Manila's 1980s Mutant Hero 'Butiking Pasay' Debuts at PICOF 2025
Filipino artist Wincy Aquino Ong, who's also behind musical project Patience Dear Juggernaut and several music videos as director, is adding another creative pursuit to his portfolio: Butiking Pasay, a 32-page full-color comic. It is launching at the Philippine International Comics Festival (PICOF) from July 5 to 6 at Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall.
Butiking Pasay is written, illustrated, colored, lettered, and designed entirely by Ong. It is one of 11 official selections in PICOF’s 2025 Creator’s Lab Batch 5, which puts the spotlight on emerging Filipino comic book creators.
"My elevator pitch to Komiket was simple enough—Lino Brocka’s Ninja Turtles," said Ong in a statement.
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'Butiking Pasay: Rooftop Boogie' comic book cover by Komiket Publishing. The eponymous hero strikes a pose on top of a Love Bus by the Manila Film Center in Pasay City.
A Lizard on the Loose in Martial Law Manila
Butiking Pasay emerges from the shadows of Martial Law–era Pasay in the '80s, a setting that gives the comic a unique, crumbling aesthetic. The story kicks off with a student activist on the run from military torturers, whose desperate situation is interrupted by the enigmatic, barefoot vigilante known as Butiking Pasay.
The genesis of this peculiar hero is as unconventional as the character himself. Ong stumbled upon the phrase "Butiking Pasay" while researching old Tagalog phrases. "It sounded gross, mysterious, and totally punk rock," he recalls. "I thought, ‘Why would someone compare a lizard to a city?’ And then it clicked: this isn’t a song title. This is a superhero." What started as a potential band name quickly evolved into the concept for a superhero, giving birth to a character that's part urban legend, part gecko, and entirely strange.
'Butiking Pasay' creator Wincy Aquino Ong smiles while holding a toy butiki.
What to Know About Local Superhero Butiking Pasay
Butiking Pasay is no ordinary caped crusader. "In essence, he’s an urban legend in '80s Manila, a gecko-man in a Metro Aide uniform," Ong explains. Picture him haunting the post-disco ruins of Pasay’s Locsin-era architecture. His weapon of choice? A backscratcher with a mind of its own, described by Ong as "The Addams Family’s Thing fused to a broomstick.”
And his powers? They certainly defy the standard superhero playbook. Beyond the expected wall-crawling and a prehensile tail, Butiking Pasay secretes "mood-shift mucus"—projectiles that can induce anything from sleep and panic attacks to "head-splitting orgasms." These bizarre secretions have earned the moniker "Kulangot Bombs" in the in-universe tabloids, a testament to the comic's unique and darkly humorous sensibility.
'Butiking Pasay' pin-up by Denmark-based illustrator Ian Sta. Maria
Acknowledging the prevalence of Jim Lee– and manga-inspired artwork in the local scene, Ong intentionally leaned into a "rougher, more expressionistic—what some might call ‘ugly-beautiful’" style. Influences like Æon Flux, The Maxx, and Beavis & Butthead are evident, promising a distinct visual language. Ong's background as a street photographer also shines through in his obsession with "Pinoy Brutalism," which promises plenty of stark, impactful architecture within the comic's pages.
"Definitely not your typical superhero comic," Ong asserts. He describes it as "a strange beast—equal parts PETA stage play, acrobatics show, body horror, and healing fiction. Threaded through all that is a nod to Nick Joaquin’s noir-style reportage. So think of it as a graphic novel with theater bones and tabloid blood. A real pancit canton of a book—messy, hot, but it all makes sense to the Filipino eyeball.”
'Butiking Pasay' action figure prototype designed by Super Pixels Studio will be up for auction during the two-day event at SM Megamall.
Aside from Butiking Pasay's launch, the upcoming Philippine International Comics Festival is also hosting a motion comic screening on July 5 at 2 p.m. Fans can also come and collect limited-edition postcards featuring the art of Ian Sta. Maria, Ardie Aquino, Elbert Or, and Brian Balondo.
The Philippine International Comics Festival is from July 5 to 6, 2025, at SM Megamall, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong.
