Trese – dark mysteries on the streets of Manilla a review by Richard Bruton
Trese is a supernatural series starring a female investigator who steps in to protect the streets of Manilla when the police can’t deal with the supernatural weirdness that appears. Produced by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, this Filipino book does so much right it’s practically scandalous we haven’t heard more about it here in the UK.
...Trese is definitely from the same mold as Hellblazer, just as it’s writer Budjette Tan is channelling equal parts Jamie Delano and Warren Ellis and artist Kajo Baldisimo does some impressive black and white work somewhere on a scale of Frank Miller and Eduardo Risso. But there’s a lot of other influences in there as well – is it just my prejudices or can I see Alan Davis as well?
But the most important thing is that it’s a very impressive take on the whole mysterious magical investigator. Its’ a very original take on an old genre idea. A hugely entertaining series of 13 stories across the 3 volumes.
We had a grand plan for 2010. We planned to release Trese Book 4 and 5. Along the way, we distracted ourselves with other things and thought we were supermen and could juggle all these worlds simultaneously and still deliver the books on time. We were not as super as we thought.
Then I wrote that Trese Valentine’s Day story “I Carry Your Heart” where we revealed the secret of the bangungot.
We also worked on the script and storyboard for a Trese short film (which is now officially on hold and not so sure how soon this will get the green light again).
And then I collaborated with Brandie for his RE:VISION exhibit piece,which was a six-panel Trese story that you switch around and revise and it will still tell you a story.
Towards the end of the year, Erwin Romulo and the crazy crew of UNO lured us into, what he promised to be, “a whole lot of fun”. Well, he did deliver on the “fun” part and we cooked up THE FEAST (It's an 8-page, full color, all original story from me, Kajo, and Alex Arellano.) Read it in the least issue of UNO. You can't miss it. It's the one with Iza Calzado on the cover.
So, we didn’t exactly slack off and that’s why we missed our deadlines. We just kept ourselves busy. Too busy.