ISPIKIKAY (Toxic Fighter/World Protector)

To conclude National Superwomen's Month and to celebrate Earth Hour, we present... __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ispikikay first appeared in Kick Fighter Komiks (published by Infinity Publishing Inc.) in 1993. The original series was created by writer Espie Buen Gayanillo and artist Ariel Padilla. Glady Gimena later took over as writer, and some fill-in issues were drawn by Luisito G. Antonio. _______________________________________________________

ORIGIN

_______________________________________________________ While nature tripping in the forests of Palawan, teenager Charlene "Kikay" Magno encountered a fairy named Tweety Delirius. Chosen to protect the Earth's ecology, Kikay was given extraordinary powers to become the environmental superheroine Ispikikay. ____________________________________ _ _ _

POWERS AND ABILITIES

__________________________________________________________ Ispikikay has superhuman strength, speed, invulnerability, and the power of flight. She can also project force fields, shoot fireballs, and is skilled in martial arts. _____________________________________________________

CHANGE IS GOOD

I've always liked Ispikikay, though I'm not really sure why. The stories weren't special, and I thought at the time that Ariel Padilla was the worst artist ever (until I saw his most recent works. He's actually pretty good). Maybe the lighter tales were just a nice change of pace from the macho grittiness of the other Kick Fighter strips. Or maybe it's because, as much as I disliked the artwork, Kikay herself usually looked cute as a button.

Like the other Kick Fighter mainstays, Ispikikay was also based on a character from the Street Fighter video game, but modified to make her appear different. In fact, she was the most heavily-modified of all the KF characters that she would barely even resemble her SF counterpart.

THE EARTH WARRIORS

Later in the series, Kikay's friends would also be given super powers, forming the ecological super-team, the Earth Warriors.

FIRE EYE

Real Name: Joel

Power: Shoots energy blasts from his eyes.

FREEZE

Real Name: Dennis
Power: Ice-based abilities.

GIGANTA

Real Name: Lucille

Power: Grows to gigantic size.

SLASH

Real Name: Mark

Power: Razor-sharp claws on his fingers.

_

ENEMIES

DAMON

Ispikikay's arch-nemesis, an evil eco-villain who wants to destroy the environment.








THE FRIGHTFUL FIVE ___________________________Sometimes Sometimes called the Sinister Five, Damon's chief super-powered minions. The group's members are Delubya, Nucleo, Acido, Lumberjack and The Smoker.
METAMORPHO

Not to be confused with the DC Comics hero of the same name, this Metamorpho is a T2-like shape-shifting agent of the evil Damon.







THE SHADOW MEN

Evil shadows come to life.








SOLARO

A solar-powered villain hired to protect an illegal logging operation.

Wait a minute... A solar-powered character protecting a threat to the environment?! That doesn't sound right...

LIGHTNING LORD

The ruler of a race of lightning-people. Not really a bad guy, he goes on the warpath when the Earth's pollution threatens his kingdom.

CATQUICK ____________________________________________
A super-fast, acrobatic purse-snatcher.

PROFESSOR MORGAN _____________________________A mad A mad scientist who wants to dissect Ispikikay.

PROFESSOR LIBIRAN

Yet another mad scientist, dubbed "the number one enemy of nature."

__IRON COP _____________________________________A robot A A robot police officer gone renegade.

_____________________________________________________________ ALIENS _____________________ The The Earth Warriors have faced a number of alien invaders. A lot of them look alike (green-skinned, big-headed, pointy-eared), so they're probably of the same race. __________________________________________________________ 
GORDON ____
A magnetic-powered alien disguised as Kikay's hunky next-door neighbor. ___________________________________________________________KUKA ____________________
The obligatory evil twin, a robot double created by Damon. Aside from Kuka, Damon would use other evil clones against Kikay.

CROSSOVERS

Ispikikay first teamed-up with her KF co-stars in a book-length adventure for the magazine's "Winter Special Edition" 48th issue. _______________________________________

Kikay with Hugo, Boga, Biotrog and Jolas

Art by Gilbert Monsanto

When Kick Fighter was reformatted in 1995 and its characters were re-shuffled, Ispikikay (renamed "Kickay" ) was teamed with Kulto and Mysterio in a new strip entitled Quantum Zone.

Art by Lando Inolino

When KF was revamped anew in 1996, Ispikikay joined the cast of Street Kombat.

Art by Jim Jimenez

COVERS

ANGEL ACE

Angel Ace was a black & white manga-style comic book series created by writer/artist Marco Dimaano. It was distributed from the late-1990's to the early-2000's by Alamat Comics.

MEET ANGELA GALE

"Beautiful circus aerialist Angela Gale is more than what she seems. For starters, she can really fly..."

"When Angel comes to the town of Newhaven, she makes new friends in college students Mike and Rip. She also makes a deadly enemy in the insidious Sorcerer..."

_

_

POWERS AND ABILITIES

_

Angel's body is surrounded by an anti-gravity field that enables her to fly. She can also extend the field to people and objects that she touches, giving her the appearance of superhuman strength. But let's let Angel herself explain the nature of her powers more clearly...

_

Aside from her flight powers, Angel is also slightly stronger and faster than the average person. She possesses photographic reflexes that allow her to learn new skills upon observation. She has been trained in several martial arts such as kung fu, karate, ninjitsu, jujitsu, muay thai, capeoria, and others.

She's a sweet girl. But you wouldn't want to piss her off.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

_

MIKE & RIP

Mike Rodriguez is an aspiring young writer who finds himself enamored with the mysterious Angel Ace. Ripley "Rip" Scott is an aspiring young artist, and Mike's token goofy best friend.






GREGOR

A retired Russian spy and Angel's guardian/father figure. Also known as The Wolf, Gregor fiercely protects Angel from his old enemies and those who would seek to exploit her abilities.







THE SORCERER

A masked mad bomber. After his younger brother was mercilessly heckled off the stage during a performance of Hamlet, the man who would become the Sorcerer bombed the theater in revenge. When his brother died, he became a flamboyant serial arsonist who saw blowing up performance venues as a form of art.

S-IV

The Secret School of Slaying Skills, an organization of female ninjas trained since childhood. Their assassins are known as S-IV Agents, or SIVA.












KAI MISHIMA

An S-IV Agent tasked with eliminating Angel Ace. Kai was once Angel's best friend, but had grown to resent her after she felt she had betrayed her.

GUEST ARTISTS

_

Aside from Dimaano, other artists had also contributed to the series, such as Arnold Arre...

_

Jon Mallari...

..and Carlo Vergara.

_

COVERS

_

_

FLIGHT RECORD

_

The original 2-issue Angel Ace series came out around 1997, followed a couple of years later by the prequel Angel Ace: Lone Wolf and Cherub, detailing the origin of Angel and Gregor. The 4-issue Angel Ace: Again was released in 2001. Angel Ace: Next and a Kai spin-off, K.I.A. (Kai: Indomitable Assassin) were released in 2005.

I'm not sure if these books are still in print, but they should be. The series was a charming blend of fantasy, adventure, humor and romance that deserves to be shared with a wider audience.
_

You'd believe a girl can fly.