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A review by kimyxbooks
Trese Vol. 1: Murder on Balete Drive by Kajo Baldisimo, Budjette Tan
3.0
Murder on Balete Drive | Budjette Tan, KaJo Baldisimo
When the night casts darkness over Manila, the mythical creatures such as Tikbalangs, White Ladies and aswangs are at work and causing trouble. One name is famed to solve such crimes: Alexandra Trese. She is deep at work to keep the balance between the physical and underworlds.
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This is a compilion of four Trese comic stories of Tan and Balisimo. I love the work they've done to further and modernize Filipino mythology.
The entire book felt episodic. Only when I got to the Afterword that I understood why: this is a compilation, not a graphic novel meant to be taken as a whole. Even so, I am not familiar to the format, so my assessment to this piece is purely of enjoyment as a reader and vibes.
I enjoyed the folklore the most and the weaving of stories that are familiar and given a twist. The worldbuilding is entertaining as much as it is nostalgic. As a reader though, I wanted to know more anout Trese's character, and that is the most of what I am missing. She does cool things, but as a character in this first book, she feels flat because she seems infallible. She has the spunk for it and the confidence but I yearned for more background, more snippets about who she is as a character. Because without it gets predictable as time goes. She always seems to have the contacts, always seem to have the right leads. I kind of hoped there was more in those aspects in each story.
Saying that, I'm certainly in it for more of these.
When the night casts darkness over Manila, the mythical creatures such as Tikbalangs, White Ladies and aswangs are at work and causing trouble. One name is famed to solve such crimes: Alexandra Trese. She is deep at work to keep the balance between the physical and underworlds.
--
This is a compilion of four Trese comic stories of Tan and Balisimo. I love the work they've done to further and modernize Filipino mythology.
The entire book felt episodic. Only when I got to the Afterword that I understood why: this is a compilation, not a graphic novel meant to be taken as a whole. Even so, I am not familiar to the format, so my assessment to this piece is purely of enjoyment as a reader and vibes.
I enjoyed the folklore the most and the weaving of stories that are familiar and given a twist. The worldbuilding is entertaining as much as it is nostalgic. As a reader though, I wanted to know more anout Trese's character, and that is the most of what I am missing. She does cool things, but as a character in this first book, she feels flat because she seems infallible. She has the spunk for it and the confidence but I yearned for more background, more snippets about who she is as a character. Because without it gets predictable as time goes. She always seems to have the contacts, always seem to have the right leads. I kind of hoped there was more in those aspects in each story.
Saying that, I'm certainly in it for more of these.