Second Form

Orders placed after Nov 14th will ship Dec 1.

A modern indie horror graphic novel exploring monstrous transformation, gender, and intergenerational trauma through Filipino folklore. 

Second Form is a full-color horror graphic novel that blends intimate psychological horror, Filipino folklore, and body politics. Set in a world where boys gain monstrous 'second forms' at puberty and women remain unchanged until childbirth, this story explores what it means to survive a system built on a hierarchy of structural and gender-based power imbalances gone haywire.

At the heart of it is Diwata, a sensitive young woman navigating the chasm between socio-cultural expectations and personal autonomy. When an unplanned pregnancy threatens her budding relationship, Diwata is forced to confront the truth while something monstrous circles closer to her and her unborn child.

Second Form reimagines folkloric creatures like the manananggal and sarangay through a modern lens, reflecting themes of intergenerational trauma, gendered violence, and motherhood.

Recommended for mature readers only.

Content warnings: Self-harm, domestic abuse, pregnancy-related distress and trauma, nudity, graphic violence.

128 pages, 6.625"x 10.25"

From the Author

Second Form is my most ambitious story to date involving greater world-building and character development across its 120-odd pages. Written over my recent 3 year journey with in-vitro fertilization (IVF), this book was born in parallel with my rebuilding a relationship with my own ideas of motherhood through therapy and through my art. I think this story is for people who weren't able to lean on their parents as they stood at the precipice of their own potential, or really anyone who has struggled coming into themselves as an adult in the shadow of a complicated family.