Move over, Carmen Sandiego

Imagine this: a police procedural set in the Philippines, except one of a completely unique type — the crimes of which involve cases such as that lady clad in white always lingering around Balete drive; or the infamous snake child of a wealthy shopping mall owner who claims prey in the women’s dressing rooms. These are the characters that take shape in Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s supernatural Trese comics, just recently out with its fourth issue.

In black and white print, the issues paint a picture similar to the investigative show CSI, except the cases involve aswang. Alexandra Trese, hot club bar owner at night, plays special investigator to aswang-related crimes as a part-time job, cleaning up the streets of Manila from which surface the familiar faces of our Pinoy myths and childhood horror stories, except with a modern-day twist. Wonder what the tikbalang, tiyanak and the duwende are doing in 21st-century Manila? Some become victims, some avenging killers, some merely try to fit into mortal society. Trese’s imaginative stories tell it all.

A mixture of investigative swag, timeless mythologies, societal satires and modern-day geography, the comic is a masterpiece that always leaving you craving more. It’s no surprise that a comic book once selling only 50 Xeroxed copies, is now on National Book Store’s Bestseller List, selling 300 copies in one day.

The fourth Trese comic book comes with a special edition dust jacket. Created by advertising agency creatives Budjette Tan (writer) and Kajo Baldisimo (artist), winners of the Philippine National Book Award for Best Graphic Literature.

Personally, I love how the comic’s lead investigator is a woman with two kambal sidekicks, and the stories marry both archetypal legends with contemporary unexplainable mysteries. Plus, there is always a M. Night Shyamalan-like twist that leaves you very much satisfied.

Budjette and Kajo share with Young Star how the successful Trese comics came to be, and their thoughts on the local industry.

YOUNG STAR: What inspired you to write the stories? When I was reading them, it reminded me very much of the show CSI…

BUDJETTE TAN: It was because of CSI! At that time (2005), it became the big hit that it was. It showed criminal investigation in a different light. But, I thought, you can’t do that in the Philippines. The NBI doesn’t have a DNA spectrometer, blood analytics or whatever. So how do you investigate in the Philippines in the most efficient way? And I thought it would be magic.

Do you guys conceptualize or work on the stories together?

KAJO BALDISIMO: On the rare occasions na nagkikita kami ni Budj, nag-brainstorm kami ng onti on ideas. But after that, balik sa kanya-kanyang busy sched. So ang nangyayari, nagse-send siya ng script, interpret ko as close as I can sa vision niya, and then dun sa bagong visuals adjust ni Budj yung dialogue.

Oh, so you also work around his visuals? ‘Cause I’m sure two people might interpret one story very differently.

KAJO: Yes. It’s a healthy collaboration.

BUDJETTE: We’ve never really figured out how we made things work but it might also be partly because we both came from an (advertising) agency. There, you are always paired off as writer and art director.

Did you choose Kajo to be your artist?

Bianca King plays Alexandra Trese in Jason Tablante’s photo shoot as part of his series Les Femme Fatales, about cosplaying various comics. Trese was the only local comic book character interpreted in his series. Photo by JASON TABLANTE

BUDJETTE: No, he chose me (laughs). You have to ask him why.

KAJO: Actually kasi medyo tedious yung trabaho sa ahensiya diba? Kailangan ko ng outlet. So yung mga kilala ko na writers, tintetext ko na, ‘tara gawa tayong komiks!’ Eh si Budj yung… kung baga, ‘sige na nga, patulan ko na to.’

BUDJETTE: We just wanted to do something different.

What do you guys think of the local comic book industry?

KAJO: It’s doing very good.

BUDJETTE: More so in the past five to six years, thanks to events like the Komikon, which has become a rallying point for comic book creators. It is great to see a big mix of professional comic book artists (such as Pinoys doing work for Marvel and DC), to veterans (guys who’ve retired like Tony DeZuniga), to high school kids who have their Xeroxed comics. It has become an event that encourages people to bring out their stuff. They are the most excited bunch of people showing you their stories.

What do you think happened to the comics in our culture though, because we have had them for a long time, they used to be so big… did they die down?

KAJO: Ah oo, naalala ko pa yung time na nakasabit pa sa may sari-sari stores yung comics every week.

BUDJETTE: It’s great that Trese is in a bookstore rather than on the street corner in the newsstand. I think this is where the future of Philippine comics will be found, on the bookshelf. Dati kasi disposable entertainment medium siya. Babasahin mo, tapos gagamitin mong pambalot sa isda. Di ko alam kung ginagawa sa Trese yun (chuckles). But I think putting the Filipino comic book in the bookstore for mainstream readers will allow us to reach a new golden age for Philippine comics.

BUDJETTE: It goes back to the episodic cases, and it’s the first time you will see Trese outside of Metro Manila. She goes to General Santos City, where she meets a very familiar looking boxer. We will find out what makes this boxer such a great champion.

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Trese 4 is now available in National Bookstore, Powerbooks and Bestsellers.