X-Men in Rio

We've been busy here in Brazil, Daytripper has just been released here and we're having a blast with the "national" response, but I decided to stop by and put these two images up. We're heading for Rio de Janeiro later this week for the Rio Comicon and, since one of the internaitonal guests is long-time-all-star-X-Men-writer Chris Claremont, I took some time to pay tribute to a part of the history of the X-Men, and of comics, which deeply influenced both Bá and I, and I colored these two pieces we made in July as part of the CBLDF that took place in SDCC this year.

We'll meet up with our friends Bob Schreck and Paul Pope while there, as they're also guests of the show (the festival in Rio is amazing), and we'll try to show them a good time, brazilian style.

Slim and shorty

Slim and shorty.
That's how I think about Cyclops and Wolverine. Maybe over the year Cyclops might have gotten a little stronger, it's possible, but Wolverine should have stayed short. Adamantiun bones don't stretch.

13 at night.

Friday 13th. Here I am at night, headed home. First, I stop to think about all these things that seem to be happening at the same time.



I put aside my X-Men curiosity for a while. It was getting in the way of my pages. It was getting serious in an unhealthy kind of way. When time allows, I'll get back to it as the curiosity is still here, alive and kicking, but there are more urgent matter kicking harder. I did, however, managed to do some more sketches of the X-Men. And what trouble did they bring. I can tell you it's not easy to draw those people.

But back to what takes most of my time: Daytripper.

The release of Daytripper is getting closer and closer. Finally, after more than a year working on it, it's finally happening. We have never been so proud of anything we did like we are of Daytripper, and I think it really shows how much we like this project when we realize how much hard work it requires from us. We do everything the same we did with any other project, but it just seems harder, like it's so much more personal that it hurts to get it done, to get it out. Matt Fraction told us writing Casanova was a lot more trouble than writing anything else, so I guess it's expected.

Talking about Matt, he spent the entire week answering all sorts of questions on the WhiteChapel forum, and I found it very interesting for anyone who wants to know more about writing and making comic books for bigger and smaller publishers. I also liked that questions were balanced between his Marvel work and Casanova as it shows that readers are waiting for the book's return. We've been planning the book's return for some time now and it was very nice to see Matt share some information of the hows and whens of it. Everybody should check out that discussion, I couldn't help it myself and made some questions, and I ended up answering some as well.

That's how we'll learn: getting out there, making questions, trying things out by ourselves.

I have a lot of faith for the future of comics and I welcome all the hard work involved in being a part of this present and this future. I won't be easly scared if things get rough. Not now, on a friday 13th at night, and not ever.

Don't you just love comics?

the talk of X-Men

A week ago, I was thinking about Casanova and I read something on Matt's twitter about what he wanted to do someday in a story, and I joked ( on my twitter) he was already doing that on his X-Men. All this silly talking soon turned into a "what if I did draw the X-Men?" that got my corner of the internet talking.

I got curious.

Just the day before that, I was talking to Grampá, Rafa and Cobiaco I didn't thought I was a good fit for super heroes just because I wasn't curious to see super heroes in my style. I'm curious to see Grampá drawing them, or Paul Pope, or John Cassaday, or even Bá, but not me.

Now you imagine you're crazy like me, and then you mix the conversation with Grampá and the internet cheering, and then my curiosity suddenly grew and looked me in the face, challenging me.

I fed this challenging curiosity a few days, researching the current X-Men.

I opened the sketchbook during one of my many coffee breaks.

I just let my curiosity drive my hand.

My hand drew Casanova characters.

Halloween

Why Comics? - part 1

Why Comics?
answers by:
Matt Fraction (Eisner Award nominated writer of CASANOVA, The Immortal Iron Fist, Punisher War Journal and Uncanny X-Men);
Ivan Brandon (Eisner Award nominated writer of NYC Mech, 24seven e Cross Bronx);
Grampá (Eisner Award winner, brazilian cartoonist, author of the graphic novel Mesmo Delivery)