Trese: Last Seen After Midnight review

Every few years, there is a locally-produced comic that manages to become part of the Filipino zeitgeist: Mythology Class, Wasted, Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah. Arguably, Trese is the title that the current generation latches on to. Budjette Tan’s use of local folklore and combining it with the tropes of urban fantasy feels refreshing and makes you wonder why it took this long; while Kajo Baldisimo’s art makes you believe that the color wheel is composed of only two colors.

Yet one problem of the Trese series, at least for majority of the volumes, it’s composed of episodic stories that, quite frankly, follow formula: there is an enigmatic crime of supernatural origin, Alexandra Trese comes in, investigates her leads, and then solves the case. While it can be novelty reading the first time around, the dilemma becomes how to sustain the reader’s interest without deviating too much from what’s been established. Trese: Last Seen After Midnight is the fourth instalment — and a two year wait at that — so the question in this reader’s mind is how have Tan and Baldisimo evolved, and is it worth the wait?

As far as production is concerned, Last Seen After Midnight is in a different place. As an exclusive to National Book Store, the initial print run comes with a book jacket. The front is decent enough but it’s the back cover that delivers a menagerie that informs you this is going to be the best volume yet. Unfortunately, if you take away the book jacket, the regular cover is the weakest among the four volumes as Baldisimo’s artwork feels very monotonous as opposed to the variety that he’s showcased in the previous graphic novels. The binding, which has been an issue that’s plagued this successful franchise, feels sturdy so far although time will tell if it will indeed last. Did I mention that this was a National Book Store exclusive?

When it comes to the contents, the first half didn’t surprise me. Tan weaves his usual magic and Baldisimo compliments it well with his impressive blacks on whites and whites on blacks. If you compare Murder on Balete Drive with the current issue, Baldisimo’s artwork has drastically improved.

A weakness of many local artists is that backgrounds tend to fall on the wayside but here, Baldisimo makes great use of ink and space. The shadings add to the mood. When it comes to geography, the artist manages to replicate the details that make the setting convincing and unique. Even without the labels, for example, I could tell that one of the scenes takes place in Emerald Ave. because Baldisimo’s art is that nuanced.

Which isn’t to say that Baldisimo executes everything perfectly: there’s a few moments here and there where the quality drops, but it’s a rarity rather than a frequent “style”. Tan, on the other hand, does a competent narrative in “Cadena de Amor” and “A Private Collection,” and if I were a typical reader, that would have been fine but Tan commits a faux pas in the latter story which broke my sense of verisimilitude. A certain German word, or more appropriately, the pronunciation of it, was a deal breaker for me, and while it’s not something most readers might have noticed, it can be jarring for those who catch it.

Of course whatever complaints I have become irrelevant when you get to the second half of the book. “Wanted Bed Spacer” and “The Fight of the Year” is what I’m talking about when it comes to meeting expectations, being innovative, yet still being faithful to your established formula and conceit. What impressed me with “Wanted Bed Spacer” is that it feels long even if the page count is the same as the other stories. What’s different is that we actually feel Tan’s protagonist struggle with the mystery, instead of simply deducing it and jumping into the action sequence. In fact, that’s the charm of this piece, that the conflict isn’t solved by brute force, but Alexandra Trese actually acting like a detective rather than simply just another monster-of-the-week escapade. “The Fight of the Year”, on the other hand, is clearly an homage to one of our public figures (including some Lovecraftian eye candy), but what makes it intriguing is that it’s a different kind of story. For the most part, the narrative revolves around the guest star, and while that’s usually enough to entice readers, it’s done in such a way that there’s personal investment and evokes reader sympathy. The character feels like they’re on equal footing with Alexandra Trese or the Kambals, which is hard to do, and it’s accomplished not by simply being more powerful, but through their hubris and personality. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments that feel cheesy, but at this point, Tan delivers, and the good more than outweighs the bad. Well done, Mr. Tan, well done.

The conceit of the Trese series is that the volumes could pretty much stand well on their own and Last Seen After Midnight is no exception. If you know someone who’s been living under a rock and never read an issue of the comic, I could easily imagine myself passing along this volume and feel they’re in good hands.

Trese: Mass Murders, also by Tan and Baldisimo has been nominated for the Komikon Reader's Choice Award for Best Graphic Novel. The 7^th Philippine Annual Komiks Convention (Komikon) will be held on November 19 at the Bayanihan Center, Pasig City.