LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

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!

8 comments:

Shampoo said...

I'm so happy Trese starting to get more readers outside the country. I tried sending one to a cousin but he never replied. :)

PS. I wish I could attend at least one talk from Yuko. She's amazing & she interacts w/ fans & illustrators online.

Budjette said...

Yuko gave a great talk :)

Found this one that she gave back in 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m-PkfA1zes

Gerry Alanguilan said...

Congrats Budj! :D

Noelle said...

This is a wonderful post and congratulations to both you and Kajo, Budj! Everything Mr. Carey said about Trese is 100% true :DDDD

Noelle said...

Awesome post, Budj! And huge congrats to you and Kajo :DDD Everything Mr. Carey said about Trese is 100% true.

-Noey

P.S. Eeeee~ /loves The Unwritten

ram said...

i am one of the fans,great job with trese!

Unknown said...

Wow!Congrats!

Unknown said...

Your art and story telling has been and always will be an inspiration for me. I have tried to follow your example to use everything local to be a part of the stories I write, it's still a challenge but I always thing that you were able to do it. Congratulations!