The Man in the McIntosh Suit by Rina Ayuyang is a Filipino comic exploring migration to the United States by Filipinos in the 1920s looking for work and the “American Dream.” It is a story of love, longing, friendship, loneliness, and the mistreatment of Filipinos as less-than. The story follows Babot, a Filipino man working on the farms after having promised his wife in the Philippines that he was going to do so to build a life for the two of them. She doesn’t return his letters for months, and he doesn’t understand why. Hoping she is OK, he continues to write to her and remind her of their love and memories he is cherishing.
Babot works alongside two other men, Angel and Edison, who are very different people, making for a tense group dynamic. Babot is the hero type, offering to help his friends and doing what he can to support folks, whereas Angel is a bit of a troublemaker and Edison is more reserved. Babot finds a letter written to him from his cousin in San Francisco saying that Babot’s wife is in the States and he needs to hurry there. Dropping everything to head to his wife and cousin, Babot only finds trouble and discovers alternative motives set out against him.
On top of reading about the migrating workforce, the reader also explores sexuality, infidelity, and loss of hope through different relationships as they develop in this comic. There are countless things to pay attention to when trying to consider all of what the waves of Filipino laborers and their loved ones experienced during this time, and during their lifetimes. Too often, personal loss and longing are not considered with the gravity they should be, as many narratives are more focused on sacrifice and opportunity. Not only were Filipinos not welcomed in 1920s America by white Americans, they also were people who were missing loved ones and their spouses, people who loved others of the same sex in a time period less accepting of all love, people who had educational backgrounds not honored in the U.S., and people who needed some hope that things would get better, that they would be reunited with their family and friends, and that they would be able to build a home and have a family.
This comic explores these, even in brevity, and in doing so leaves an inviting space to ask questions and consider what else could be happening and why things were how they were. In not having an extremely detailed plot, the reader is left thinking more in depth and imaginatively about where and who the characters are, how Babot ends up where he does, and where his wife is and why. This comic is an exceptional experience written in a way that allows it to also be an educational journey to learn more about our ancestors who migrated and worked during the early 1900s. I highly recommend this comic to the person interested in learning more about the Filipino diaspora, the history of labor in Seattle, and the Filipino family.
