Keka, Alexandra and Silent Bob

Quark went to the San Diego Comic-Con and brought pasabulong for Kevin Smith.
Hope he likes it!

Thanks Quark!!!

Kiddie and Teen TRESE

Art by Dado
http://artspice.blogspot.com/





Art by Hannah
http://sketchamababble.blogspot.com/






Thanks to Maya for telling about their works.

NBDB's Book of the Month

Trese is the National Book Development Board Book Club's pick for July

http://nbdb.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=740&Itemid=1





Join the NBDB Book Club as we follow the trail of Alexandra Trese as she roves the streets of Manila to unravel crimes involving paranormal creatures Sherlock Holmes style.

This July’s book pick is Trese, the highly acclaimed series of graphic novels by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. Contributing to the renaissance of Pinoy comics, Trese reintroduces us to the rich Philippine folklore with its inky sketches detailing creepy stories of dark creatures looming the streets of Manila. The NBDB Book Club will be joined by author Budjette Tan and illustrator Kajo Baldisimo who will talk about their work and answer questions from fans.

Trese is published by VisPrint and is available at Comic Quest, Comic Odyssey, Pandayan, National Bookstore, Best Sellers, Fully Booked, Powerbooks and other leading bookstores and comics outlets.

The NBDB Book Club session will be held on July 25, 2 pm, at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati Avenue cor. Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Moderated by Carlo Vergara (creator of Zsazsa Zaturnnah)

Admission is free.

Call 926-8238 for details.

Powerbooks Recommends

Wow! I just stumbled upon this at
http://powerbooks.com.ph/



You can now order TRESE Book 1 at:
http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4204

And you can order TRESE Book 2 at:
http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4770

Twitter 13

When crime takes a turn for the weird,
the police send a tweet to
http://twitter.com/AlexandraTrese

Trese in SPUTNIK

TRESE Book 1 & 2 are now available at:



Sputnik is located at Shop 60 Cubao Expo (formerly known as the Marikina Shoe Expo) on Gen. Romulo Ave., Cubao, Q.C (near Pure Gold supermarket).

We sell comics, graphic novels, figures, statues, designer toys, and more.
We are open Mondays - Saturdays, 4 - 10 PM

http://www.sputnikcomics.com
http://sputnikcomics.multiply.com/

Email address is sputnik.fantastik (at) gmail.com / sputnik.fantastik (at) yahoo.com.

Yahoo Messenger: sputnik.fantastik

Landline: 632 709 1867

Ako Mismo

Ako mismo susugpo
sa mga halimaw ng bayan!

http://www.akomismo.org

Trese doll by Bonsai and Kitty
http://nooninoos.multiply.com/

down the other dark corridor

While you all patiently wait for the third TRESE book, might I interest you with another dark delicacy?

In case you didn’t know, there’s another occult investigator stalking the streets of Manila. His name is Mike Lasombra and you’ll meet him in the pages of David Hontiveros’ TAKOD.

Ruel de Vera gives us a quick overview of the book: Something’s rotten in what was once the little settlement of Mapayapa. And now, years later, Mike Lasombra returns to this place from his past with a curious pendant around his neck. After encountering a wizened old woman who knows more than she’s letting on, Mike will discover the throbbing dark secret of Mapayapa. The bloody, frightening shadow behind Mapayapa will require more of Mike than he ever imagined. All this, in straightforward horror and in allegorical manner, is stuffed into Hontiveros’s compact and creepy novella.

Wawi Navaroza, who designed the cover the book, has this to say about her TAKOD experience: Curious title, I thought. It's in VISAYAN dialect. (The Visayas, as we all know, is replete with its wealth of folklore and islands famed for sorcery). From my Cebuano vocabulary, the word "takod" translated in Tagalog is "hawa"... contagious, contagion, to be contaminated. As in virus, disease, or like Vampires and the Dark Gift.

But Takod isn't about vampires. The characters in the story are a mix of both traditional (filipino folklore hotshots) and original (even more grotesque creatures shaped by Dave's fantasmagoric imagination). His protagonist is a brooding attractive man who has an arsenal of physical and psychic skills.

And Karen Kunawicz provides some safety precautions : After reading (TAKOD), you may want to pack an extra flashlight, holy water, crosses, garlic, amulets, oracions, power objects and tools of protection spells on your next road trip. Oh, and you’ll want to make sure there is nothing wrong with the ignition on your car.

Read the first chapter of the book at:
http://davidhontiveros.com/author.html

You can most probably find a copy of TAKOD at all major bookstores.

The Other Trese

What if Trese was a police detective?
What if Trese was a tabloid reporter?

Read the first two drafts of TRESE before it finally became the series that you're familiar with today.

click the link please
http://indios-bravos.blogspot.com/2009/06/other-trese.html

Exposed!!!

In the June issue of FHM, if you manage to not get distracted by the pretty pictures of RR Enriquez...


... and you manage to get yourself to this page...


...you'll get to read the interview conducted by B.A. Borleo
...wherein he talked to Arnold Arre, Gerry Alanguilan, David Hontiveros, Carlo Vergara, and me about the past and possible future of Philippine comic books


...and if that isn't enough reason to get this issue of FHM, then I must tell you that this issue also contain the first ever picture of Zsazsa Zaturnnah in the nude!!!

...which is accompanied by one of the funniest interviews I've ever read!!!

...Zsazsa Zaturnnah should be given a regular advice column in FHM!!!


Itutuloy... :-)


Trying to track down copies of TRESE?
This lead might help: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2009/01/tracking-down-trese.html

Angels and Aswang

Art by Thadeus Obaob
http://thei11.deviantart.com/


Thadeus said, "This is my favorite local comic book right now. I love TRESE... everything in it, the story, the artwork is truly fantastic, marvelous. I'm a certified TRESE-fan. Anyway this fanart is dedicated to The Great Mr. Budjette Tan. A little side story of the artwork: Alexandra Trese is about to rescue a flock of fallen Angels from an evil syndicate that makes cologne and perfumes out of their tears. aaaw that's gotta hurt..."

Not a bad idea :)

More TRESE artwork at:
http://www.exhibit13.blogspot.com/

TRESE reviewed in POC's Booklat

Aswangs turn noir in Trese, Written by Mighty Rasing

Through the efforts of Budjette Tan and other graphic artists and storytellers, a new generation of Filipinos is enjoying the recreation and fresh interpretation of Pinoy folklore and culture. It is considered Filipino speculative fiction at its best.

Even the best stories in Pinoy komiks can be buried like the proverbial needle in the haystack of pop culture with the dominance of imported comics such as Marvel and DC. That is, if local audiences will not patronize and buy locally written and produced comics. In Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s Trese, however, another world-class product by Filipinos is waiting to burst into the mainstream comics scene.

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW AT:
http://www.thepoc.net/index.php/Booklat/Booklat-Features/Aswangs-turn-noir-in-Trese.html

TRESE at the Summer Fiesta Komikon

Thanks to everyone who dropped by the Visprint table and the Alamat table!
(Got a text from Paolo that his preview books for FILIPINO HEROES LEAGUE got sold out before 6pm)

Very sorry we got there late.

As usual, I forgot to bring an electric fan for the booth, and thanks to my polar bear body, I was sweating buckets the minute I sat down. So, I must apologize to all the people who asked me to sign their books and I just ended up sweating on the pages.

I must also apologize to everyone that I already and forgot that already met them. (You have to help me out! I'm on old man!)

Many thanks to Melvin Arciaga for the TRESE caps that he created and designed for me and Kajo. You can check out Melvin's other creations at: http://vinarci.deviantart.com/





To the lucky ones, we hope you liked your exclusive sneak preview for Case #9.

As you can see, we're working as fast as we can to finish TRESE: BOOK 3.



And, of course, thank you and congratulations to TEAM:KOMIKON for another successful and very musical event!

Here's Gerry's vlog about the event:

TRESE (The Sunday Inquirer Review)

“Trese: Unreported Murders” is the second volume of the “Trese” series written by Budjette Tan and drawn by Kajo Baldisimo. What readers have to understand is that “Trese” is a set of four episodic stories featuring a “monster-of-the-week” plot, albeit one infused with local flavor and mythology.

Tan’s protagonist is a heroine who investigates supernatural events. The writer doesn’t explain much in terms of character but dives immediately into the action. What stands out is Kajo’s artwork.

At its best, “Trese” is unparalleled when it comes to the interplay of black and white. Kajo has a unique style that easily compensates for his lack in other areas, such as backgrounds. There’s a certain tension and terror in the artist’s technique that makes this a perfect title for the medium.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE AT:

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20090517-205449/Meanwhile-fresh-from-the-drawing-board

must be read in that baritone movie trailer voice-over voice

THIS SUMMER...
... SEE TRESE
...LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE


... AT THE U.P. BAHAY NG ALUMNI


THE FLOOR PLAN : FIND US AT THE VISPRINT AND ALAMAT BOOTH


THE MAP: JUST IN CASE YOU STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET THERE


KOMIKON SUMMER FIESTA 2009
UP Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman
May 16, 2009, 10am-8pm, Saturday
Entrance Fee: Php 50.00
http://komikon.blogspot.com/

The Thing that Lurked in Motel 26

Art by Bow Guerrero

See more Trese artwork at:
http://www.exhibit13.blogspot.com/

TRESE reviewed in COMICMIX

Thanks to Charles Tan, comic book reviewer and editor Andrew Wheeler got copies of Trese, Elmer, and Martial Law Babies and posted a review at: http://www.comicmix.com/news/2009/04/23/review-three-dispatches-from-the-philippines/

I think this was the first time TRESE got reviewed by a foreigner and it was interesting to see that the Filipino elements in the story didn't get in the way of the telling the tale. Here's the review:

Trese is an altogether more conventional series: it’s a contemporary dark fantasy with a nourish affect, both in art and story, about a young woman in Manila – Alexandra Trese – who’s called in by the police on supernatural cases. The plots are pretty standard for the genre, though Tan does tell them well, with a knack for tough dialogue and important confrontations.

But the art is gorgeously inky, with a sometimes scratchy intimacy and flow. And Alexandra Trese has a whole new world of supernatural entities to work with – vampires and werewolves and faeries and wendigos have been picked over for generations, but kambal and aswang, tikbalang and tiyanak, those are another story. Tan has an entirely different mythology to work with – one he and his original audience knows well, and which he explains just enough so that non-Filipinos can figure them out. But they’re still new and exciting, the way supernatural beings should be – they may have rules and restraints but we don’t know what those are.

So Alexandra Trese’s exploits are more exciting than even those of another tough female investigator with a mysterious past would be, even more intriguing than another story illustrated by Ka-Jo Baldismo would be. And these two volumes are already very good urban fantasy to begin with.

I won’t try to describe all of the stories here, but you know the general type – mysteries about the supernatural, with a heroine we slowly learn more about, a woman with a direct connection to these creatures herself…whatever the exact nature of that connection is. Tan tells those stories well, and Baldismo shows us that world, in black-and-white frames that look like a world illuminated by lightning.

a new story from The Diabolical

READ THE COMPLETE STORY AT:
http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2009/04/coffee-black.html

TRESE in MANUAL

Book review: TRESE
Manual, December/January 2009 issue
RJ LEDESMA
http://rjledesma.net/

I hate Budjette Tan. Because he is living out my dream. No, no, not my dream of becoming a mutant porn star superhero millionaire. It's my other dream: To be a comic book writer. And, despite the fact that he has to struggle with a day job, Budjette still writes comic books.

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW AT:
http://komix101.blogspot.com/2009/04/trese-reviews-in-manual-january-2009.html

TRESE in UNO