BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, LOST THE AWARD AND IT WAS AWESOME!

As incredible as it may sound, after going 11 straight times, this year's San Diego Comic Con was unique, in good and bad ways. Every year we learn new things, meet new people and realize why we're once more there, among so many people who love comics.

The top spot on the most amazing things about this year was joining with Becky and Vasilis, that's for sure. We've known each other for some 3 or 4 years, but we always had very little time to spend together and talk and have fun. This year, we've made "5", the COOLEST COMIC of the year, hands down the most wanted item of the convention, and we were practically STUCK in our table together, just having fun and freezing under the air-conditioning from Hell. Our table, by the way, was only possible because of Ivan Brandon who had asked for 2 tables at the Image booth and passed one along to us. He has been doing amazing work in comics and has been putting great people together on his projects, like the amazing second volume of 24seven. The table was another great thing he's done for the sake of good comics.



As it was expected, everyone was amazed with GRAMPÁ's cover of "5", as well as all the other art he had in there. The awe for his work was only matched by his absence on the show, as he was truly missed and tons of people now want to see more of him.



Our table was, as we so accurately described, FUCKING FODA! Like a well balanced meal, it had all sort of colors, a variety of genres and all the powerful range of stuff we all are able to do. Next to our amazing and best-selling "5", we had Becky's MINIS, an amazing collection of her early mini-comics, and East Coast Rising, her Eisner nominated series from Tokyo Pop; and we had Vasilis' brand new graphic novel Last Call, as well as his mini-comic Hats and Pirates of Coney Island, published by Image; also their collaborate work on Nebuli, the first time I saw Vasilis' work and the starting point of the urge for us to make something together; And Fábio and I had the brand new CASANOVA #8, as well as the hardcover edition, alongside copies of the "who-are-these-amazing-brazilians" ROCK'N'ROLL we have made with Bruno and Kako. We got some FCBD comic from the Dark Horse booth, as well as the free poster and our one copy of our Eisner nominated De:TALES to show people and point them to the DH booth to buy it.


Speaking of Eisner Awards, this year was a great sample of independent authors and amazing different works and I think the most significant nominees and winners were from outside the mainstream comics, or super-heroes. As much as we were disappointed to lose, we could not have lost to a better book. The first time I've seen Jason's work I thought "we're so gonna lose to him". One of the things I regret about this year is that I didn't have any time to check out all these comics and creators on the floor, at the convention, because we were always selling at the booth or at some important meeting. I'd love to get American Born Chinese and Fun Home, as well as Jason's award winner The Left Bank Gang. One thing I'm definitely going to chase is Eric Powel's Satan's Sodomy Baby. I'm getting everything from Brian at Khepri.com.

Shout out to our awarded friends Jill Thompson (painter), James Jean (cover), Dave Stewart (colors) and Paul Pope (writer/artist - series). And Sam, congrats again and thanks for the Old Boy edition.

As it would be expected of someone who have been publishing constantly in the US for the last 5 years, our work's following of fans have increased considerably and we were happy to witness statements of gratitude, admiration and respect from lots of people who would stop by our table, as well as other fellow authors during all four days of the convention. It all started on our beloved USA Hostel, where we've been staying for the last 6 years. Our roommates, 2 funny auzies, not only have seen ROCK'N'ROLL, but also would not believe when they connected the dots between us and CASANOVA and Umbrella Academy that we would share that room with them. They were the nicest and funniest roommates we'd had in years. And it was full of amazingly hot women all the time, awesome and talented Ky-tee in particular. As much as nobody would believe or understand why we stayed in the hostel, and that this have been probably the last time we stay there, you won't meet so many different and interesting people from all over the world in the hotels.

Moving to a whole other level of stardom and recognition, this year had obvious aspects of our work that called a lot more attention, like my collaboration on The Umbrella Academy, written by Gerard Way. The same way I'm having a blast working on this book and I'm really proud of the results so far, Gerard could not be happier with our creation and the first thing he said to me was "thank you for this wonderful job". On the couple of hours we spent together on saturday, we did an one-hour signing for 80 lucky ticket winners, surrounded by an unbelievable sea of teenagers with cameras flashing, shouts and laughs, and It was really amazing to me when someone would come with a copy of CASANOVA, De:TALES, URSULA and "5" among the Umbrella Academy or My Chemical Romance items. As Gerard himself have put on an interview for MySpace, the main idea of making this comic is acknowledging the fact that he has millions of fans and use that to see if he can bring more people to know comics, not only our, but all comic that he loves. He just want to see comics do better and reach more people, and so do I.


various moments of the time with Gerard, the madness of the signing and at the bottom, the Umbrella team: Nate Piekos (letters), Dave Stewart (colors), me (art) and Gerard.

Another moment on the Olympus of fame was when Joss Whedon came to our table to finally meet Fábio, who's been working with him on his brand-new Sugar Shock comic for Dark Horse Presents. Everyone around was so excited and thrilled and whispering "oh my god, it's Joss Whedon", while Joss was excited and thrilled and whispering "oh my god, it's Fábio Moon". Promotional genius that he is, he asked Fábio to draw the main character of the book on a T-shirt that he would wear on his panel and signings and Fábio stood up for the task and made an amazing job, right there on the fly. Joss would parade with his new T-shirt for the next 3 days (on top of clean clothes, ok) and he even wore it on the exclusive EW party on saturday night. Walking around with Nisha Gopalan, the lovely girl who was kind enough to include and interview us for the TOP 100 EW list, we asked to be introduced to J. J. Abrams, who said he loved Joss' T-shirt, to which Fábio answered "well, write a comic for me to work on and I'll make you a T-shirt".


Fábio and Joss Whedon...


... and the famous Dandelion T-shirt.

This year we had a lot of time to talk to Diana Schutz, our godmother, our light and guide trough the helm of comics. We owe her so much that it cannot be described with words. Only making amazing comics we can honor our debt with her.


Fábio and Diana.

We had our share of meetings and projects are indeed moving forward, as the doors have been open wide to us and we have to make sure they won't close. As usual, we hanged out a lot with other creators on lunches, dinners and late at night at the Hyatt bar. We've met M.K. Perker, an amazing and hilarious artist from Turkey, we were introduced to John Cassaday and talked a lot to Jim Lee, who was really impressed with Becky's work. The dead-dog party that wraps the convention was one of the best I've ever been to, where all the creators present were really happy with the show and the direction comics are going. With lots of drunk smiles and sincere joy and respect from one another, we ended our trip with hugs and toast and, as I was making fun of Paul Pope and Jim Pascoe that "if I wasn't wearing this hat, I would be on your "messy-hair" team", he said to me in a natural voice and with an honest smile on his face:

"You are on our team. We're all on the same team".

SDCC: 5 and Sugarshock!

Here we are, in San Diego. Days are long, nights are nice, and comics are our business and business is good! Tonight, the Eisners!

Click here to see my new project, a mini series called SugarShock, written by Joss Whedon!

It's nice to have a table again, and to be in such nice company. If you're going do the convention this weekend, stop by at the Image booth and find our table. We're cool, we're there, and you want to meet us and read our books.

Yes, you do.

SAN DIEGO WEEK- the info.

Here we are! We're leaving yet again for San Diego, hoping to do some good and tell some jokes, and even maybe sell some books. Most of the time, we'll be at the Image booth (booth # 2729), so come to say hi. We have some scheduled signings, and they are as follow:

Saturday
12:30/2pm - Umbrella Academy signing, with Gabriel Bá and Gerard Way
at the Dark Horse Comics booth (booth # 2615)

3mpm/4pm - Joint Planetary Brigade/Zombie Tales signing with Fábio Moon and a bunch of other artists that worked on either (or both) of these books.
at the Boom Studios booth (booth # 2543)

SUNDAY
12pm/1pm - De:TALES signing with Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
at the Dark Horse Comics booth (booth # 2615)

Besides the signings, and the secret meetings, and the announcements to make secrets known, we'll be at our table inside the image booth. There, we'll have a lot of cool comics for you, including:


- 5, the new indy sensation, the comic book from the Girl, the Greek and the guris, done across the globe by Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos and Rafael Grampá.


- Rock'n'Roll, the hit of 2004/2005, with whatever available copies we have left, because that was such a cool comic that even after it was printed, Image wanted to print it again.

-Casanova 8, the return! Casanova Quinn is back, and so is everyone else, and now I'm the artists of Matt Fraction's and Bá's creation, while Bá continues to amaze us with his covers.

-Casanova volume 2 - Luxuria
Discover the wild world of Casanova Quinn on this beautiful hard cover.

We'll have much more there from our posse, Becky and Vasilis, so I'm sure you'll find something you want if you stop at our booth. But, if you're still not satisfied with our offerings, we're also bringing some original pages for your viewing and buying pleasure.
We can't just bring everything we've done, so we selected some pages. We like them very much, so we hope you like them too.

PAGES TO SELL! (click on the images to see bigger)

- FCBD Umbrella pages (by Gabriel Bá)


Bá will have some other pages available , so if you stop by, ask to see "the folder".

SAN DIEGO WEEK- the info part deux

MORE PAGES FOR SALE! (click on the images for a bigger version)

- Casanova pages (by Gabriel Bá)


- Casanova pages (by Fábio Moon)
I'll have all pages from my first Casanova issue there, but since it haven't come out yet, here are just some teaser pages:


- Zombie pages (by Fábio Moon)
If you didn't even know I had drawn a Zombie story (for Boom studios, like I mentioned on the signing schedule), check out the pages:

Cortina review.

I just read a really wonderful review of my Cortina story. I'm really excited the forth volume of Flight is finally out, and, the same way people are discovering my story in it, I can't wait for them to discover the other stories on the book.

Short stories left me always wanting more. I guess that's one of the purposes, and it works both to the reader as it does to the author. When I did Magic Age, the story for the second volume of the 24Seven anthology, I finished it and wanted to to more robot stories.

Once I finished Cortina, I wanted to go out dancing, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life writing about it.

And writing about her.

Casanova at the CBLDF auction in San Diego!

The CBLDF holds its biggest auction of the year at Comic-Con, and this year brings some amazing one-of-a-kind items to raise money for free speech!

We've donated a cover from Casanova, so if you like Casanova, and you want to support the CBLDF, here's your chance.



Click HERE for a complete list of the items being aucitoned, including an original Jeff Smith page, a Jim Lee batman, a Paul Pope Batman page, a heart breaking page from Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise, and much more!

Gerard Way interviewed.

Gerard Way gives an interview about The Umbrella Academy at Newsarama, going from the original idea to Bá's influence on the book. And he confirms he's going to San Diego, so we'll all be there to sign some books and posters. We'll bring the originals from the FCBD Umbrella story to sell at the convention, so if you like original art (from Bá), here's your chance.


variant Gerard Way cover for The Umbrella Academy 1

Casinova.

Lame play of words, but awesome cover. I can't wait to jump into this issue.



We have a lot to do before San Diego, so our posts will be short until then.

Brazilian awards yesterday.

So, yesterday we received four awards at the brazilian equivalent of the Eisners, the HQ Mix. It was a very nice ceremony, with live band performing while the recipients went onstage. It was a nice break from the intensive working routine we're having in order to finish all comics we're currently doing.

Also, yesterday was a good thermometer of the success our new comic 5 will make among the readers and, let me tell you, the book is even better when you hold it in your hands. It's flat out beautiful.

I have 16 pages to do before I get on the airplane. Bá has 9. It's going to be a very busy week and a half, so let's get back to work. On the meantime, track down FLIGHT 4, which has a short story from me, and has a lot of great stories from other remarkable artists.

New 24Seven Preview!!

24Seven is in the spotlight at MySpace and, as an exclusive preview of this year's anthology, they have a complete story up there. Which one did editor in chief Ivan Brandon choose?

Mine.

Go there and check it out.

Talking about MySpace, we're there too. Click here and find us. I don't do much, it's mostly Bá's playground as we try to divide this whole internet thing (I got the Engine and the Forums).

But hey, the robot story. Check it out.

It's one of my favorites.

Meet Kaito.

5 part 1: we love comics.

5 is our cool new comic. We did it with our friends because we all love doing comics, and we wanted to do something together for those who love comics as well.

Grampá, who loves comics, did this cover.

We loved it.

More to come, and expect a lot of love when this baby hits at the San Diego Comicon.

EW 100 list

We made it into the EW 100 list, the ultimate must list. And we got a FULL PAGE!. Go find the magazine and check it out (I will). After that, go find our books fast! Eisner nominated De:TALES and the up-coming Umbrella Academy by Dark Horse, Casanova by Image, URSULA by AiT/Planet Lar and much, much more.



And check for our MEGA-SUPER-COOLEST-COMIC-EVER, 5, made specially for the San Diego Comic Con alongside amazing and beautiful Becky Cloonan, mysterious and talented Vasilis Lolos and exotic 10th wonder of the world Grampá.

Only at our booth on the 2007 SDCC!

Another award for De:TALES.

Foreword Magazine has a list of their "Book of the year" award winners for 2006, and De:Tales got a silver medal on the Graphic Novel category. Click on the link to see the list (and go to page 9 to see the graphic novel winners).

Here's what the Foreword site says about the award:

If your books expand a reader's world, introduce a voice society needs to hear, offer practical knowledge where none existed before or simply entertain so compellingly that all distractions fall away as the reader turns the next page, they should be submitted for the Book of the Year Award.
ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards were established to bring increased attention from librarians and booksellers to the literary achievements of independent publishers and their authors. Our awards process is unique because we ask a jury of our readers, librarians and booksellers, to select their top categories as well as choose the winning titles. Their decisions take into consideration editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, author credentials relative to the book and the value the book adds to its genre.
ForeWord is the only review trade journal devoted exclusively to covering books from independent houses -- ranging in size from university presses publishing hundreds of titles per year to micro, POD and eBook publishers who may publish one title in a lifetime.

The Umbrella preview on EW.

Have you seen the Entertainment Weekly preview of the first issue of The Umbrella Academy, as well as a big interview with writer Gerard Way about the comic? If you haven't, and you want to, click here.

Masquerade.

The idea of doing a cover so far in advance in order to put on previews is sometimes strange. This is the first Casanova cover Bá did on my run that he finished before I even started working on the pages of issue 10.

Likewise, James Jean is doing the cover for the third issue of the Umbrella Academy, and Bá's yet to start that issue.

lolos.

Next week: the whys and becauses of new projects to come. Guest staring: comics!

Let's start talking about it.

Becky Cloonan has the first image from our special comic book together at her blog. Entitled 5, the comic will have short stories by all the artists involved, which are: Becky, Vasilis Lolos, Gabriel Bá, Rafael Grampá and myself.

During her interview on Newsarama, she talks a little about our new comic too, and what it is about.

We are on the final steps of completing the work for this book, and it's funny to think that something that I did after I finished my two first issues of Casanova will be published (self published) before any of the issues see print. I guess that's one of the best things about doing it all yourself. If you want, you can have it ready really fast.

5 will be ready to go in July at the San Diego Comicon.

Running, nominating, voting and winning.

I think it's very simple the way awards work. First you make something and you're automatically running for an award on a specific category. Once people see your work, then you can be nominated for that award. Then there's the part when you have to vote. Once everyone have voted, they count the votes and, if you get more votes, you win that award.

Very simple.

And the most important and difficult part of all the process is the first one. MAKING YOUR COMIC.

We're making lots of comics nowadays. And we have been nominated for awards for works we already did. Some we will win, some we might lose.

Today we sent our Eisner Awards ballots. If you vote for it, you have until friday to send yours. I did my part, now it's time for you to do yours.

Happy Birthday!

fabio-portrait
Originally uploaded by 10paezinhos

Today it is Fábio's birthday. He's old.