TWO BROTHERS at the Eisner Awards

We still have a hard time believing it, but it did happen. And we have it on video now.


Thanks to all of you.

SDCC 2016 - Thank you, Darwyn.

We publish comics in the U.S. since 1999, first work with a publisher was in 2003 things started to hit off only in 2006, but we still live in Brazil and that keeps us distant from the market. The upside is that we don't get influence by trends, imediata statistics or business gossip. We do our work isolated in the safety of our studio. The downside is that we don't have direct contact with the readers and retailers. We throw our books into the ocean hoping they'll find the reader. Throughout all these years, San Diego Comic Con International has been the moment we have to connect with the market, the editors, artists and readers. We've been going since 1997, and this trip serves to recharge our batteries and fuel another year of production.
The convention has changed a lot since we started going, but it's still a unique experience and the best portrait of the North American market in every sphere, from the indy artists with their first mini-comic, to the Small Press area filled with tiny publishers you've never heard of, to alternative oasis like Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics, going through book publishers having their go on comics like Penguin and Scholastic and First Second, finally getting to Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, as well as "younger" companies like IDW or Boom Studios. Besides, there're many artists and writers scattered around on tables, signing sessions and panels. Yes, Hollywood has taken a gigantic space on the Con – physical space as much as the attention of the media and the public –, but if you're going there for the comics, you're still gonna have the best experience of your life.



We shared tables on small press area and booths on the main floor for years, but since 2012 we don't have a table anymore, a place to stay for the whole day selling our books. This year we had one signing every day and a couple of panels, giving us all the time in the world to walk around, enjoy the show and rest. We miss the close contact with the readers that having a table allowed us, but it was great to do things calmly and really enjoy our days. With such a big demand and a 7 years waiting list, I'd say it's rather unlikely we'll have a table in SDCC again.
But our signing sessions were awesome, full of old and new readers, known faces, people who we connect only by social media, who comment, share and like the smoke signals we send throughout the year, from afar. During these moments of brief interaction, we could have a glimpse of the the readers' reaction about TWO BROTHERS, released last October, and also about our new book, HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES, released last month. With two recent books, readers had a lot to talk about.
Between parties and dinners, one of the highlights of SDCC is the Eisner Awards Ceremony Friday night. Long and boring like any other award ceremony, the Eisner is, however, a moment to stop and celebrate Comics, the creators and the work. We're ALL isolated in our studios, separated by miles, continents and oceans, but right there we're all together, with all our attention on the art. Throughout the night you'll discover works you didn't know, see some comics that had not caught your attention earlier with new and fresh eyes, and get to know a little closer artists whose work you appreciate for years. Over the weekend, you can walk the convention floor looking for the winners. All of them will be there, waiting for you.
Once more, we were.






Over the course of twenty years, we met a lot of people in Comics. We've seen our idols become our friends and some of our friends turning into professionals. SDCC is also a big reunion, a big party.
This year's edition was one of the best SDCC for us, for all the reasons described above, but specially for bringing a deeper feeling of recognition. We're always trying new things, every new project is different from the last, and every year we meet new artists and new works that inspire us and push us to keep innovating and believing there's still a lot to be done in Comics. One of these artists, whom we've met personally in 2008, was Darwyn Cooke. He showed us with his “Parker” series that it was possible to make an good adaptation, keeping his own voice while doing it and blowing the readers' minds. This was the work that convinced us it was possible to adapt Two Brothers. He showed us (and everybody else) an adaptation can be relevant, feel original and look amazing. Throughout the years, his work would guide us, and I hope to have achieved just a bit of the prime he's presented us.
Last Friday, in the heat of the moment and nervous as hell, while thanking everyone who helped us making Two Brothers a reality, I forgot the most obvious and important person of all. Without Darwyn Cooke, our book wouldn't exist. The Eisner we won is dedicated to him.
 

TWO BROTHERS got the EISNER AWARD!

After all these years, the excitement of having a new idea remains the same, the thrill of finishing a story remains the same, the happiness of being nominated for an award remains the same, the nerve-wracking rollercoaster ride during the award ceremony remains the same, and winning the award remains as unbelievably amazing as ever.

TWO BROTHERS is a very special project, an amazing story we had the honor of working on and we had the chance to introduce to new readers. This book deserves all the attention it may get and this award fills our hearts with joy.



Thanks for all who’ve read it and got us this far. E if you haven’t read it yet, get it on your local comic book store or book store, or buy it online, and after you read it, go look for the original novel that originated this work. Do yourself this favor.

SDCC 2016, here we go again.

Ten years ago, our career in comics started to really happen. By that time, we had just published the first issue of Casanova and released our Eisner nominated anthology, De:TALES. In 2006, we were very excited about all the wonderful possibilities awaiting us, and we made the video below to celebrate it. (the audio is in Portuguese).




Ten years have passed and here we go again, crossing the ocean to attend San Diego Comic Con International, the 5-days-long-pop-culture-craziness that celebrates comics, at least for those who really care and keep going back for it. If you’re going to SDCC for the first time, you may be overwhelmed by the whole Hollywood circus and all the bullshit that takes over the entire Gaslamp District, but if you cross the herds of movie fans standing in endless lines all day and get inside the convention floor, the comics are still in there, and the creators are still in there, just waiting for their fans. We certainly go just to see our friends and meet the fans.

We don’t have a table anywhere, but we’ll have signings and will be on panels, so if you want to find us, here’s our week-long schedule:

THURSDAY, JULY 21th

4pm - Signing at Dark Horse booth (#2615) - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

FRIDAY, JULY 22nd

2pm - Signing at Dark Horse booth (#2615) - Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá (ticket event)

3pm - Dark Horse Originals panel (room 7AB) - Dave McKean, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Peter Hogan, Cullen Bunn and Jonathan Case. How cool is it to be on a panel with Dave McKean?

8pm - Eisner Awards (Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront)

SATURDAY, JUY 23rd

12pm - Signing at Dark Horse booth (#2615) - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

3pm - Signing at CBLDF booth (#1918) - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

SUNDAY, JULY 24th

11am - “CHANGING THE READER, ONE WORLD AT A TIME” panel (room 28DE). Let’s celebrate the power of comics and talk about how the use of images and words together to tell stories leave a unique and incredibly powerful effect on the readers. Find out which stories changed our lives and how we plan to keep changing the world with Comics.

3pm - Signing at CBLDF booth (#1918) - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

Stay tuned in our social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc...), for updates on our schedule and activities.

We hope to see you all in San Diego, sign your comics and talk about our love for stories.

Harvey Awards Nomination

Today they announced the nominees for the Harvey Awards and TWO BROTHERS has been nominated on two categories: "Best Graphic Album Original" and "Best American Publication of Foreign Material".

You will find the complete list of nominees here. Lots of great names in there.


The Harvey Awards ceremony takes place on September 3rd, at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Heroes Con is up ahead.

We’re at the airport in Newark, waiting for our flight to Charlotte. Our first flight from São Paulo was long, and I haven’t slept enough, and we’re about to board another flight for a little while. Still, I couldn’t be more excited for what the rest of the week and next week hold in store for us: a chance to celebrate a long project, and a chance to celebrate a brand new one, and how both of them are just part of this incredible career that we chose and that keeps sending us across the globe.

There’s a convention happening in São Paulo this weekend, and we would probably be going there if we weren’t going to our first Heroes Con, in Charlotte. We have been hearing a lot of good things, and a lot of great things, about Heroes Con, and finally we’re making it to the show. It’s strange to discover this convention exists for years, for there was a long time that for us, who come from Brazil, the only convention in the U.S. was the San Diego Comic Con. Maybe there were others, we thought, but surely they’re very small and unimportant. We discovered that there are much more conventions in the U.S., there’s really a “convention season” when you have at least one convention every weekend, and most of them are not “unimportant”, with a few being even more exciting than San Diego in some aspects.

Casanova celebrates 10 years, and we’ll have a exhibition of artists we admire taking a shot at our characters in the kick-off party of Heroes Con, on June 16th.

We’ll have exclusive copies of our new book, adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES, at our table (artists alley #1815-1816).

We’ll have original artwork at the table as well, from a selection of the stories we have drawn over the years.

And then there will be all the people, and the places, and the foods, and the stories that we expect to discover this week in Charlotte as we catch up with old friends and make new ones.

The forbidden signing, not so forbidden

Our new book, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's How to Talk to Girls at Parties, comes out on June 22nd, and we'll be in the States for the occasion. The week before, we'll have exclusive copies for Heroes Con, in Charlotte, but on the official release day of the book, we'll be in New York City, and we couldn't let this opportunity to interact with new yorkers pass us by, so we reached out and arranged a special signing to celebrate the release of the book.

The Forbidden Planet comic book store in NYC was the very first comic book store I went to, when we were young teenagers, around the age the main characters of the new book are, and by then we certainly didn't quite know how to talk to girls anywhere, let alone at parties.

When I was living in New York, going to NYU and studying film in the summer of 1999, Forbidden Planet was my local comic book store. I wondered if someday I would be back there to sign my own books.

"Of course you will", I'd tell myself.

"One day".
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Casanova is back!

Casanova is back. As 2016 marks our tenth anniversary working on our crazy super interdimentional spy adventures, we decided to put a little extra effort in this year's issues. The storyline continues as dense and unpredictable as always, but we decided to go back on memory lane and dig some hidden treasures.

Our newest issue has a special variant cover the reproduces the original drawing used as the cover of the very first Casanova comic. It's our mix of "artist's edition" with "coloring book", which I hope gives a chance for the reader to see what our originals look like.

Inside the comic, past the regular or special variant cover, past the main storyline and before Bá and Chabon Metanauts back-up, you'll also find two pin-ups by artists we admire who helped us celebrate that the first issue of Casanova also came out in June, 10 years ago: Rafael Albuquerque and Eduardo Medeiros. I hope you like their version of some of our characters.

In two weeks, we'll go to Charlotte to be guests at our first convention of the year, Heroes Con, and we'll continue the Casanova Celebration there. I'll post more details as we get closer.

Let us know what you thought of the newest issue, and get ready for more.

Back to the drawing board for me.

Casanova celebrates 10 years

CASANOVA returns in June, celebrating 10 years since its first publication.
CASANOVA: ACEDIA #5 Cover A (Diamond Code APR160677) and Cover B (Diamond Code MAR168905) hit stores on Wednesday, June 1.

The Final Order Cutoff deadline for retailers is Monday, May 9.

(See more at: https://imagecomics.com/content/view/casanova-acedia-celebrates-ten-years)

Eisner Nomination!

They have just announced the 2016 Eisner Award Nominees and we're extremely glad that TWO BROTHERS has been nominated for "Best Adaptation from Another Medium".

And congrats to all the nominees! What a great year for comics.

NCS Rueben Award nomination

I'm really thrilled and honoured to have been nominated for a NCS Reuben Award, on the Graphic Novels division (or category), for my work on TWO BROTHERS.

The winners will be announced on May 28th at the annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner in Memphis, Tennessee.

Coming back from the dream world

I’ve been having some interesting dreams. A lot of cliffs and sea shores, a lot of dark and mysterious parking lots, and a lot of strange and exotic hotels. In these dreams, I’ve met people I know in real life, people I don’t ( or even can’t in case they’re dead) and a lot of imaginary characters from my imagination, and some from others. It’s nice to meet a character from a book you read in your dreams, and it’s fascinating to see two actresses swimming on the still waters of the sea shore, by some cool looking rocks, discussing how they never thought they would act together, playing the same character in two different ages.

There was a seductive quality to the fabric of these dreams of late, and it left me wondering how to replicate such fabric in a comic book. Maybe it’s the mix of raw honesty you find in dreams, when people say what you think and know how you feel, and the surreal quality of this imaginary world.

How to talk to girls in JUNE, 2016

You can already order our Graphic Novel "HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES" HC, adaptation of the short story by Neil Gaiman.
It comes out in June 15th, 2016, by Dark Horse Comics.
Item Code: FEB160019In Shops: 6/15/2016SRP: $17.99

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Two teenage boys are in for a tremendous shock when they crash a party where the girls are far more than they appear! 

From Neil Gaiman-one of the most celebrated authors of our time-and award-winning artists Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, this sumptuous graphic novel is not to be missed! 

• Moon and Bá adapt the Gaiman story they were born to draw!

"Gaiman, Moon, and Bá have created a triolet of a book, lyrically powerful and utterly unforgettable."

-Junot Díaz

"How can something so strange and so beautiful also be so sad? Like a poem, a pattern, and a people whose world was swallowed by the sea, How To Talk To Girls at Parties is three things at once." 

- Kelly Sue DeConnick

"Had sneak peek at How to Talk to Girls at Parties. What boys fear! That girls are very smart aliens who will do frightful things to you in The Upper Room! Teenage angst. Lovely drawing/painting." 
-from a Tweet by Margaret Atwood

"A haunting ode to the lyric of girls, who for our protagonists represent a vast, uncharted universe. An extraordinary comic from three extraordinary creators."

- Marjorie Liu

"Gentle, strange, and full of perfectly good advice ('You just have to talk to them!'), How to Talk to Girls at Parties is wise and odd. Neil Gaiman's writing is sweetly complemented by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá's art. It's a quirky delight."

-Audrey Niffenegger

http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/STL001158

Neil Gaiman and girls in 2016

In June 2016, Dark Horse will publish our graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's short story How to Talk to Girls at Parties. The books has just been announced by Publisher's Weekly.



On Neil Gaiman's words, “they have a storytelling aesthetic where [depicting] body language is everything. The story is all about what’s in the narrators’ heads, so it can be very hard to do that in comics. It’s incredibly enjoyable to write a story and see them make it real.”

We've been working on this book since last year and we couldn't be happier with it.

Neil Gaiman's How to Talk to Girls at Parties (Hardcover) | 978-1-61655-955-7 | 6/15/2016 | $17.99

Frank Miller

Eighteen years ago, Fábio and I went to our first San Diego Comic Con International. It changed our lives. All those comics, creators, publishers. All our idols. One in particular had – and still has – a major impact on our careers: Frank Miller. That year, he gave a very inspiring opening speech at the Eisner Awards that we will never forget. And among other things, he did a signing session, to which I gladly waited in line. And with all my courage at the time, I told him I had come all the way from Brazil and asked if I could take a picture with him. It was the first time I stood so close to him, he was taller than me. In fact, he was a giant.




That seed that was planted back in 1997 has grown. We have a career in comics, we have our work. We've been back to SDCC 17 times, almost every year, and met with Frank Miller on few other occasions. None with such an impact as that first one. Until now.

Unbelievably enough, Frank Miller came to Brazil, came to São Paulo, our city, as guest of honor of Comic Con Experience, a very big convention here. He came to promote Dark Knight III. He made lots of fans very, very happy. One of them, of course, was me.

We were incredibly honoured to have Frank Miller visit our studio, we showed him a little of our work, our comics, our life. And after 4 days, with all the courage I had inside of me, I asked for another picture. One that will change my life the same way as that first one did.




Eighteen years ago, I was 21 years old and Frank Miller was 40. I am 39 years old today, and I'm meeting new creators that are 21, 20 or younger. I can't tell what the future brings, but I have faith that the next eighteen years are going to be awesome.

Morning warm up

Strange Creatures

"We're all strange creatures to somebody else's eyes" is what the last panel says.
In times like this, when very little makes sense, it’s easy to be taken by this fear of the other. We look suspiciously to everybody, in fear of their savage side, and even more afraid of our own savagery.

AMA with Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

The time has come for you to ask everything you ever wanted to ask, but didn't have the chance.
Next monday, October 26th, 2PM ET, AMA with Fábio Moon and me at reddit. 
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/ 
‪#‎TwoBrothers‬

TWO BROTHERS in New York.

Nothing happens out of the blue and it's easy to loose track of time when you spend so many years working on the same project. You may forget all the other things that happened during those years, what has changed since the last time you were there. Last time we were in New York was in 2010, we had just released the last issue Daytripper. I can say for sure that everything changed for us after that book.

Five years later, we were back in New York with an Eisner and Harvey awarded book that spent four weeks on the top of The New York Times bestsellers list, published in twelve languages, respected and beloved by authors, critics and readers. And we were there to release our new book, TWO BROTHERS.





We began our trip with the right foot, with a discussion and signing session at Barnes & Noble in Tribeca. We arrived half an hour earlier to let our anxiety steam a little down, and when we finally began talking with the audience, we were warmly welcomed by everyone, always paying attention and full of interesting questions. Everyone present left inspired and happy, with their books signed, glad they were there, being part of that special moment. Right there, the book was out on the open, it was free. We could finally relax a little and recharge for the next four days that awaited us.

We love conventions, the interaction with the readers, meeting new creators, the adrenaline of selling your own books and sharing the passion for your work with everyone who stops at your table. We’ve been to four different conventions in the U.S. this year and we could see what they have in common, the differences, the artists that go to every each one of them, the publishers, the T-shirt/Toys/Light Saber stores, the cosplayers. Bigger and smaller events. New York Comic Con has grown a lot in the last five years since we’ve been there, specially the Artist Alley. It was great returning to the crazy frenzy of tabling, specially with a fresh new book that would only come to the stores the following week.



We sold 100 copies of Two Brothers in two days. Dark Horse had more books shipped overnight for the weekend to have it at their booth. We were rarely not busy on our table. With a career of almost 10 years in the U.S., readers had a lot of different stuff for us to sign, but what brought most of them there was Daytripper. The single issues, the trade, the deluxe hardcover edition. But most importantly, what the story meant to each one of them. A book that remains with the readers after they finish reading it, one that is constantly given as a gift for loved ones, one that is the entryway to comics to so many people.

Saturday was our busiest day and we were barely at our table. We had our spotlight panel in the morning, a signing session at the Dark Horse booth, followed by five interviews about the new book. After all that, we waited an extra hour at the booth just so we could give our book personally to Frank Miller. It’s great to have idols that inspired and influence you. On the very few occasions we happen to meet ours, we make sure to show the respect they deserve. We have a successful career, our work, our fans, but it’s always good to remember we have still a long road ahead of us.



Life is made of choices, and we’ve chosen to go to New York to release our new book. It was a group effort to guarantee the books would be there in time, to set up an event on the bookstore, to get us a table at Artist Alley and a spotlight panel on the official program. We bought the tickets, the convention and the publisher got us the hotel rooms. We spent almost a week in New York without doing any sightseeing, no shopping, nothing a tourist is encouraged to do so easily there. We went there to release the new book and we had to return right away, for work awaited us.

I’m not sure when we’ll be back in New York, but I am in no hurry. The new book’s journey has begun and we were glad it happened there. Today, the book arrives on every comics shop around the U. S., and many other places that buy and read comics published on the American market. The book has already been released in Brazil and in France, and in two weeks it will be released in Italy (at Lucca, our next trip), but I feel like from now on, the book will really reach the whole world. It’s just a matter of time.

Start spreading the news...

We're leaving for New York, where we'll release our new book, TWO BROTHERS, and be at NYCC throughout the week.

Here’s our schedule:

WEDNESDAY - October 7
7PM - TWO BROTHERS release, discussion and signing at Barnes and Noble Tribeca
Here it is. The best way to kick off this incredible week. We’ll answer questions, talk about the production of the book and continue to spread our love for comics, and we’ll sign your books.

THURSDAY - October 8
1PM-1:45PM - Casanova signing at the Image booth

FRIDAY - October 9
8PM - Image Comics NYCC Afterparty at Bowlmor Lanes. You can buy tix here.

SATURDAY - October 10
11AM - Spotlight on Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá - Different is Cool
Room 1A18
Eisner Award winners, Brazilian Wonder Twins Gabriel Bá (Daytripper, Umbrella Academy) and Fábio Moon (Daytripper, Casanova) have returned for a new collaborative original graphic novel with Two Brothers from Dark Horse Comics. Join them as they share their experiences, both inside and outside the US comics market and invite young creators and readers to a discussion about career choices, foreign languages, exotic places and how the best way to make it big might not be by doing what everyone wants, but by doing what only you can do.
1PM-1:50PM - Signing at the Dark Horse booth.

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We’ll be at the show every day. If we’re not on one of the above events, we’re probably at our table (Y1) at the Artist’s Alley, selling exclusive copies of TWO BROTHERS, prints and original art. 

See you there.