From the mind of edged-weapon specialist & Filipino martial artist DOUG MARCAIDA

·59 min·3 clips

Doug says a butterfly knife panic helped turn a childhood fear into lifelong blade training.

Doug Marcaida comes in ready to talk. After an ad-heavy cold open, the host gets to the good stuff: Forged in Fire, late night reruns, and whether Doug still enjoys the show. He does. Doug says the series is on hiatus, with 12 unreleased episodes waiting before filming starts again. Then the comic takes over. He talks like someone guarding the feel of his own story while giving the artists room to find things on the page. The martial arts had to look right, so Doug recorded himself training with his brother to help the artist catch the shape and motion of Filipino martial art moves. That shop talk is the spine of the episode. The conversation keeps coming back to the gap between using culture as decoration and letting people who understand it build meaning into the panels. Raymond Lee clicks for him right away. Doug says the first time he saw the artwork, it felt like Raymond understood what the project needed. Felix is the bigger surprise. His skull mask design for the villain floors Doug because the water buffalo skull carries a strong Filipino cultural charge. The Bakunawa emblem adds another layer. Doug describes Felix less like a hired artist and more like someone with lived curiosity, a trekker who talks with village guides and learns from the land. That respect gives the conversation its best stretch. The comic stops feeling like a side project and starts feeling like a team effort built out of movement, research, and trust. The host keeps things loose. He asks whether the same team is handling issues two through four, and Doug says they are finishing the whole series together. By the end, it turns into campaign mode: the chat gets thanked, listeners get nudged toward the notify button, and Doug offers to come back once questions start coming in.

As heard by us

A comics conversation about martial arts, cultural detail, and the work of turning a story into a series.

World at War Comics follows Doug Marcaida's comic project and the work behind it without padding the point. The conversation stays with Filipino martial art moves, the team effort shaping the story, and the way the artists had to carry movement, symbolism, and cultural detail…

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Why you'd press play

You want a comics talk about Filipino martial-arts moves, cultural symbols, and a team-made story.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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