The Diabolical Trese

TRESE - A horror/crime comic book created by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. (ALAMAT COMICS)

MANILA, Philippines -Almost from the very beginning, Budjette Tan has been surrounded by the unusual. “When I was a newborn baby, my parents moved into what turned out to be a haunted house,” he explains. “The ghosts were seen by my yaya and my uncles. My parents didn’t believe in such things, until one summer day after my mom gave me a bath. She said the right side of my face suddenly wrinkled up—that it looked like the face of an old man. She prayed over me until I became normal again.” Psychics were summoned and a séance held. “The psychics told the spirits that they had to move on to the next plane. The haunting stopped after some time.”

Even Tan did not know that something similarly spooky would redefine his life later on. With him doing the writing and Kajo Baldisimo providing the art, Tan came up with “Trese,”a comic book series that follows mysterious investigator Alexandra Trese as she helps the police solve unearthly crimes in Metro Manila—sometimes with some direct action from Trese and her bizarre bodyguards, the Kambal.

The White Lady of Balete Drive is dead—again. The losing parties in drag races on C-5 start vanishing. Deadly bargains are struck deep in Paco. Every year, someone dies in Livewell Village. Secrets lurk in the bowels of a huge mall.. Wonderfully weird ideas mixing old and new, traditional and newfangled, come together in this fascinating and impeccably crafted comic book.

For Alexandra’s look, Baldisimo did not go far for visual inspiration. “Trese’s look was inspired by a ton of anime and manga chicks that never left my mind,” Baldisimo explains. “Trese and I share the same Devil’s hairline and I used to think of my ex-girlfriend, Divine, when I was drawing the first few issues because, like Trese, she’s strong and always gets her way.”

Tan and Baldisimo also found a comfortable working dynamic. “He writes, I draw, then we go back and forth for revisions and last minute ideas,” Baldisimo explains. “It’s very dynamic, very effective, much like the concept team style used in advertising.”

Once “Trese” began coming out, it caught a following, fanned by word-of-mouth (probably with fangs). Tan’s modern take on folklore and his whiplash-inducing plot twists meld perfectly with Baldisimo’s moody and distinctive black-and-white art.

Tan self-published the series, a role that has proven challenging. “When you publish your own book, you have to play many roles,” he says. “You’re also the business manager.” Fortunately, “Trese” found an ardent fan in publishing company Visual Print Enterprises which also publishes best-selling local authors like Bob Ong. “We can focus on making the book and they take care of the business side of things,” Tan says.

The Visual Print deal has also allowed “Trese” to take actual book form. The digest “Trese: Murder On Balete Drive” collects the first four issues, while the just-released “Trese: Unreported Murders” gathers issues five to eight. Now, instead of the traditional issues (affectionately called “floppies”), “Trese” will be coming out exclusively in digest form, with the third volume, which gathers the remaining five cases in the first 13-issue arc, due out before the end of 2008. “Book 3 will answer some questions that people have been asking about the Kambal, Trese and her father,” Tan says.

Originally aiming to tell just 13 stories, Tan and Baldisimo are now thinking up a whole new cabinet of weirdness for Alexandra and company. “I actually have more mysteries for Trese that she needs to solve,” Budjette Tan says, “Just don’t know how soon we’ll get around to telling those stories.” For his part Kajo Baldisimo can’t wait: “Budj and I will be churning out books every year from now on so I hope that the readers will continue to enjoy reading it as much as we continually enjoy cooking it.”

“Trese” is available at Comic Quest, Comic Odyssey, Pandayan Bookstores, National Bookstore, Best Sellers, PowerBooks and Fully Booked. For a preview, log on to www.tresecomics.com.