Dailydead: Q&A with Waverley Lim and Cecilia Lim

Looking for a fresh start, Filipina-American teen Marisol Reyes gets more than she bargained for when she unlocks powerful and otherworldly abilities from a mysterious mask discovered at her great-grandmother’s wake in the new graphic novel The Mask of Haliya: Heir to the Warrior Moon! With the graphic novel now on Kickstarter via Kwento Comics and Clover Press, we caught up with Kwento Comics co-founders (and mother-daughter duo) Waverley Lim and Cecilia Lim to discuss collaborating with a talented creative team to bring The Mask of Haliya to life, the importance of authentically representing Philippine mythology in this story, working with Clover Press to launch the Kickstarter campaign, and their plans to continue the adventures of The Mask of Haliya beyond this first volume!

The Mask of Haliya includes a lot of inspirations from Filipino mythology, and you both co-founded Kwento Comics to help amplify Asian American representation and voices in creative media. How important was it for you to bring Filipino mythology to life in an authentic and respectful way in The Mask of Haliya?

Cecilia Lim: Bringing Philippine mythology to life in a respectful and authentic way is important to us at Kwento.  As an avid reader of myths from all over the world and as a young girl growing up in the Midwest not having seen my own cultural mythology, it was important to me and the team to make sure we created a vibrant world that showcased mythology that most folks have never experienced. It’s important to note that most of the myths and folklore were passed down from generation to generation orally and so we really had to do some extensive digging. We did our best to find PDFs of books written on Philippine mythology that either weren’t available in the US or were no longer being printed, as well as took frequent visits to Tita Linda’s Philippine Expressions bookstore whenever I was in SoCal. Our writers also did a lot of research from multiple sources and language experts for the ancient Babayin text.  We hired a research assistant and our head writer even went to the Philippines in order to sift through these myths that usually had multiple versions due to the fact that the Philippines is comprised of over 7000 islands. Entwining the traditional myths and creatures in a modern day story was a challenge, yet fun and rewarding at the same time.

At its core, The Mask of Haliya features an emotional familial story. As a mother-daughter creative team, what was it like to oversee a graphic novel that explores the complex dynamics of a family relationship?

Waverley Lim: As a mother-daughter duo, we definitely can relate to, first-hand, the complexities of familial relationships. No matter your background or culture, I think everyone can relate to the fact that families are unique and complicated.  This collaborative process not only strengthened our bond but also provided a unique opportunity to explore the intricacies of family ties, generational dynamics, legacy, and tradition. These themes remind us of our shared humanity and the common threads that bind us together.

Read More: https://dailydead.com/qa-waverley-lim-and-cecilia-lim-discuss-bringing-philippine-mythology-to-life-authentically-in-new-graphic-novel-the-mask-of-haliya-heir-to-the-warrior-moon-now-on-kickstarter/?fbclid=IwAR2DGFTJal6R0KwTFhZOkDbO4uDBB5afNvHcsKlMTklReyTuxRhpwnAf4jg