Plan B in action
tying all these threads together in one letter isn't always easy
Click here to hear this great interview with Bá over at the Off Panel podcast with David Harper, mainly about the upcoming Umbrella Academy - Plan B series, which starts coming out this week, but also about a lot more regarding the art of comics and some of the work my brother have done over the years.
Like my brother says in the interview, the landscape of comics has changed a lot in the last few years, and we haven’t published a new book in a while, so it will be interesting to see how getting back into the monthly publishing model will affect our relationship with the readers who, bless them, had to be very patient waiting for anything from us that was longer than eight pages.
the soundtrack
One of the charms of Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise was the music elements. Characters listened to music, sometimes they performed or composed it, and the lyrics would at times fill the page with a poetic strength and magical sensibility.
Terry worked as a musician for some years before starting the comic book series, and he actually composed all the songs that served as the soundtrack of his stories. He just released a recording of one of them, entitled I dream of You.
I’ve told here before about this idea I had of a musician character, and one of the aspects of developing his story is figuring out all the ways I can represent visually the music, how to draw different sounds, how to pace the story in ways that may help convey to the readers the beat of that song. Sometimes I ask myself if I should (or could) write the songs my musician character plays during the story, and besides incorporating them into the story, have a separate “object” – a website, a Spotify playlist, sheet music at the end of the comic book – focusing on the musical side of the fictional story. Another layer in the experience.
a memory recorded in the sketchbook
In the middle of the afternoon of my already very busy Saturday, I got a message from a friend inviting me for the release party of her Orgy Coloring Book anthologies at a nightclub, celebrating both the tenth anniversary of the first anthology and the release of the third. I had another party to go that night, but I said I’d go to the book party anyway. The publisher (Bebel Books) was set up in the mezzanine of the place, with the books, prints and several crayons inviting people to try their hand on coloring the many posters hung on the walls with examples from inside the books while at the ground floor there were several performances going on, from burlesque numbers to stripping clowns, but the one I was most impressed with in terms of plasticity and expressive impact was the Shibari number involving two women dancing and tying themselves together. I didn’t take any pictures of their performance, but I managed to sketch something this morning to record the occasion.
The second party of the night was the highlight, and I danced as much and as hard as I could. I thought about sketching something about all the dancing, and about all the people I saw or talked there, but some things are special in the moment and only make sense if you were there.
Be safe, be kind, be curious.
Pa-ZOW!
Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
June 9th, 2025
Amazing!