Kajo and TRESE featured in PAL commercial

Here's a #throwback post : Back in 2015, Kajo Baldisimo was one of the artists / creators features in Philippine Airlines Independence Day Celebration video. 

How do I get in touch with Budjette and Kajo? (june 2016)

Kajo Baldisimo's Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005620724990&fref=ts 

Budjette Tan's Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BudjetteTanStories/

TRESE COMICS official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TreseComics/

TRESE Readers Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TreseComics/

The Dark Colony's Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheDarkColonyComics/
(created by Budjette Tan, Bow Guerrero, and J.B. Tapia)

GMA NEWS : The Aswang Diaspora

The Aswang Diaspora: Why Philippine lower myths continue to endure

September 4, 2015 6:04pm - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf

The Aswang Diaspora: Why Philippine lower myths continue to endure

By BEA MONTENEGRO, GMA News

September 4, 2015 

Read the complete article at: 

Why do writers and artists decide to go back to supernatural beings for story source material? One reason is because no one’s writing the stories they want to share.

 

“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved

- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf

Why do writers and artists decide to go back to supernatural beings for story source material? One reason is because no one’s writing the stories they want to share.

 

“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved

- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf

The Aswang Diaspora: Why Philippine lower myths continue to endure - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure#sthash.k7h65xjE.dpuf

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/535657/scitech/technology/the-aswang-diaspora-why-philippine-lower-myths-continue-to-endure

“[N]o one else was making stories about aswang in the city,” said Budjette Tan, writer of the Trese series. “In my case, I’ve always loved writing ghost stories and have always wanted to write a detective story. So I ended up creating Alexandra Trese as my occult investigator, as the reader’s guide into Manila’s supernatural underworld.”

“It's the most natural subject to draw, really,” said Kajo Baldisimo, Trese’s artist. “As young as three years old, these creatures were already a part of my and most of our generation's subconscious thanks to our parents and grandparents who have a great way of disciplining us by making us believe in these stories and these creatures.”

“It's in the DNA of every Filipino,” said Baldisimo. “It’s one of the few things we can clearly say is very Pinoy, something that’s ours,” Tan said. “I think telling aswang stories is something we’ll always want to tell. There are so many variations on their story, depending on how tells the story. Someone will always have their own version to tell.”

BATMANILA art by Kajo Baldisimo

The Batman vs The Mananaggal

The Bat-Trike

A Bat at Luneta Park

The Bat and The Tikbalang

BatJeepney

Meanwhile... at Manila City Hall

The Kapre and the Bat

Bat-Kalesa

Batman over Makati City

The complete Batmanila collection

Trese Weekend

September 15 (Saturday)

See you guys this Saturday at TEAM MANILA (1st level of the New Wing of Market! Market!) September 15, 2 pm. Me and Kajo will be there to sign your books (yes, copies of Trese will be available at Team Manila stores) and we'll even sign your Team Manila x Trese shirts.


September 16 (Sunday)

On Sunday, me and Kajo will be at the 33rd Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), along with Mervin Ignacio and Ian Sta. Maria of SKYWORLD. We will be at the National Bookstore booth from 2pm to 3pm. Come over and we will gladly sign, doodle, and vandalize your comic books.

Kajo art for charity auction

UPDATE: Kajo's artwork got sold for P5,000! Thank you very much to very one who placed a bid on it!


The original illustration of Señor Armanaz, Datu of the Tikbalang Tribe" by Kajo Baldisimo, will be auctioned of at the heARTworks event. 

March 10, 2012. 1 - 4pm. Powerbooks, Greenbelt.

Kriss. Claws. Bats.

"This is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Logan!"

"Don't call me Robin."

A year or so ago, I asked Kajo if he was ever going to make a new portfolio to show to DC and Marvel editors. He said he wanted to do a story where Trese teams-up with Batman and Wolverine and all the action will happen in Manila. So, in one of my notebooks is an outline for that very short story, but we got busy with our dayjobs and finishing Book4, and I forgot all about it.

Today, Kajo sent me these sketches based on a story he's never read and yet he drew one of the scenes that was in my head. (But, as usual, Kajo comes up with an even better idea and he dressed up Wolverine in a barong tagalog!) 

So, here's a sneak preview to that unwritten story.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Thank You 2011

the sun has set on 2011

we are a week into 2012

we take a cautious look at what we’ve left behind

to make sure there’s no one following us

to see the mysteries that have baffled us and we have solved

to check on the mysteries still left unsolved

to review the clues that we have and hope to figure it all out in the next twelve months

and where we give thanks to the people who helped us along the way

Thanks to the Komikon Krew who never fail to invite us to their great events

Thanks to the National Bookstore Super Team for organizing the best Trese launch ever!

Special thanks to Mike Carey, Paul Levitz, and Neil Gaiman for taking the time to email and give feedback about the book.

Thanks to Nida and Visprint, who remain to be our willing accomplice

Thanks to the diabolical denizens of the Trese Facebook page! LIKE! I am amazed and amused at how active our readers can be in this page. They never stop asking questions about Trese, they've deciphered our plans for the Trese covers, and they never stop asking for more Trese stories, which just pressures us (in a good way) to keep on writing and keep on drawing.

Thanks to the bloggers, news reporters, and book reviewers who helped promote Trese.

Thanks to all my fellow comic book creators -- your work continues to inspire me and urges me to improve my work and tell better stories

And to all our readers who made this possible

Trese wins in 2011 Komikon Awards

Thank you very much for everyone who voted for us! Thank you very much to all our readers, to everyone's who's every drawn Trese-fan art and shared it with the world, to everyone's who's ever written a review about Trese, tweeted about us, or clicked LIKE on the Trese Facebook page. Thank you for all the support and love and magic!

Best Comic Creators Award : BUDJETTE TAN and KAJO BALDISIMO

Best Cover Award : TRESE: MASS MURDERS 

Alexandra hangs out with Morpheus

Art by Kajo Baldisimo

Win an iTresePad for Halloween

TRICK OR TREAT!!! Get the chance to win this one-of-a-kind iPad with orginal TRESE art by Kajo Baldisimo.

Just buy TRESE:LAST SEEN AFTER MIDNIGHT and you'll get a raffle stub so you can enter and get the chance to win the Trese-fied iPad.


Books with raffle stubs are only available in National Bookstore, Powerbooks, and Bestsellers.

Deadline for entries for the TRESE iPad Raffle is on October 31, 2011.

By the way, if you buy a copy of ELMER (The 2nd Edition) from the same bookstores, you can enter the raffle and win this ELMER-fied iPad with original art by Gerry Alanguilan. Deadline for entries is November 15, 2011.

Visprint WIT 2011

See you this Saturday (September 10) for Visprint's WIT: The 1st Annual Readers Day.

All of the Visprint authors and comic book creators will be there sharing their stories, their secrets, and upcoming projects. This is also your chance to see preview art from Trese Book 4. 

Me and Kajo will be talking about the "13 Things that Possessed us to do Trese". 

Kajo will also give "13 Tips for Lazy Artists Like Kajo" 

Afterwards, we will hang out at the Visprint booth to sign, scribble, and doodle on your copies of Trese. 

The Real HANK D’ BARTENDER

Hank, me, and Kajo

Back in the mid-90s, I met Karen Kunawicz because I sent her a copy of my comic book. In return, she became our guide and gatepass into the wonderful world of Pinoy rock bands. She was our Alice and Mad Hatter rolled into one. She invited us to gigs at 70s Bistro, poetry readings at Club Dredd, more gigs at Clud Dredd, and raves conspired by Consortium. So, down the rabbit hole we went and met this other Mad Hatter (or is he the Cherish Cat mashed-up with the Caterpillar?). During one of those gigs, in one of the smoke-filled clubs, we met Hank Palenzuela.

Around that time, Hank was the bassist of Electrickool-aid, a band which Karen managed.

Sometime later (it was all a blur), Hank became the bartender of the Verve Room in Malate. We always got a free welcome drink from Hank. He never told us what was in that neon-orange concoction, but it always got us started on the right foot.

One of Hank’s classic story from the Verve Room was the night he got Bill Pullman drunk. Legend has it, Bill Pullman was here, filming Brokedown Palace. He arrived at the Verve dressed in a white polo and wearing a necktie. Hank started to serve him his special drinks and by the end of the night, Pullman had his polo ripped open and his necktie ended up around his forehead; and every time Pullman went to the bar, he’d yell, “Hank! You’re the best bartender in the world!” (Or so the story goes.)

So, when me and Kajo were putting together TRESE and we needed a bartender for The Diabolical, we thought it was only appropriate to call him Hank.

He ended up being called Hank Sparrow, because the real Hank lives a double life. When he’s not serving you his special drinks, he’s a pirate. Yup, he and Karen are part of the Black Pearl Philippines where he cosplays Cap’n Jack Sparrow.

At the Metro Comic Con, Hank told us how he usually has people come up to the bar (he’s been the bartender of BigSkyMind past couple of years) and they’d start off to say, “Hey! Aren’t you…” (And he’d half expect them to say, “Jack Sparrow”) But they end up saying, “Aren’t you that bartender from the Trese comic book?” (I guess Kajo drew “Hank d’ Bartender” too much like Hank.)

In every draft of Trese, Hank would usually have a line or two, or he’d do something to help solve the case; but when the time comes to edit the story down to 20 pages, Hank’s scenes would usually be the first to go. Which is one of the reasons why I started writing STORIES FROM THE DIABOLICAL, to give Hank d’ Bartender a chance to strut his stuff and serve his drinks.

At the Metro Comic Con, I asked Hank, if he could come up with a special drink list for The Diabolical. A smirk crawled on his face and he said, “Yeah! We could have a drink that uses the buntot ng butiki! Or how about a drink that uses the bulbol of a tikbalang! If getting a hair from the tikbalang’s mane lets you control it, can you imagine what you’ll get with a strand of its bulbol?!”

Right.

Okay.

And we’ll just have to reserve that story for another day.

So, the next time you’re in The Diabolical, tell Hank that you know us and you can be sure he’ll serve you one of his special drinks. Just don’t ask what’s in it.

A Diabolical VDay

As a VDay treat, here are some romantic scenes (as romantic as we can get in the world of Trese) from Heubert Michael Khan and from Kajo.

Art by Heubert Michael Khan

Art by Kajo

And here are some old stories from the Diabolical about love, lost, and magic.

I CARRY YOUR HEART
http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2010_02_13_archive.html


COFFEE BLACK
http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2009_04_13_archive.html

THE USUAL SPOT
http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2009_02_13_archive.html

Enjoy!

THE FEAST (complete story)

click pages to see larger version, please

THE FEAST 

Story by Budjette Tan

Script by Alex Arellano and Budjette Tan

Art by Kajo Baldisimo

First appeared in UNO Magazine

This story was inspired by Neil Gaiman's Epicurian Club from the "Sunbird" story, by Luis Katigbak's review of the restaurant called Kagat, and by the many meals I've shared with Alex, Maricel, and Dino (Harrison's Top Foodies).

I actually asked Alex to help me out with the recipes and with the dialogue.

So, in case you do find some fresh manananggal in the market, here's how you can cook it...

Recipe for sisig na mananggal

Prepared by Alex Arellano

Step 1 – boiling
Ingredients
• 1 head ng manananggal.
• 1 kilo - liver of manananggal.
• 250 ml pineapple juice
• 3-4 cups water, should be enough to cover the pork pieces
• 1 tbsp salt
• pepper

Step 2 – grill and mince and mix
Ingredients
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon or kalamansi juice
• ¼ cup vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp knorr seasoning
• optional sili – depends on how hot you like it

equipment needed:
pot
griller, uling
sizzling plate or kawali /wok/pan

Step 1
• remove skull of manananggal, shave off hair.
• To remove remaining facial hair, eyebrows etc, pass a blow torch over the meat.
• Cut meat from head into smaller pieces.
• Put pork, liver, pineapple juice, water, 1 tbsp salt and pepper in pot. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours.

Step 2
• Remove liver and meat and drain. discard the stock in the pot.
• Set aside liver.
• Grill meat pieces until skin becomes crispy.
• On a chopping board, using cleavers, mince pork and liver.
• Add onions, vinegar, lemon or kalamansi juice, knorr seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Mix ingredients well.

Step 3
Get a hot plate and put over stove until plate is sizzling hot.
Add sisig, do not stir or mix. Allow a crispy crust to form. Serve.
(maybe the chef can just roast them while they’re in the skull and then take them out of the skull and serve them on the side with the sisig)

Grand Plans and Sidetrips

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.

So, while working on Book 4, we also tried to start TALIS, a new Pinoy superhero title and got to finish one issue.

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.

During the Metro Comic Con, we released TRESE: Cadena de Amor.

During the Komikon, Kajo released the first pin-up for the Trese: Night Gallery. Expect more of these pin-ups this year.

Oh, and TRESE: MASS MURDERS won Best Graphic Literature of the Year in the National Book Awards. Thank you very much!

So, what’s the grand plan this year?

To finish Book 4 (and maybe Book 5)!!!

As of this writing, Kajo is finishing the pages of case#2. If all goes well, then Book 4 should be ready by the Summer Komikon and Metro Comic Con.

New Year's Resolution: DO NOT PISS OFF TRESE!

Well try to avoid getting distracted and finished what we promised we’d finish.

And maybe we’ll get more TALIS done, with a little help from our friends.

Talking about our friends, here’s sneak preview of what you’ll see in the third and last issue of SKYWORLD by Mevin Ignacio and Ian Sta Maria

Also coming out this year is Paolo Fabregas’ FILIPINO HEROES LEAGUE

And then there’s the third issue of BATHALA: APOKALYPSIS by David Hontiveros and Ace Enriquez

As you can see, it’s going to be a great new year filled with great new stories! Thank you for sticking around and liking the stories we tell!