Making it interesting
We’re living through a constantly changing world, but sometimes we can see the changes. I woke up last Wednesday with a message from somebody I see EVERY DAY:
“I tested positive for Covid”.
That morning, I would be giving a comics workshop to a group of high school students as part of of a literary festival at that school, so I immediately went to a drugstore and bought a covid-test and tested myself. Like the other two times I tested for Covid (both of which I tested to record something, without my mask on, at a studio for the Brazilian convention that happens here in São Paulo), I tested negative again, so I didn’t cancel my workshop and ended up having a great time at the workshop, where some 15 kids (plus three or four excited teachers) saw how you can make your comics even if you don’t draw like any artist you like, or even if don’t draw at all.
Free
These are the images of the Free Comic Book Day poster Bá did. I hear they’ll be available at more places than just the ones at FCBD, but I don’t know much more than that, and Bá is working from home today.
Ping Ponging back
Recently I read Ping Pong, by Taiyo Matsumoto. It was published in two volumes here in Brazil, and the second one came out a little more than a months ago. Coincidentally, just after I had finished the second volume, the fine folks at the Mangasplaining podcast reviewed it. Chris Butcher, David Brothers and Deb Aoki must have, between them, read all the Manga in the world, so their takes on the mangas they review are really informative, but I really like to hear what Chip Zdarsky has to say about the books because, like me, Chip hasn’t read a lot of Manga (and probably have read even less Manga than me) and his take is very fresh and virgin. Virgin readers are great, they have not developed any tick regarding what’s popular and discover all comics equally.
Everybody at the podcast is on the same page as me: Ping Pong is great, exciting, and bleeds Matsumoto’s love of drawing and love of storytelling.
This weekend, they found an old interview they did with Matsumoto from when one of his books was released in the US, and you can check it out on the link below.
It begins
This weekend I started working on the commissions I’ll do in time for my Galaxy Con Raleigh trip. I started with the more familiar character requests, because I had all sorts of things to do over the weekend and I didn’t have enough time to do the proper research for the more challenging pieces. Yes, there are challenges ahead, and I welcome them. I’ll ask the people at Cadence Comic Art to check with the people who got the pieces if I can talk about each commission at later editions of the newsletter, and if I can show parts of the process, from sketches to studies to the pencil art and, finally, the inked version. It shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s nice to ask.
And we should always try to be nice.
George Perez was always nice.
Aside from being an amazing artist who inspired an entire generation of artists (the 80’s look of superhero comics was defined by Byrne and Perez), he was the nicest artist when it came to how we treated his fans. He was incredibly passionate about comics, and he shared his passions with everyone. He was generous with his attention and with his time, and everyone around him felt special.
He was a Titan.
Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!
Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
May 9th, 2022