Combatron: My First Pinoy Superhero

We have Darna, Lastikman, Flash Bomba, Captain Barbell with a show that obviously blatantly ripped off Smallville and a lot of Philippine made superheroes. They have their own movies and TV shows but there is only one local made superhero that I looked up to every week back in 94-96. This hero is Combatron, created by Berlin Manalaysay.

Combatron appeared in Funny Komiks, an awesome weekly published comic that also introduced as Eklok, Planet op di Eyps, Tomas and Kulas, Pitit, Super Blag and more characters. Combatron’s look is based on Megaman, complete with his loyal sidekick dog known as Askal, his Rush version. The major difference of Combatron and Megaman series is the deep personification of all characters. Every character, cyborg or human, has personalities and not a static wallflower.

In span of a couple of years, the series introduced to a lot of memorable characters and epic more than 1 issue battles. Berlin did a good job of showing both the passionate and determined side of Combatron. Overcoming every destructive robots send by his first enemy Abodawn and engaging to the insane battles with Death Metal. Combatron eventually faced his greatest enemy, a big robot known as Megadeath. So big, the robot can’t handle one page panel.

Unfortunately, the series was abruptly ended with a terrible ending and was done by a very different artist due to a rumored disagreement with the Funny Komiks and Berlin Manalaysay. In the end, Combatron is not only robot and cyborg battles but also taught us the value of life as portrayed by Empoy, the real identity of Combatron. Empoy’s drive to save precious life both on his enemies and mankind, are remarkably portrayed. Combatron also taught us the importance of faith and it shows the source of his strength, his deep believe with the one above all, or simply God.

Thanks to the internet, you can browse old issues of Combatron, scanned and uploaded by other loyal Combatron readers via Project Combatron (http://projectcombatron.blogspot.com/). Try to take your time and maybe you will also find out why a lot of people followed this series. This site also got the attention of the original creator Berlin Manalaysay and gracefully approved the effort of the loyal Combatron fans. Hopefully he will provide the proper ending to this series, if that happened, one of my nerdiest dreams will finally be complete.