Book: Cat’s Trail, Issue #3

There’s no blurb to start this post with, so I’ll give a summary of what has happened prior to this issue.

Fans of Culture Crash comics probably remember the adventures of Airee Colette in Cat’s Trail. When creator Elmer Damaso decided to continue the story (years after the Culture Crash comics ceased to be), he thought it would be a good idea to restart the story as well. And for the most part, it stayed true to what had already happened in the Cat’s Trail of Culture Crash.

We meet Airee Colette mid-heist, and she gets chased through the desert by Sheriff Poppy. He thinks he finally caught her, but Airee proves to be more slippery than he thought. Our protagonist, the criminal, ends up in a city—and then we meet my favorite character: Butler. That’s pretty much it, for the first two issues.

Issue #3 takes the story for a spin though.

I don’t know if I can still recall the original story accurately, but some reason I feel as if a lot of changes has been made to the character of Butler. While Issue #2 showed him at his bumbling best, I thought he was a bit too suave for the most part of Issue #3.

While in the original storyline, we do find out that there’s more to Butler than he seems eventually, I don’t think it happened this early in the story. But that’s pretty much the only change done from the original.

I think. Again, I don’t think I’m recalling the original story accurately.

For some reason though, I found it easier to read Issue #3 than I did the first two issues of Cat’s Trail. Maybe it’s because I’ve finally gotten used to the new way of storytelling. Maybe.

What I do know though is that I wish we could move past the rewinds soon. While relieving the story is great and all, I still do my copies of Culture Crash. I can relieve it there. If this is really being done for the fans of the series, may it not be better if we could speed through the already-known stories and start on the new adventures?

Just a thought.

If you’re interested in the series, Cat’s Trail is available at Comic Odyssey in Robinson’s Galleria, Ortigas Center. Or you can contact Elmer Damaso or Maria Cornelia Damaso at the Cat’s Trail blog.

book: cat’s trail

back in high school, a couple of my friends discovered CULTURE CRASH. it was a monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) comic book that featured four stories from four different writers: ONE DAY ISANG DIWA, PASIG, SOLSTICE BUTTERFLY and CAT’S TRAIL.

of the four titles, my favorite shifted from ONE DAY ISANG DIWA and CAT’S TRAIL whenever a new issue would come out. eventually though, CAT’S TRAIL became my sole favorite until the comic book stopped coming out. issue #15.5.

i experienced many firsts through CULTURE CRASH: my first comic collection, my first conventions–and the first time i really thought i wanted to get into the storytelling business. i had my passion for television even back then, but CULTURE CRASH afforded me that dream that storytelling as a career is something tangible.

i even had my first (and only, actually) comic coloring lesson from the guys of CULTURE CRASH!

around three years after the comic books stopped publishing, one of the four original guys (j.i.o. who created SOLSTICE BUTTERFLY) became my office mate–the husband of my boss, in fact. and around four years later, i rediscover CAT’S TRAIL!

CAT’S TRAIL tells the story of one airee colette. a petty thief by day, and a big-time thief at night, airee has a reputation in the land of tiyera as the best of the best. but no one actually knows where airee comes from–and why she looks so different from the people of tiyera. not even airee herself. well, no one except polaris, airee’s constant companion.

in the CULTURE CRASH comics, airee’s life takes a turn for the interesting when she meets the unassuming butler. butler is the type people bully–even by the bullied. so airee is surprised at the boy’s lightning fast reflexes, and his knowledge of the lands of memeria (the world where tiyera is).

but that’s all history now. with CULTURE CRASH gone, CAT’S TRAIL has a fresh new start with CAT’S TRAIL REWIND and CAT’S TRAIL SPOTLIGHT.

CAT’S TRAIL REWIND retells the stories that were once published in CULTURE CRASH, but the stories have been (or will be) reworked to fit into the grander scheme of things. eventually, it will move on to where the story first stopped. as for CAT’S TRAIL SPOTLIGHT, it’s a novelization written by the creator’s spouse that expands on the characters’ back stories.

for fans of filipino-made stories, do check out CAT’S TRAIL REWIND and CAT’S TRAIL SPOTLIGHT.

and to celebrate the rebirth of my once favorite comic series, i will be holding a giveaway competition. just leave a comment in this post that you want to win a copy of CAT’S TRAIL REWIND issues 1 and 2, as well as a copy of CAT’S TRAIL SPOTLIGHT. that’s all you have to do. a winner will then be randomly selected.

to those who are joining, a fair warning: the two comic issues and the novelization are all written in tagalog.

winner will be announced on january 4.

for more information about CAT’S TRAIL, log on to cat’s trail rewind.