Verdugo: Takutan, also known as Takutan: A Verdugo Mission, is a comic written and illustrated by Jb Tapia and edited by Budjette Tan. It is the first entry to the Verdugo series and depicts the exploits of Carlos Trese as a mandirigma known infamously as Verdugo.
It was first released by Jb on his Facebook page, then subsequently published in Trese: Bloodlines Volume 1. It was also published later on penlab.ink. The comic was later collected as the first entry within the book Trese Presents: Verdugo.
Summary[]
Every Aswang knows the legend.
Call him out six times in front of a mirror and he will appear...
Skin you alive...
And make a coin purse out of you.
They all know him by heart.
And dare not speak the name.
They call him Verdugo.
Plot[]
The story opens to Mama Grande talking to her son, who is telling the tale told to him by his yaya about the exploits of the Verdugo, which Mama Grande ridicules, promising to make an example out of him to the other aswang, along with his sister. The child watches the proceedings from the bedroom.
Upon the arrival of Carlos Trese and Alexandra Trese, they are greeted with a number of aswangs cheering as one of their own assails a human, which Carlos takes offense against, though Alexandra prevents him from attacking the aswangs. Mama Grande then comes and welcomes all the guests, mentioning a special few, and finally reveals their dinner courtesy of their abortion clinic.
Alexandra explains what she and her brother have come for, a case involving Mama Grande's three sons assault of a human, Teresita Sala, which resulted in Teresita's pregnancy and finally her taking her life. Upon the jeers and derision of the aswang and their guests regarding Teresita, saying that she was the one that took Ebony, a drug distributed by the Arko siblings and even posted about it, Carlos finally reveals that he had already found the ones involved, as well as the other aswangs that had been waiting for him in ambush in the Ebony farm in Caloocan, telling the manner he had killed them all, in detail.
Alexandra urges her brother to reveal where he had hid the Arko triplets, since the Agreements stipulate that the aswang were within their rights to do such an act. However, Carlos rebukes Alexandra for "siding" with the aswang and brings out a phone to show a live broadcast exhibiting the current state of the Arko triplets that he had already maimed, describing their predicament in lurid detail. He taunts Mama Grande by saying they are still alive, though it is unclear if they will survive for much longer and so they should hurry if they wish to save them. In response to this, Mama Grande begs for the location of her sons, upon which Carlos reiterates that he will make coin purses out of all of them if they speak his name again.
Upon leaving, Alexandra expresses her disapproval of the way her brother handled the situation, which Carlos argues against by saying he kept within her rules of "no deaths, no weapons". Alexandra rebuts this, saying that he risked undoing the peace that they've fought for because of a petty vendetta, which Carlos counters by saying the war is already present, for their covenant with the aswang have only served to conceal the issues of the city, and that she has forgotten which side she is on. Alexandra reiterates that she is on nobody's side, and that she only came to maintain the balance, as she has always meant to do. She then says to herself that it is also to save her brother and keep him from "destroying the world". Carlos then concedes and tells her the location of the Arko triplets.
The Kambal are shown to have been waiting, complaining about the wait and that they might as well have come to kill all the aswang. Carlos muses to himself that there are not enough bullets to kill all the aswang, so his next best plan is to make them "fear the real monsters".
The child of Mama Grande is shown in front of a mirror, attempting to say "Verdugo", though he gives up and curls in a corner in fear.
Gallery[]
Sequel[]
A follow-up story slated for May 2021[1] was teased with the title, "Verdugo Halimaw."[2] It was eventually released on Jb Tapia's Facebook page on June 2, 2021.[3]