Trese wins National Book Awards

(UPDATED WITH PICTURES FROM THE NIGHT OF THE AWARDS)

The Official Citation from the 2009 National Book Awards : Powerful, iconic characters comic book characters Darna , Zuma and Captain Barbell, among others, emerged fully-formed from the mind of Filipino comic creators. That creativity continues to this day, in all directions, in different ways. But in Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo have a stunningly original idea, swathed in the irresistible spookiness of our folklore and the edged mythology of our urban legends. Alexandra Trese, the enigmatic paranormal investigator and her lethal bodyguards the Kambal helps the police when encountering cases that just don’t make any sense of the normal kind. In the process, Tan and Baldisimo offers us a peek into the supernatural embedded into Metro Manila’s badly lit corners.

In the first volume, Trese: Murder on Balete Drive, we are introduced to Alexandra and her team, and the second volume, Trese: Unreported Murders, showed us one peculiar procedural after another. But it is in this third volume, Trese: Mass Murders, where we find out where and how Alexandra Trese came to be who and where she is. Instead of hemming us in, Trese: Mass Murders actually opens up another world of narrative possibilities.

The rabid fan following Trese has earned is impressive, and that only adds to the fact that in Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo has crafted a testament to the limitless capacity of the Filipino imagination, as well as one of the best Filipino comic books of all time.

It is for those reasons that Trese: Mass Murders is given the National Book Award for Graphic Literature.

 

the 2009 National Book Awards Trophy

Nida tries to lift the award as Ruey de Vera reads the citation

Nida, reading our acceptance speech / challenge to the publishers to make more comics

thanks to Ruey de Vera for sending us a copy of this citation

thanks to Nida for the pictures

SKYGODS preview pages

SEVEN GIFTS OF THE SKYGODS
Words by Mervin Ignacio
Art by Ian Sta Maria
Graphic Design Elements by Rizza Garcia
P200, 16-pages, full-color

NOTE : This will be available at the Komikon, Nov13, Starmall, EDSA. http://www.komikon.org/

the man with the plan

This is Talis and he's got a plan to save the world.

I’ve been itching to do a Pinoy super hero story for the longest time. So, early this year, when I was supposed to be working on the Trese Book 4, I ended up scribbling this story and pitched it to Kajo.

We had a grand plan to juggle working on Talis on one month and working on Trese on the other month. Well, our dayjobs and other projects got into the way, so we ended up getting delayed with both books.

So far, this is the only finished TALIS story and we’ve decided to focus on the very delayed Trese Book 4, so it might be sometime before we can get back to revealing the other people who’ve crossed paths with Talis.

We hope to release Trese Book 4 early next year and if we’re lucky, we’ll get the chance to do another Talis book soon after that.

That’s the end of my intro and this link http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2010/11/talis.html leads you the first issue of TALIS. Please do give it a read and tell us what you think.

Enjoy!


TALIS #1
Story by Budjette Tan
Art by Kajo Baldisimo


Minda needs to do a lot of things today, like study for her exams, take care of her ailing mother, and when the world needs her help, swallow a magical gem and transform into the high-flying super-hero Minakawa.


Minda was chosen to receive this magical gem because of her brave heart and kind soul; chosen by the man only known as Talis.


So, just when Minda thinks she’s done saving the day, Talis shows up to ask for one more favor. How can Minda say refuse the man who gave her all this power?


Read the complete story at:http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2010/11/talis.html

TALIS

 

TALIS #1

Story by Budjette Tan

Art by Kajo Baldisimo

Minda needs to do a lot of things today, like study for her exams, take care of her ailing mother, and when the world needs her help, swallow a magical gem and transform into the high-flying super-hero Minakawa.

Minda was chosen to receive this magical gem because of her brave heart and kind soul; chosen by the man only known as Talis.

So, just when Minda thinks she’s done saving the day, Talis shows up to ask for one more favor. How can Minda say refuse the man who gave her all this power?

 

TRESE Night Gallery: limited edition prints

Ladies and gentlemen! Aswang and enkanto! Come in! Come in!
The TRESE Night Gallery is now open!

The TRESE Night Gallery is a series of limited edition art prints illustrated by Kajo Baldisimo.
 
The artwork will depict characters and scenes from the TRESE universe.

Only 1300 prints will be made of each artwork. Each copy will be signed and numbered. The first in the series is entitled 'MALIKSI'. It will be sold first at the 2010 Komikon at a special 'convention-only' price of P100.

Print Specs: 16.5 x 11.7 inches (A3). Black and white.

Please check every 13th of the month if you are interested to preview the next artwork in the series.

Thank you!

Note: if you can can't attend the Komikon, we will announce at a later time how you can order/where you can buy these limited edition prints.

TRESE TRICK OR TREAT Winners

Thanks to everyone who joined! It was fun to see all your different interpretations and ideas for Trese and the Kambal in costume. I asked Kajo Baldisimo and our publisher Nida Ramirez to help me pick the top 13 trick or treaters. Congratulations to the winners!

Chris Costello

Luis Oliveros

Norby Ela

Charmaine Joy Cabarle

Dexter Wee

Mica Chua

Eunice Gamboa

Wilson Tortosa

Enel Lawrence Villegas

Tennille Tan

 Ayo Yupango

Kitty Almazan

Cathryn G. Trinidad

You all get this limited edition TRESE print by Kajo. Only 1300 will be printed and signed. Congratulations! 

URBAN ANIMAL preview pages

"Morpheus Etsip, Genus Animale!" With those words, the mysterious manong who sells banana-Q casts a spell on the the boy named Joe. The next day, Joe discovers that he has gained the ability to channel animals and their feral, or at times, voracious traits. Whether this is a curse or blessing, he must learn to harness and control his newfound powers if he is to survive -- for even stranger things are coming.

URBAN ANIMAL (1 of 4)
Story and art by JOHN AMOR, www.johnamorartist.com
P60.00, Published by Big Ape Design Studios.

URBAN ANIMAL will be launched at the upcoming Komikon, Nov 13, at Starmall, EDSA. Go to http://www.komikon.org/ for more details.