the pandemic. What would they have thought about it? Would they have handled it better? Would they have survived? Would they be in lockdown with me?
Dear Ma, I’m a big girl na.





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