He speaks!

As most of you may already have noticed, Fábio does most of the talking – writing – around here. Not that he's the bright one or he's the one who knows how to speak in english, but the fact is that he's been trying harder to enchant the american public with our ideas than I have.

I think I've been too busy drawing comics – monthly comics for that matter – that I didn't feel the need to write so often. Also, for being so busy drawing, I didn't have lots to say other than what I was putting on paper, which was, on most cases, a secret until it went to press. So as much as I wanted to talk about what I was working on, I felt I could not.

But now that last year is gone and most of The Umbrella Academy has been published already, I can talk a little about some of my ideas and my worries and what I care about when it comes to comicbooks.

I think it's fair to start with Umbrella, since it has called so much attention and it took so much of my time last year (and, yes, it will take some of my time this year also). I gave up super-hero comics for a while now because I thought it was all too worn off and it was just a part of the big machine of selling comics, toys, T-shirts and making movies and it was not about the stories anymore. So from the first script of Umbrella when the kids are fighting the Eiffel Tower and "flying towards camera" and stuff like that, I had cold feet and feared to have had made the wrong choice about taking on The Umbrella Academy. When I got to issue #3 I was very worried, because it's almost all action. The parts I enjoyed the most were when Vanya appeared, because they were the pages with more emotion and depth.




But you know what? Since I was one of the skeptics of this series (maybe the most skeptical of all), I'm now also one of its biggest admirers, because I have to give it to Gerard that he told a great story, created some instant-liking characters and gave this worn-off genre a very fresh tale.

I'm kinda sad to confess this, but i've made the best pages of my life for The Umbrella Academy. It's just sad because I'm a storyteller and I like – and I WANT – to tell stories of my own and I wish I was drawing my own stories right now, or at least more of that and not only stories someone else has written, even if it's a good story. The fact that I liked the Umbrella story helped me a big deal when coming up with the pages, because as the story was taking shape in front of me, first on the layouts and then on the actual pages, I instantly knew I was doing something good, worth reading, something that was not like all other super-hero comics on the stands. And that's the main reason I want to work on new comics, just to make something different from everything else.



But you know, we have lots of new stuff cooking and in 2008 I'll be able to fulfill my need to tell stories, as well as drawing and working with other authors. Too bad we can't talk about any of these things right now. But that's the fun of it, right?



Changing the subject a little, or entirely, I'd like to say why I don't really write as much here as, let's say, on our blog in portuguese we keep for our readers in Brazil. Yes, as you may know, we are from Brazil and we've been making comics in Brazil a little longer than in the U.S. We have almost 10 books published and lots of independent work, some awards and some recognition, but the market in Brazil is much different from the american one, much smaller, so I feel the need to speak to the audience at large and tell them why comics are so great, why we must be taken seriously and what is possible with comicbooks. It's a never ending struggle to pass it along to the newcomers, readers and the majority who doesn't even read comics thinking it's silly things just for kids.



Four years ago, we have created this blog (in english) in order to do the same thing with our american readers (or anyone in the world who could read in english actually), because no one knew us then. But we have been working so much, specially on monthly series, that this audience can see our work on a regular basis and get acquaintanced with it a lot easier than our brazilian audience, who gets a new book year year or so. Books that are kinda hard to find, also, as in the U.S. the public already know where to get his favorite comic every month.

So I really whish i could have a mix of the two markets, produce as much as I do for the U.S., with big print runs, and still be able to write in portuguese, the most beautiful language in the world. Well, that's what I have to aim for and keep reaching, right?

All my friends say I work too much, I don't have time to go out. They ask me if I wanna change the world. Well, I do. And I believe it can be done with comicbooks and that's what I'm gonna keep doing: telling stories that can change the world of someone who's lucky enough to read it.

The end of the world as we know it?

Travels and work.

We have been traveling, doing some research. We're also drawing and writing a lot. There are lots of possibilities for our next projects, and research is necessary for most of them. Some research can be done without leaving your chair, as all of us start writing from our own experiences, from what we know. Later, we might include opinions from people we know that might be similar to ours, or the complete opposite, or that should fall somewhere inbetween. Then, we might want to tell a story that needs more than just the familiar, the near by information, the visible at eye sight. That's when we need to go outside ourselves and discover more, learn more so we can tell more than we already told.



I'm still drawing Casanova, and I expect to keep working on it at leat until the end of March, so that should keep me busy for these two months, and somewhat away from the internet. I'll try to post more sketches, as I see Becky doing on her blog, and as we have done much more here in ours. We're doing more sketches now, as is customary when you're trying to come up with new stories, and we should have a lot to show because of that.

On my next post, I'll tell the story behind the story we did for the MySpace DHP February issue, online now.

Luxuria

If you were waiting for the soft cover trade, the wait is over.

Pencil.

Sometimes, my pencils are very loose. Most of the time, actually. I don't think I could work as the "only penciller" kind of artist, as I leave a lot of the art for the inking part.

Together, we're great.

According to this site, we're pretty great, and people should go after the stuff we have done.

Well, they should. Agreed.

Now, because we're in the comic business, some images will follow.



It's hard to jump from one project to the next, and loose drawings like this one will serve the purpose of just drawing for the fun of it, no expectations, no goals. Reclaim the artist you are, that artist who gives himself to the projects he works on, and after you're once more your own, go jump again on another project and tell more stories.



I love coffee, and so does Bá. For us, it's a big thinking and talking fuel, and we just can't do without. Maybe we could, but we sure don't want to.



Today, Dave sent the colored pages from the Umbrella Academy final issue. They look beautiful. His work over Bá's art made us reevaluate our entire work and how we approach it in terms of color. Before, we only wanted to color our pages ourselves. Now, even the stuff we do color will be, in our minds, compared to what Dave did, in that strange inner voice that keeps asking you "What would Dave do?" when you're thinking on ways to color a certain page or drawing.



I received a new script from Matt this week, and it's just the best script I ever read. It's, by far, the best script he's ever written. Now it's up to me to be the best pages I've ever done.

Under a tree.

Sitting under two trees that cast a welcome shadow in a sunny day, I remember that much more than a job, to draw is a pleasure, and a very personal one, one you share only with the paper, with the brush, a movement that takes you anywhere without you ever leaving.

January started as an eclipse, when the sun and the moon meet only to part again from each other. Bá was here yesterday on his last day before he took off to a desert beach, and I returned from a beach to now resume working. We sat together, we ate and we talked, making plans a month ahead. January is solely on each one's shoulder, and we only talk about what we'll do when we're together again. We have a lot of plans, we want to tell a lot of stories. This year can be better than the last, which was already very good, and we have to make it a better year if we want it to happen. We are in the making business, nothing suddenly appears, except for birds and bees, and nothing gets done by itself, except maybe the duration of a day (and not even that, to some, as we can have days to end days, and days to end weeks).

Let's make comics, even if under the shadow of a tree.

LAST DAY OF THE YEAR AT THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

It's been a hell of a year.
I've never made so many comics in my life. I'm actually exhausted and I really need some rest. But it was totally worth it.
Worked on Christmas and I'm gonna work tomorrow and the day after, but it's all worth it.

Comics are great.

I believe we've done something special with The Umbrella Academy. I feel really proud of it. And that kept me working all these times.

Last night I was finishing it, alone in the studio, late at night, and I felt like registering it. Fábio wears suits on his last days on each project. Well, I'm not the fancy one.



It's no great movie, but it's just to say that I've done it. I went all the way, and I'd do it again anytime. So let's do it again next year.

Oh yeah, I couldn't help putting the song as the soundtrack. It's actually one I like.

Happy New Year to all of you.

new journeys.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.
The new year awaits.



For good things to happen, we have to make it happen. Here's wishing next year brings a lot of good things for us, and for everybody. When midnight comes, on the 31st, I'll be watching fireworks with my feet buried in the sand of a beautiful beach, the sea gently breaking against my ankles, and I'll throw flowers and say thank you, and I'll make wishes and enjoy another good year.

Hopefully, I won't be alone, and we will all have new stories to tell.

Online interview about Umbrella Academy

A Couple of months ago I gave this interview to Fanboy Confidencial about Umbrella Academy and comics in general and it's finally online.

It's a good way to close this year with something that has been so much talked about.
Click here to listen to it.
Enjoy.

lost Picasso.

In the middle of the night, today, two paintings were stolen from one of the most important museums in São Paulo. One of the pieces was a Picasso.

Gone.

Now, everything changes.

Before the year ends, the apocalypse begins.

Or so it goes on the new issue of the Umbrella Academy. As I write this, Bá is working on the the final issue, on it's final pages. Issue six promises to be one of the best from the series, and the artwork is just mind blowing. Wait for it and you'll see.

While you wait, issue four is out, on comicbook stores everywhere. Go get your copy and let us know what you think.

More umbrella next week.

Roaring city.

David Lloyd is in São Paulo this week for the release of his new book about the city. As part of a series, each book by a different artist and portraying a different brazilian city, his was one of the most difficult for the publisher to put together, since São Paulo is such a huge city and demanded a lot more time and research than the other cities.

Four years ago, when the publisher started talking about the book with the mayor's office (in order to get financial and logistic aid), Will Eisner was in talks to do the book. He liked São Paulo quite a lot, and had visited many times

As I flip through David's book, I wonder what kind of book Will would have made. I close my eyes and I almost can see it. While David Lloyd began with the airplane he arrived, I think will would have begun with the rain that fell all that month during the research period, and the people that had to go to work anyway, running on the wet river-like sidewalks, or waiting for the bus at the crowded bus stop. São Paulo doesn't steam like Eisner's New York, and it isn't foggy like Lloyd's London (it's really Brighton, but London is cooler). It is just her own monster, roaring to her visitors, inviting them all to see the wonders, and dare them to survive.

Washington Post.

This past Sunday edition of the Washington Post published their A List for Titles that earned the top grades from their reviewers, which, in their comics section, included Luxuria: Casanova, Vol 1, by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Bá.

Works at the end of the year tend to pile up around here, and December is usually one of our most busy months of the year. It's nice to see little things like this while you're working. Makes it feel that, while we're very isolated when working, the work we do in getting seen, and read, and remembered.

Back to work.

But also, before I go, here and here you'll find reviews of the most recent Casanova issue.

Now back to work.

Casanova 11 in the stands today.

I just received my copies. Just read it in my hands. I'm so used to the strong blue by now that I think it will be impossible to go back to a lighter color on the next albums.

Anyway, this is probably my favorite issue, artwise. From my issues, of course, 'cause Bá rocks in another dimention entirely.

I even liked my bit on the backmatter. I think I'm getting good at this "where does my ideas come from" thing.

Black tie.

I mentioned in the backmatter of Casanova 10 how it felt right that I was doing the secret cinema people at the same time Bá was also drawing another group of well dressed black tie individuals, right?

I guess it's pretty obvious now what I was talking about.



Now, the storylines from Umbrella and Casanova are moving very far apart, and we're drawing completely different things.

Bá, his cars and his cities 1.

the Casanova 14 cover.

This will be my final issue drawing Casanova. Acconding to the cover, all characters will move to Cuba, join the revolution and shoot crows.

Or become crows.

And their passports will have Casanova Quinn stamped on them on the way in.

Quiet, little girl.

How much color!

Until last year, 90% of our work was in black and white, which we love, but now we're producing more and more in color. If mayve Dave Stewart wasn't doing these glorious colors, it would be easy to continue just doing black and white.

The third Umbrella will be out in two weeks.

World cup 2014 in Brazil.

We imagined how would the mascot look like.
Thank God we don't do this for a living.

rainy sunday.

Summer rain falls all the time since yesterday. It's a shitty weather, today, and working seems inadequate. I still need some sort of work done, so it doesn't matter if it doesn't fit the way the world looks from my window. Right now, I wished it wasn't such a big window, which accounts to such a big shitty weather.

But, hey, it's summer. When it's not raining, the days are very hot. It's hot while it's raining, even.

That's summer. That's nice.

But I'm working. Still working. Always working.

I wish I didn't love work so much on sundays. I wish sundays looked like sundays to me, but they don't. They look like mondays, or tuesdays, and I work on mondays and tuesdays.

I love doing comics, and it's hard to do comics all the time in the summer.

The rain makes it easier, even with the shitty weather.

Where????

I've been drawing the Casanova comic book without Casanova Quinn since I did the sketch below on May 5th. I did the other charactes afterwards, but the damage was already done.

See today what's out tomorrow!

Newsarama has a preview of Casanova 10, which comes out tomorrow. Check it out and see for yourself how strange and bizarre this story-line is turning out to be, which throws me into a different place artistically.

I'm not changing my style or anything, but there are certainly scenes I never thought I would have to draw in a comic.

Here's the first page of said issue:



This is the first issue I did after I started doing Sugarshosk, and I guess the more fluid and somewhat cartoony aspect of Sugarshock went into this as well. One thing is for sure, with every new issue, Casanova is getting more graphic and "designy". Issue 12 should be a blast in that sense.

Wait and see. But, first, go buy Casanova 10 and let me know what you thought of it.

Another umbrella on the air.

So, the new Umbrella Academy, issue two of the first series, has arrived. Have you got your copy yet? Tell us what did you think of it. We really want to know, even if it's bad. But, if it's bad, why is it bad, and how would it be good (if you didn't think it was good).

I really liked issue two, but what I can't wait is issue four. December is far away for all the regular readers, and Bá is just doing pages I never imagined possible.

Anyway, it's late here, and tomorrow morning we're leaving for a brazilian convention. We're releasing a new book here, and we'll have a panel on Sunday. Before that, we'll hang around with Eduardo Risso, Giancarlo Berardi and many other fine guests of the festival (such as ourselves). It's the best festival in Brazil to meet the independent artists, and it's a great way to see the fans of comics at large. We'll have our copies of 5 (which are not that many, and we might sell out of our stash), as well as our other cool books.

There are french guests, argentinean guests, american guests and even japanese guests. It's a very good festival, and we hope to meet a lot of new people, and see old friends.

I haven't seen Eduardo in three years.

To sleep now.

Next week, Casanova enters it's countdown as I officially enter "the last three issues" period. (By the way, issue 11 of Casanova is my best issue yet. I'm having a lot of fun with that crazy blue).

I've seen the future.

Bá finished another Casanova cover, two issues from the issue I'm still at. hopefully, less than two months from now (or just two months from now), I'll be drawing what we talked about when he had this idea.

This is the my future, happening right now, and it's strange how that's the way things work in comics.

All over the net.

Man, I'm late.

I'm still finishing issue 11 of Casanova. I'll finish it this week, and then go right into 12, but still I feel I'm late. Even if I'm my own colorist, my own inker, and so mostly the art is all up to me, still I feel like I'm late.

It sucks to feel like that.

Meanwhile, have you already read the last Sugarshock chapter at DHP? It's online, waiting for you. (as well as the previous chapters and Bá's umbrella story on the first issue of DHP)

Also, you can read the entire Casanova issue 8 online as well, so there's no excuse for anyone if you have no idea what I'm drawing at the moment.

Since the robot story I did for the second 24Seven was also previewed at MySpace, this year all the books I'm currently working on had either previews or entire runs on MySpace.

This is so weird. I like paper. I like to turn the page. I like to read comics in the bathroom. Suddenly, all of my work is primary online. Weird.

Also, it seems the internet sales of our work are starting to grow, as we keep showing up over at the Khepri top 5 list almost every week.

Always with me.

When I started working on Sugarshock, the only thing I knew before getting the first script was that the girls should be cute. Then, there was something about a robot and them all being a band.

Okay, I thought. Simple enough.

After I've done all three chapters, I can say I have drawn stuff I never imagined could be in the same story of the "cute girls in a band with a robot" story, which comes as a lesson to any artist. You should always be prepared to draw everything, and should always be learning how to draw and show new things. The artist should be always curious, asking questions with his or her eyes, learning from what it's around. Look at those trees, aren't they big? They're branches only start all the way up there, twenty feet from the ground. That other tree is fat, and twisted, and has branches from the height of your midget friend up to the top of those other trees you saw first.

Artists must always be looking for the stuff. You know, stuff is a bit vague, but so is looking. Anything could be the stuff, and you should look every where to everything you see.

And then you have to make all this reality look like something you make up when you draw. Or make the stuff you make up look like reality. Or a little of both.

Go, artist.

The next sugarshock chapter is coming. It's the end of the first story. Yet again, I had to draw stuff I haven't drawn before on the story (maybe on my life), and I kept thinking when would I draw those characters again. Maybe I could keep drawing them for myself, as sketches on my notebook.

I remember the first drawings I did of the character. I did them on my notebook, the little one I carry all around with me. So, even if I don't know if I'll ever draw these characters again, they're always with me. They're close.

Of course, you don't need a notebook to keep them close. Nor should you.

But it's nice, isn't it?

5, the rhino, and a bunch of our comics online.

When we started talking about 5, one of the early ideas was that of drawing animals with our characters. We never ended up using the rhino, but I just wanted to draw it anyway because it's cool as hell to draw.

Khepri.com is doing a great job at making sure you can get our book anywhere you are. From September 16th to September 22nd, not only 5 was the best selling item, but Casanova 2 was number three and Casanova 6 was number five. De:TALES was there too, on the best seller graphic novels, at number four. If you look at it, I think it might be the first time during this entire year that there isn't a Brian Wood book or comic on the top five best selling items at Khepri. A clear sign of the apocalypse, or a good start for the rest of us, comic book creators?

Becky seems to be well represented as well, with Nebuli, MINIS and American Virgin popping up on the list. This was a good week for the 5 crew.



click on the images above to get any of these AWESOME comics and get your fix on all things "twins". (well, maybe not all, but it's a good start)

More words about the Umbrella.

Comics Should be Good have another review (from Brad Curran) of the first The Umbrella Academy issue. There's also one at The X-Axis.

Aint it Cool News also have a nice review up.

I think that, past issue 2, people will start to get into the story and not discuss so much the "MCR" factor. They're already impressed that Gerard seems to know how to tell a good story, and I think future issues will only make this clearer.

Séance

Well, if it wasn't good enough to have Becky's amazing drawing of Kraken, now I was totally surprised by this "out-of-this-world" picture Vasilis did of Séance. Isn't it great?



I'm so haapy right now.

The Kraken

I like to think our stories make an impression on readers and that the characters really touch them. You know that your job was well done when you get a letter telling a touching story about how your story changed someone's life or how someone gave your book as a birthday present or just to win a cute girl into reading comics. Every response from the readers is a victory. And fan art is just about that too.

On our stories, we usually get more letters than fan art. I got very little fan art of Casanova. I'm getting some fan art of The Umbrella Academy already, but I have to point one out, because it's the first professional fan art we've got so far and that makes me feel really happy. This drawing on the top of the post was done by our very own Becky Cloonan, this monster of modern comics, who not just amazes everyone by being one of the few girls in comics, but also is this "out-of-this-world" machine who makes 2 comics at the same time and manages to make pinups and all sorts of cool artwork.

Becky is the best. She's fucking foda.

Some words about The Umbrella Academy

Well, the first issue of The Umbrella Academy is finally on the stands (or out of them, as I hope we get out of print fast) and people will finally check it out.

There's a short but sweet interview with me nd Gerard about The Umbrella Academy at Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to check it out.

There also are already some reviews at Silver Bullet Comics.

What about you, who already have the comic... what did you think of it?

It's here!

People are really going to like this book.

Landscape and the alien girl.

Another interview with Bá about The Umbrella Academy is up. We're only one week away from the release of the first issue, Bá will finish his third issue today and we'll move along just fine.

I often said that while Bá was drawing Casanova, and I keep saying it as he continues on Umbrella: his pages just keep getting better and better and he's doing a fantastic job, making it look easy, this art of telling stories.

Today, I got my copies of Casanova 9, and so should the comicbook stores. It\s the one with the alien girl on the cover. The only complaint I got about issue 8 was fixed this time around, and the book looks beautiful. My favorite sequence so far is in it, and we first meet two new characters I created for this volume. I'm currently drawing issue 11, which takes place inside a casino, and I also have created new characters for this issue. It's somewhat easier to create a character than drawing the ones Bá drew so much, but at the same time, it's fun to do my version of Rubi Berzerko. And Cornelius is fun as well.

Back to the pages, as we travel on Friday to a brazillian comics festival.

This week, the next, the previous and beyond.

Casanova 9 is coming out this wednesday as we follow up the questions from last issue's last page: WHEN IS CASANOVA QUINN?

It's the second issue I did, and I felt much more confident this time around. I created two new characters and explored more the crazy hair syndrome all the characters I created for the series have.

Bá did the lovely cover, as he always does.

Talking about Bá, the clock is ticking and the release date for The Umbrella Academy is approaching. Searching the internet after news of the book, I found some preview cards of some of the great moments from issue 1. Here they are:







And, if you still haven't read 5, our new comic with world sensations Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos and Rafael Grampá, you can get your copy online at Khepri.com (where 5 has been on the top five best sellers since the end of July). For a fresh look into the comic, here's a sketch I did while working on the comic (showing the cute duo of authors/characters from the comic):

Sugarshock in space!

The newest issue of Dark Horse Presentson MySpace went online today, and so has my second SUGARSHOCK! story. If you think Joss wrote a fun and strange story on the first chapter, wait for this second one (actually, wait for the third one)

Enjoy this new chapter on the band's story, filled with twist and action and ... well, go read it. It's free.

Most of all, it's fun.

Coincidentally, I just finished the next chapter today, and I think all ends up really nice. After three chapters of the and, I really feel I have a good handle of these characters, and they come out pretty easily.

Anarchy speaks.

Click here to read one of the first interviews Bá gives about The Umbrella Academy. Most of the media's attention focus on Gerard, for obvious reasons, and his plans for the series, and it's nice to have a different perspective on ths project.