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marionjasper
Ito ang "tama"
Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 204
Location: Tandang Sora Ave, QC(for now)
Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:10 pm |
 Post subject: Review: TRESE - Murder on Balete Drive |
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Title: Trese Vol. 1: Murder on Balete Drive
Writer: Budjette Tan
Artist: KaJo Baldisimo
Company: Alamat Komiks
We’re all familiar with Filipino lower mythology, right? Every one of us could be able to share at least a single tale about witches, ogres, dwarves or other similar creature that we’ve heard from our parents, grandparents, friends and classmates, and even our yayas! We saw a lot of those stories from written texts to movies and television. Most of us got tired just seeing all the screaming and panic among a lot of people when they see these creatures. Filipino lower mythology in popular media usually display a particular formula of story-telling that it does not provoke further emotional and psychological involvement from its reader-audience since they easily figure out what’s going to happen next. What about a change?
This is what Tan wanted to do: a fresh idea using Filipino lower mythology in a different manner in order to achieve a distinct and satisfying effect on the ever-changing attitude of the reader-audience these days. Also, by using unlikely yet familiar places in the metro, readers are more likely to become involve with the story because they could easily relate their experiences or lifestyles with them.
Introducing Alexandra Trese, a young lady with a keen sense of knowledge of Filipino lower mythology, a bar owner and police consultant. The police department summons her help whenever they encounter cases that turned out weird and they need “further” investigation.
Murder on Balete Drive collects the first four cases of the Trese series, namely: At the Intersection of Balete and 13th Street, Rules of the Race, The Tragic Case of Dr. Burgos, and Our Secret Constellation. The first case is about the mysterious murder of a white lady. Wait, a white lady? How are you supposed to kill someone who is supposed to be dead for a long time? Well, that’s possible as long as you know the right method and you have the materials needed. I was surprised by the idea of the nuno sa punso living on sewers rather than in a mound of soil. The story also shows how Trese gathers information, which usually starts from Quiapo or Binondo, thus reflecting a strong influence and belief of Filipinos in both local and foreign superstitions. Actually, the story’s main theme is love, how the principal characters react and affect each other because of the personal impressions about the particular feeling.
Rules of the Race takes us to C-5, where every night, drag racers duel by racing along the highway. The mysterious winner of these races usually leaves the area without a trace while the loser is behind after meeting his own death on a car accident. While investigating the roots of the racer, Trese suspects that a tikbalang might be involved so she went to Makati where a wealthy family of tikbalang lives. After learning the identity of the suspect, Trese planned to challenge the young stallion to a race in order to arrest him. She outran him, thanks to the clever plan of asking help from the wind-people, which turns out to be the monsoon winds in the country. As a consequence of his defeat, the stallion must pay his due.
The third part, The Tragic Case of Dr. Burgos, opens up with “steamy” panels of a couple love-making that the female ends up burned, literally. In the story, Trese further displays her ability to contact beings of the Filipino lower mythology, including the santelmo. It’s pretty surprising that she summoned the santelmo not using some strange spoken ritual but only by using a lit candle and a no-existent number dialed on her mobile phone. Another member of her contacts is a hairstylist who is formerly on a soul-dealing business. The hairstylist is currently entertaining his customer while he conversed with Trese. I wonder how his customer would react upon hearing what they’re talking about. Ah, there’s also Oriol, the main antagonist of the epic of Ibalon of the Bicol Region. What business brings her to Manila? And there’s Manang Muning, a street vendor capable of talking and telepathically communicating with cats, who contributes a great help in the movement of the story. I’m impressed on how Tan managed to squeeze a lot of details in this twenty-page story. And yes, I almost forgot. The excerpt of song lyrics being played at the beginning of the story is being performed by the band Batch 72, a different set of characters also created by Tan and artist Arnold Arre for a separate comic series of the same name. The group had a cameo appearance at the end of the story while performing at Trese’s bar, The Diabolical. This somewhat suggests that the characters and Trese live on the same comic book universe.
The last case of the book, Our Secret Constellation, talks about Ding being Darna, a Dark Darna. What? Ding becoming Darna? That’s ridiculous! Well, on this story, a series of murders happened with Ding as the main suspect? But what’s his motive? Originally, Ding’s motive is to annihilate all of Darna’s villains so that she wouldn’t fight and get hurt anymore. His purpose might be right yet, of a selfish motivation. Upon completing his plan, it somewhat backfired. Narda was raped by a group of men popularly known as the Black Knights. These men were arrested but eventually released early because of some technicalities, somewhat reflecting the current judiciary system of the country today. Driven by his rage, Ding hunted these Black Knights in order to avenge his sister. As Trese and the twins fought against the vengeful Dark Darna, I thought of how they would incapacitate him. Because he has Darna’s powers, rendering him virtually invincible, it would be impossible for them to stop him. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to refute the myth about Darna by equally deterring his attacks. In the end, if wasn’t for Narda’s love, Ding finally surrendered and returned the stone while she gives him a comforting embrace. The story ends up Narda shouting a familiar word, producing a blinding light, and launching herself and Ding into the sky. I really liked this story of this volume. It presented a popular Filipino icon, Darna/Narna, in her most vulnerable situation and the insights of people around her (particularly Ding) in an extremely dramatic manner. The concept was simple, contemporary and easy to relate with, making it an effective way of developing a great story. It captured the misery of a person, particularly a superhero, and his alter ego and the people surrounding him, and the manner of how they deal with all the troubles they meet in their everyday lives, aside from “saving the world before bedtime.”
So that’s all about the first volume. It’s a fun read, with a delicate balance of necessary elements. Though the stories follow an episodic format, I hope in the second or later volumes would finally enlighten us about the real purpose and connection between this series of unrelated cases. Until then, we’ll be looking forward to follow Alexandra Trese’s exploits as she solves unusual cases. |
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Uncle Gravy
Filter Fighter
Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 471
Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:10 pm |
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Batch 72? In my Trese? It's more likely than you think.
I think I missed that. Fortunately, I have a copy of this somewhere. Time to dig for a while, and to get back at you.brb
EDIT:
Whoa, you're right. They were given 3/4 of a page. How'd I miss that?
SPOILERS AHEAD
Also, now that you've reminded me, I have a question for anyone who has an inkling of what is happening. Ok. First, Johnny Storm can only stop burning when he no longer loves his wife. Second, Trese had Metallero make bullets out of a demon's claw. Third, Trese brought the then ressurected Johnny Storm's wife to Johnny Storm so that she could tell him that she no longer loved him. BUT WAIT! Johnny doesn't believe her and still goes on burning. That's when the kambal shoot him.
So, riddle me this: Why the hell did they need the wife? Why not just make with the bang bang?
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Ruled by a Cat
Likes little girls with clover hair
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 348
Location: Hey!
Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:23 pm |
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Uncle Gravy
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Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:39 pm |
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Also, does Johnny's wife live?
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Ruled by a Cat
Likes little girls with clover hair
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Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:01 am |
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See for yourself, if you can't remember.
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Uncle Gravy
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Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:07 am |
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I have copies of both umm TPBs.
The thing is, she was ressurected and then the ending was left hanging as to what happened to her.
Oh well.
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Ruled by a Cat
Likes little girls with clover hair
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
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Location: Hey!
Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:26 am |
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Yeah, true that.
Then we see this:
They are better drawn here, I swear.
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Uncle Gravy
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Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:58 am |
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Not really, no.
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NakoZonbineko
One
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Posts: 210
Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:04 pm |
| Post subject: Re: Review: TRESE - Murder on Balete Drive |
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| marionjasper wrote: |
The last case of the book, Our Secret Constellation, talks about Ding being Darna, a Dark Darna. What? Ding becoming Darna? That’s ridiculous! Well, on this story, a series of murders happened with Ding as the main suspect? But what’s his motive? Originally, Ding’s motive is to annihilate all of Darna’s villains so that she wouldn’t fight and get hurt anymore. His purpose might be right yet, of a selfish motivation. Upon completing his plan, it somewhat backfired. Narda was raped by a group of men popularly known as the Black Knights. These men were arrested but eventually released early because of some technicalities, somewhat reflecting the current judiciary system of the country today. Driven by his rage, Ding hunted these Black Knights in order to avenge his sister. As Trese and the twins fought against the vengeful Dark Darna, I thought of how they would incapacitate him. Because he has Darna’s powers, rendering him virtually invincible, it would be impossible for them to stop him. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to refute the myth about Darna by equally deterring his attacks. In the end, if wasn’t for Narda’s love, Ding finally surrendered and returned the stone while she gives him a comforting embrace. The story ends up Narda shouting a familiar word, producing a blinding light, and launching herself and Ding into the sky. I really liked this story of this volume. It presented a popular Filipino icon, Darna/Narna, in her most vulnerable situation and the insights of people around her (particularly Ding) in an extremely dramatic manner. The concept was simple, contemporary and easy to relate with, making it an effective way of developing a great story. It captured the misery of a person, particularly a superhero, and his alter ego and the people surrounding him, and the manner of how they deal with all the troubles they meet in their everyday lives, aside from “saving the world before bedtime.” |
I liked that part. Kinda laughed a bit when I found out that it was Ding as a male Darna, but yeah, I liked it.
That part is a tribute to Mars Ravelo, right?
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marionjasper
Ito ang "tama"
Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 204
Location: Tandang Sora Ave, QC(for now)
Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:56 am |
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Yeah. There's a dedication to Mars Ravelo and Warren Ellis at the end of the story.
By the way, I both have two TPBs of TRESE. The second book, which I just bought last Sunday, collects cases 5 to 8. |
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NakoZonbineko
One
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Posts: 210
Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:03 pm |
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Man, I never get to buy Filipino comics...
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Ruled by a Cat
Likes little girls with clover hair
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
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Location: Hey!
Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:19 pm |
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| marionjasper wrote: | Yeah. There's a dedication to Mars Ravelo and Warren Ellis at the end of the story.
By the way, I both have two TPBs of TRESE. The second book, which I just bought last Sunday, collects cases 5 to 8. |
Marion = awesome
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fnspidey
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Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:45 pm |
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| marionjasper wrote: | Yeah. There's a dedication to Mars Ravelo and Warren Ellis at the end of the story.
By the way, I both have two TPBs of TRESE. The second book, which I just bought last Sunday, collects cases 5 to 8. |
You...both have?
Anyway, nice haul, man. I'd probably buy 'em if I could find 'em. Probably. |
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Sir Pepoy Josepito
Super Special Awesome
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 603
Location: in sanity
Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:21 am |
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i'm starting to sound like a broken record by now BUT CROPPED AN IMAGE SO IT DOESN'T STRETCH THE SCREEN
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Uncle Gravy
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Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:31 am |
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| Ruled by a Cat wrote: | | marionjasper wrote: | Yeah. There's a dedication to Mars Ravelo and Warren Ellis at the end of the story.
By the way, I both have two TPBs of TRESE. The second book, which I just bought last Sunday, collects cases 5 to 8. |
Marion = awesome |
Hey now, friend. I own both of two TPBs too!!
!!!
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Ruled by a Cat
Likes little girls with clover hair
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 348
Location: Hey!
Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:43 pm |
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| Uncle Gravy wrote: | | Ruled by a Cat wrote: | | marionjasper wrote: | Yeah. There's a dedication to Mars Ravelo and Warren Ellis at the end of the story.
By the way, I both have two TPBs of TRESE. The second book, which I just bought last Sunday, collects cases 5 to 8. |
Marion = awesome |
Hey now, friend. I own both of two TPBs too!!
!!! |
BUT you did not bring final crisis 6 to the hut.
...
...
*sniff
Unrelated:
Also, I am returning the books you lent me cuz I got a hardcover collection.  FOR 207!!!! careless whisper YEAH!
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marionjasper
Ito ang "tama"
Joined: 15 Jan 2009
Posts: 204
Location: Tandang Sora Ave, QC(for now)
Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:30 pm |
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| I'm sorry. I just brought final crisis 6 on Jan 16. |
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