an email from Mike Carey about TRESE

Last October, while I was in the UK, aside from getting to meet Alan Moore, I also got to meet Mike Carey, writer of THE UNWRITTEN, and Vertigo editor Pornsak Pichetshote. They were attending the British International Comics Show and they were in the audience of Yuko Shimizu's talk, the cover artist of THE UNWRITTEN.

After the talk, I tried to find the best opportunity to introduce myself to them. But a lot of other people were talking to them and I didn't want to be rude and just butt in their conversation.

I finally saw my chance when they broke away from the crowd and went into the men's room. (No! I did not follow them in there!)

I waited for them to come out and quickly blocked their way and blurted out: Hi!I'mBudjetteTanfromthePhilippines!AndIjustwantedtogiveYOUacopyofmycomicbookTRESE!ThankYOU!

I gave them copies of TRESE and said thanks again. As soon as I walked away, other people came up to them greet them and talk to them. I looked back and saw that they were flipping through the pages of TRESE and that just made me smile.

Before I could take another step, someone tapped my back. I turned around and saw Mr. Carey and Mr. Pichetshote holding TRESE and one of them handed me a pen and they asked me to autograph their copies.

At first I didn't know how to react and panicked, thinking, "What the hell should I write? If I make a typo in my autograph, will this ruin my chance of getting into Vertigo?"

As I scribbled down things that resembled words, I said: OhMyGod!ThisfeelLIKEsomethingthatwouldhappeninTHEUNWRITTEN!

(ugh, hopefully, I didn't sound like some valley girl when I said that)

Anyway, the experience got me all buzzed and I was smiling on the train ride back to Macclesfield.

The other day, I got this email from Mike Carey:

Hi Budjette.
And here I am, more than six months later. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.  


I finally got around to reading TRESE. I was very impressed, by the storytelling, the concepts and the high-contrast art. Trese herself is a very convincing and engaging protagonist, and I very much enjoyed your handling of magic in the story - both for scary and for humorous effect. All in all, a lovely read with a very strong sense of place.

Thanks again for the free copy. I very much enjoyed reading it, and I hope it's been a success for you both in sales terms and in getting your name known and getting further commissions.

Best,
Mike

And I'm buzzed all over again! Dizzy! Feels like vertigo!

your history, your myths, your folk beliefs

“Remember your history, your myths, your folk beliefs no matter how meaningless or demeaning these may appear. It is with these that you create a new totality, the identity without which you will be formless, inchoate.”
–F. Sionil Jose, “Letter to the Next Generation.”

the Tres Komikeros interview

Last Monday, despite having a bad cold and cough that made me sound like a muppet, I got on Skype and chatted with John Amor and Migs Santos of TRES KOMIKEROS about how Trese started, how Trese was inspired by my favorite TV shows and how it was actually based on a rejected story I pitched to Marvel, and about how I got rejected by DC Comics and Atlas Komiks, and about how I really, really hate horror movies.

So, if you'd like to hear me babble for an hour and overshare details of my life, download the episode at: http://treskomikeros.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/tk-73-budjette-tan/

Here's the blurb from their blog: In this episode of Tres Komikeros, John and Migs are joined by National Book Award Winner, Budjette Tan. Join us as he talks about the inspiration and research behind his hit noir-horror graphic novel, Trese. In this hour-long interview, we shed light on strange and amusing factoids such as Budjette’s writing process, his “technique” for writing action sequences, his slowly growing case against Brian Michael Bendis, and much much more. Enjoy, folks!