Today’s a sad day for Filipino comic book and literature fans: Visprint, known as the publisher of comic book Trese, will be closing shop two years from now.
This was confirmed earlier today by Visprint in a lengthy statement written in Filipino and posted on its official Facebook account. It also said that its founders, brothers Efren and Nido Gatus, will retire after the company’s closure.
It reads: “There is truth to the news about the imminent closure of Visprint in 2021. This also marks the retirement of our founders after many fruitful years of their wholehearted service to the company.”
The company also added that they will stop publishing new works from authors. It wrote: “Sadly, we will no longer publish new materials, but we believe that other publishers can fill the gap including independent publishers which are slowly making a name for themselves and are giving opportunities to new writers.”
Visprint is the publisher of Trese, a series of comics created by Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo which will be turned into a Netflix anime series.
It won publisher of the year at the 2015 National Book Awards and has been in business for the past 20 years.
Naturally, Visprint’s announcement was met with sadness. The organizer of the Philippine Komiks Convention wrote today that they are sad with the announcement and thanked the publisher’s employees for their support.
The creator of the comic book Light, Rob Cham, who commented before the official announcement was made, said the news of the closure “was a bummer.”
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Netizen @quakeroatkeeper wrote that Visprint’s imminent departure means that comic books such as Trese and others will disappear from shelves.
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One fan said she was “crying.” She wrote: “There’s something about their books, then this happens.”
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What’s your favorite Visprint book? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.