Daytripper nominated for SCREAM AWARDS!

Our beloved Daytripper has been nominated to the Scream Awards on the "best Comic Book or Graphic Novel" cathegory. Please give it a shout and vote here.

CASANOVA is back... AGAIN... FINALLY!

On September 7th, the wait is over. Even people who have not been waiting will have not to wait any longer, because that which they did not know will be known at last. Yes, confusing. But yes, amazing.
The new CASANOVA : AVARITIA series starts this wednesday, a four issues series, each chapter with 32 pages filled with crazy, sexy, complicated and fun sci-fi stuff for people who really give a shit about comics. Written by super-star Matt Fraction, art by humble me (yet, awesome art by humble me), hand lettered by Dustin Harbin and colors Cris Peter. Published by ICON!
And if you're one of them, you might like to know that Floating World in Portland has an exposition of original Casanova pages during September, pages ranging from Luxuria, to Gula and the freshly started AVARITIA. Go check out the amazing black and white artwork, just to compare to the great color work Cris Peter is doing on the series.


Well, what are you waiting for?

Dark Horse Presents 6

September is right across the corner and, while we're really producing several new stories, most of them are still very far away from any clear publication date, except for Casanova-AVARITIA, the new arc which starts coming out NEXT WEEK, but Bá is drawing this arc, not me. So, with that in mind, I'm doing a story for issue 6 of the new Dark Horse Presents anthology. This is the only new story I'm writing and drawing which will be published this year in the US, and it's only 8 pages long. I gave my best to make each page count.

I received the invitation to create a new story shortly after I did the variant cover for issue 2, so I can say the original inspiration for the story came from that cover - or from the idea which inspired that cover - but it went on a completely different direction. A better one, if you ask me.

I thought it was very nice of my editor to invite me to do another cover, this time for the issue my story will be in, and what I came up with is the image below:

I never forget how important Dark Horse Presents was for my brother and I, how in it we discovered Sin City and Hellboy, how in its digital rebirth a few years back I did Sugarshock with Joss Whedon (for which I got an Eisner Award) and how it still publishes and celebrates creators with a personal voice. I'm thrilled to think that in this issue my story is in there's also a new Jill Thompson story.

This issue only comes out in November, but it never hurts to give people the heads up.

A new face

We've been meaning to change the visuals of our blog for quite some time, and today we decided it was time to skip working on what we were supposed to be working on - a three page story for a brazilian anthology, the script for one of the new things we're now writing, new Casanova pages from this new script Matt sent and some other things - to write a little code, choose some images and give our site, its blogs and our web presence a face lift.
This is the forth time, in more than 8 years, that we changed how this blog looks, and I hope we can keep it the way it is now for another good chunk of our lives, as we're getting further and further away from the modern and current web-design technology, and it's getting harder and harder to do this all by ourselves.
In the past few years, we ended up dividing our web presence in all these several social medias, from Flickr to Youtube to twitter and facebook, leaving around images, videos, other links and several words and thoughts born on the heat of the moment (and only written in these other virtual places), so I hope the links on the side bar are helpful for those trying to keep track. I'll be happy if it makes it easier for me.

I fished these images from 2004, when we redesigned the blog for the first time. I still like how simple and effective these animated gifs are, and maybe I'll put some new ones on here from time to time.

Just before I go, I like to leave here an update I think we already said in all those other social medias: since they cancelled the Wizard World Los Angeles, we won't be traveling to the US this year anymore. We, like many, had made plans for that convention, for another chance to get to know L.A a little more and maybe see some of our friends who live there, but I guess this will have to wait. The positive side of this is "more time to write and draw new stories", which I think it's what we all should focus on.

Harvey Awards winner

Thanks once again for another moment of unforgettable joy. This has indeed been an amazing trip.

Happy together around the world.

After our great time in San Diego this year, crowned by the Eisner Award we received for Daytripper, we returned filled with the creative energy contained in all works of love, and it was great to come back home with that feeling that the stories we tell are being read. We had a great time inside the convention on our super booth with the always great company of our talented booth babes - Becky Cloonan and Jill Thompson - and our faithful and hilarious brazilian companions Rafael Albuquerque, Gustavo Duarte and Marcelo Braga.

Outside the convention, the great hang out place and creative outlet was of course the Tr!ckster store and bar, where the new generations met the old, where comics were praised, studied and respected, and where we created art in all its forms. In all our 15 years of SDCC, it's always this kind of energy that keeps us coming back, and this time the Tr!ckster was the place to find that energy - and to pass it around.

Back in Brazil, there's always a lot to do, and right now the final preparations for the release of the brazilian edition of Daytripper are being made, but already we are on a new trip - to AFRICA. We're in Luanda right now, capital of Angola, as guests of Luanda Cartoon, an international comics, animation and cartoon festival, and it's great to see how our work is understood in other portuguese-speaking countries. We crossed the Atlantic and yet, here we feel somewhat at home, sharing the same dreams, the same inspiration and the same difficulties. We still have some days here in Angola, let's see what else we can discover as every day here is an adventure.

In the end, every day can be an adventure, no matter where you are, if you have the spirit and the heart for it.

Daytripper - Eisner Awards 2011 - Best Limited Series

DAYTRIPPER!!

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

FODA!!

SDCC auction for the CBLDF

As explained here and here, once again we're participating in the CBLDF auction that takes place every year during SDCC in San Diego. We were thrilled to be able to use characters we grew up reading, and by the scenes we did, you can see when we got hooked up on super heroes.


Both our booth (1320) and the CBLDF booth will have signing cards of those images, but imagine how great would the original look on your wall.

See you in San Diego!

SDCC MADNESS!!

SDCC is around the corner and we're running like crazy here. But that's the way to go.

We'll be sharing booth #1320 once Again with Becky Cloonan, Jill Thompson, Rafael Albuquerque, Gustavo Duarte and Marcelo Braga. We'll have ATELIER, CASANOVA: LUXURIA TP and fresh copies of the CASANOVA: GULA trade. We'll have some copies of the DAYTRIPPER TP, but not many. Well, maybe we'll have more comics in small quantities.

We'll bring some original pages to sell as well.

And we'll have POSTERS!


We'll put our signing schedules here next week.

See you then.

Harvey 2011 nominations

The nominees for the 2011 Harvey Awards have been announced and there's a lot of good stuff in there, lots of friends nominated!

And we're really happy to be nominated for the Harvey Awards on two categories: Best Contunuing or Limited Series and Best Single Issue or Story.





Thanks once more for this year full of good vibrations for our beloved story. We never knew we'd come this far and we don't really know where we're going next, but we had a great time telling this story and all this feedback has only been showing us we might be going the right way.

Killjoys

On July of 2010, during breakfast on the hotel inSan Diego, Gerard was showing me the concept images for My Chemical Romance's new album, "Danger Days: The true lives of the fabulous Killjoys". I got so excited with that, and considering that the same concept would turn into a comic he's gonna do with Becky Cloonan and Shaun Simon, I told him I'd make a drawing when the album came up, that could be used as an alternate cover for the comic or a poster or something.

Well, the album came out last november and my drawing ended up being a promotional poster on their U.S. tour, so I hear.

Here's a step-by-step production process of the drawing.

Amazon's Best of 2011

Daytripper has been selected as one of Amazon.com's Top Ten Best Books of the Year So Far on the Comics and Graphic Novels category.




This has been an amazing year, full of rewards that only refuel our love for comics and make us want to keep creating new stories forever.
So let's do it.

Solstice

Summer solstice at one side of the world, Winter solstice at the other. Both ways, there are stories to be told, thus work to be done.

I just finished a cover, which the editor liked and have already been sent off, and so off I go to this short 8 page story which I've been planning since April, when the idea was born. It's a strange thing, going back to short stories after the 220 pages of Daytripper, but in a refreshing sort of way, I think it's just what I need. These days, it's easy to get carried away and only come up with big epic ideas, ideas which will take many pages - and many years - to get done, and there are some periods in your life, and in your work, where a smaller story is just the right size to fit that moment in which you want to work and, at the same size, still have time to gaze at the world and see what the tides might be bringing my way.
I hope that the next time I have something to write about in here, this short story will be over, and I hope this happens in the next two weeks.
Back to work.

Solicitation for Casanova Avaritia #1

The wait is over - or almost - as Casanova is once again solicited! This is the moment all of you - or at least many of you - have been waiting for: 100% new Casanova issues. No reprints. No old material. New story! New artwork! New color palette!
Our new arc, avaritia will start in September, and the solicitation goes like this:
CASANOVA: AVARITIA #1 (of 4)
Written by MATT FRACTION
Penciled by GABRIEL BÁ
Cover by GABRIEL BÁ
From the writer of Marvel's smash hit FEAR ITSELF and the artist of the best-selling book Umbrella Academy comes the FULL-COLOR rebirth of the coolest comic of all time -- CASANOVA IS BACK and NOW YOU can see what everybody's been talking about. THIS ISSUE: The world's sexiest and savviest superspy kills his way from dimension to dimension in a high-stakes, action-packed adventure that cannot be described in a mere human "solicitation." !!! 32 ALL-NEW FULL-COLOR PAGES. PREORDER THIS BOOK! IF YOUR RETAILER CAN'T READ YOUR MIND, YOU CAN'T READ 'CASANOVA.'
40 PGS./Mature …$4.99

CASANOVA- AVARITIA 1 cover revealed!

In September, everything in the Casanova universe will be new. New storyline, new artwork, new mood. And here's the first brand new cover!

If you like the cover, wait until you see what the interiors look like.
All the best, and back to work.

Daytripper gets two Eagles

Over the weekend, during the MCM Expo London Comicon, took place the Eagle Awards ceremony, and we're very happy that Daytripper won in TWO categories.

Yes, we're happy. And honored. And we feel blessed, and it's incredible to think how far this story of ours is going, how many people are reading it, and how it appears they like it. This story means a lot to us, and it's great to see how much it means to others. This overwhelming feeling only inspires us to keep going, pushing ourselves harder and telling new stories.
Thank you all so much for this worldly support, and let's get back to work.

Sketch

Thinking about a new strip, the sketchbook by my side.

Casanova GULA trade, coming in July

CASANOVA: GULA TPB
Written by MATT FRACTION
Penciled by FÁBIO MOON & GABRIEL BÁ
Cover by FÁBIO MOON
Casanova Quinn is a secret secret agent, and a pawn in a game of espionage-chess played by his father Cornelius and the forces of E.M.P.I.R.E. against alllll the bad guys in the whole wide world. When a mission goes haywire and Casanova disappears, all hell breaks loose across the span of the space-time continuum itself. As archrival Newman Xeno conspires to break both the laws of man and physics, the fabric of all-that-is begins to fray. Clearing the way for that delightful little Armageddon is Casanova’s twin sister, Zephyr, killing her way through a blood-soaked hit list that ends with their father. All this as a super-vixen from the future scrambles to unravel the mystery at the heart of it all: WHEN IS CASANOVA QUINN? The sex is sexier and the violence is violent-ier in this, the second breathtaking volume of CASANOVA, the comic that Entertainment Weekly calls “Sexy... gripping and darkly funny.” Collecting CASANOVA: GULA #1-4.
160 PGS./Mature ...$14.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4863-0

Figure drawing

Here's Bá training.
A little practice never hurts anybody, even if you already "know" how do draw. There's always something new to learn, to think about, to consider.
Most of this poses were just one minute poses, some were three minutes long, one or another, five minutes long.

 

 

 

 

 

DIGITAL TWINS!

We love comics. And we consider ourselves old school, because we like comics made by hand, on real paper, to be printed on paper and read on book format by people. Although we will keep making our comics to be printed, digital comics are here and the tablets and readers are also becoming a growing reality that we can't oversee.

Every publisher is putting their comics out there to be read on digital readers, and our books are among them. So now you can buy and read our comics online or on the device of your preference, and take them with you whenever you go.

Now you can get Daytripper on Comixology here.
You can read Daytripper #1 for free.

You can browse Dark Horse Digital and get all the awesome comics they publish.
Regarding our comics, you can now get Umbrella Academy series 1 and 2, our Eisner nominated De:TALES, or our horror comic PIXU, made with our good friends Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos.

The important thing is that people can read our work. We'll keep writing, drawing. We'll keep telling stories.

We love comics.

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.

The wild hand.

"Do you want to hold them?", asked the little girl in the floating house docked in the middle of the river.

I hesitated. That was a very big snake, and even the alligator, which was only a baby they caught earlier that day, had a big enough mouth to do some damage to my hands.

The snake skin was shiny and beautiful, but slippery. and seemed almost detached from the muscles, so I had to hold tight while the girl cautioned me "not too tight". As my hand touched the snake, she started moving, slowly at times, but steady, and I could feel just how strong she was. She could crush me, I thought as I put her around my neck and over my shoulders, and this could be it. She wouldn't hold still, which made me nervous and made it difficult for Bá to take a picture, but how could I prove to the twenty years old me, who swore he would never try to hold a giant snake, that I was in the middle of the Amazon river (called Solimões river right there before he meets the Negro), alive and well, holding that sucuri (Anaconda for the gringos) and that baby alligator and looking at trees wide as a street and tall as a building?

This was one of the highlights of our trip to Manaus,capital city of the state of Amazonas here in Brazil, which included research for a future book. This, alongside our recent trip to Machu Picchu in Peru, made us want to create stories as impressive and astonishing as the experience of travelling to incredible places.

I returned home wanting to tell about the things I did and saw to my friends, and I wrote some of them, only to discover that my friend Craig Thompson was packed and ready to leave on a trip to China, so I'm sure an equally impressive experience will inspire him the same way I was inspired by these trips. Safe journeys, Craig, and see you in a bit.

Back to work, it's good to be back.

Nominated

Yesterday, the nominees for the 2011 Eisner Awards were announced and we were nominated for best limited series with Daytripper. We're happy.

The ceremony will be in July 22nd, during SDCC. There's a lot of work ahead of us before that, but it's nice to have this to look forward to while we work.

Thanks for all the support, and congratulation to all the other nominees.

Coordinates challenged

Just as we returned from our trip to Peru, one of our computers seemed dead. It didn't turned on any longer, and it looks like it won't turn on ever again. We had almost everything in back-ups, and we can still retrieve information from the drives, but while we don't do that, I remember one email that is stuck in there about a guy who sent his picture for the Daytripper Challenge from Russia, but I don't remember his name anymore, and the city he was from. Once I retrieve the email info on my hard-drive, he shall be named. I tthink he was the only one stuck in there, but I'll only know in a little while, so let's carry on with all the other emails we received.

German Torres wrote from Barcelona, having bought his copy (the spanish copy, not the english one) of the book online.

Jack Leask bought his copy at Blue Moon Comics in Novato, near San Francisco.

Liliana Vera comes from Sonora, in México, but bought her copy at a graphic novels and boardgames convention in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. She wasn't sure she would find a copy, and was very happy when she did.

Rebecca Hawkins is a cruise ship musician, and bought Daytripper in Brooklin just before leaving for another period overseas. She emailed us from Grenada, West Indies, and send us a picture from her travel journal.

Michael wrote from Barnaul, in South-West Siberia, Russia (or 53º17'27"N 83º38'52"E, as he described it). He got the book through Amazon and likes the idea of putting books from tropical creators through the very different climate of Siberia.

Back at the studio

Indeed, we're back at the studio after a woderful time in Peru. The Lima Comics festival was wonderful, the people were great all around, and we met old friends and made new ones. Gracias a todos.

And then there was the rest of the peruvian trip, to Cusco and Machu Picchu and all that it entails, which I can't even try to write about now, in the little time I still have today to write, because this was a incredible life-changing experience. I just hope I can channel all the energy and all the amazement I felt while there and create new and exciting stories, stories where I will look and feel as curious and puzzled and hungry to know more as I was when looking at man-made places with 7 metres tall rocks like the ones we found in Saqsayhuaman, where I took this picture of Bá.