Monday, December 14, 2015

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


Thursday, December 10, 2015

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.


Frank Miller - Gabriel Bá / SDCC 1997

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.


Frank Miller - Fábio Moon - Gabriel Bá / São Paulo 2015

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.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Morning warm up


Saturday, November 14, 2015

Strange Creatures

Quase Nada 374
"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.

Friday, October 23, 2015

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


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

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.

dois-irmaos-eventos-ny-1

B&N06

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.

dois-irmaos-eventos-nycc

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.

Two Brothers signing at the Dark Horse booth - NYCC

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.

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

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.

--

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.

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Drawing TWO BROTHERS

a short video we made for the brazilian blog when we released the brazilian edition of TWO BROTHERS.


Tuesday, September 29, 2015

NYCC 2015 - Wonder Twins Schedule

Next week, we’ll be in New York. We’re releasing our new book, TWO BROTHERS, we’ll have a table at Artist’s Alley (Y1), we’ll have signings and a great special panel.
We couldn’t be happier to be in New York for this.

Here’s our schedule:

image

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.

--

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. If you can’t come to the release signing on Wednesday, our table is your best ( and maybe only) chance to get the book before it get to stores in two or three weeks.
See you there.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Gilbert Hernandez read TWO BROTHERS

"Love & Rockets" author Gilbert Hernandez read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.


Thursday, September 24, 2015

Nothing is impossible.

Nothing is impossible, but only if we do it together.
On September 25th 2015, 193 world leaders will commit to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done. In all countries. For all people.
These goals only will happen if we tell everyone about them.



Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Marcos Martin read TWO BROTHERS

Marcos Martin, artist extraordinaire of “The Private Eye”, read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

¡DOS HERMANOS EN MÉXICO!

¡Vamos a MÉXICO para La Mole Comic Con!



Vamos a tener dos mesas en el Artist Alley (A1018-A1019), dónde estaremos todos los días.
Y tenemos una charla el sábado, a las 12:15h
- "BAJO LA SOMBRILLA DE LOS GEMELOS FANTÁSTICOS. Desde Brasil, los hermanos Gabriel Bá y Fabio Moon, artistas multipremiados de la industria del cómic, platicarán sobre su trabajo en The Umbrella Academy, Casanova y Daytripper, entre otros proyectos. Moderador: Jorge Tovalín."
Nos vemos pronto!
Aqui una pagina acerca de nosotros.

Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Suit day.

I’ve been doing this since SMOKE & GUNS. On the day I ink the very last page of a story, I put on my suit – now I go all three piece – and I draw all day looking my best.

“This is a day I want to remember”, I think.

“Dress the part.”

Today I finished another story. I actually inked two pages, and penciled most of one.

It feels good to be done. I’m proud of these pages. I’m proud of this story.



“This is a day I want to remember.”


Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Mat Johnson read TWO BROTHERS.

"Loving Day" author Mat Johnson read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

A Bizarro collaboration

We were on the road, back in June, promoting our new book TWO BROTHERS here in Brazil, when we received an email from our friend Gustavo Duarte inviting us to collaborate with him on a page of an upcoming issue of his Bizarro series.

It is the first time either Bá or I have drawn on a super-hero book from DC or Marvel.

This issue comes out today.


Friday, August 14, 2015

Michael Chabon read TWO BROTHERS

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS (out in October).

Two Brothers Chabon quote

Thursday, August 13, 2015

SDCC 1999

The first time we went to San Diego Comic Con was in 1997 and it literally changed our lives.

Only two years after that, in 1999, we threw all our chips on self-publishing a mini-series, full color, and having a big booth at the convention, all the mistakes young excited creators can make.
We had two issues out of four ready at the show, our booth had this big backlit sign in front of the table, we had free posters, we raffled a real sword and we had this huge papier-mâché statue of Charlemagne.  I had brought the last two pages of the series to finish during the show, a double spread on issue 4.
We did everything we could to leave a big impression.

SDCC 1999, Terra Major booth
standing: Chico Bela, Peov and Johnny B.; sitting: me, Shane Amaya and Fábio.

SDCC 1999, Terra Major booth.
Fábio, me and Shane.

We've been to San Diego many times after that, but this is one of the fondest memories we have of the show.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Brian Azzarello read TWO BROTHERS

100 Bullets creator Brian Azzarello read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.

Two Brothers Azzarello quote

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Jeff Lemire read TWO BROTHERS

Jeff Lemire, author of Sweeth Tooth and Descender, among many others, read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.
Two Brothers Lemire Quote

TWO BROTHERS comes out in October, published by Dark Horse.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Brian Bendis read TWO BROTHERS

Brian Bendis , author of Powers and Ultimate Spiderman, among many others, read an advance copy of TWO BROTHERS.
Two Brothers Bendis quote

TWO BROTHERS comes out in October, published by Dark Horse.

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

PIXU is coming back!

There’s a new trade softcover edition of PIXU coming to comic stores and bookstores on September 9th. If you missed this Moon/Bá/Cloonan/Lolos collaboration, now is your chance.
It comes with a brand new cover!





Pixu: The Mark of Evil TP
Gabriel Bá (W/A), Fábio Moon (W/A), Becky Cloonan (W/A), and Vasilis Lolos (W/A)
On sale September 9th
b&w, 128 pages
$14.99
TP, 6” x 9”
This gripping tale of urban horror follows the lives of five lonely tenants—strangers—whose lives become intertwined when they discover a dark mark scrawled on the walls of their building. The horror sprouts quite innocently from a small seed and finds life as something otherworldly. As the walls come alive, everyone is defenseless against a brewing evil.

“The story telling here is beautiful, creating a real sense of dread and supernatural menace. Smart, subtle and genuinely disturbing.”—Mike Mignola

Monday, July 20, 2015

San Diego was a blast!

I was drinking a Caipirinha at the outside patio of one of the hotel bars, talking with Skottie Young, Chris Roberson and Allison Baker about comics. I was actually enjoying the sun, and my drink was delicious. Topics ranged from the influence of “the Maxx” in our comics to how special it is to work inside the Hellboy universe, with stories about smuggling things from one country to another and who has more original Chris Bachalo pages thrown into the mix.
The girl working at the bar is brazilian, so her Caipirinhas can be trusted.
The guy working at the bar of the Scholastic party was also brazilian. I was impressed when José Villarubia recognised the bartender’s strong accent and said to me “he’s brazilian”. I didn’t get a caipirinha there, but I can’t complain of what I did get: an advance copy of Craig Thompson’s Space Dumplins.
There are no brazilians in space in that book. Not yet, at least. I just read the first few chapters.
Back to San Diego, which is what I can’t stop thinking about. Maybe it is really because I’m from Brazil and I only see these people once a year, maybe twice, but when I can spend five days talking with so many of my friends and they’re all doing such great comics, I can’t complain about where my life has led me.
San Diego was a blast this year.



Bá and I had a wonderful time in San Diego Comic Con this year. I don’t care what people say, it’s still my favourite convention. It’s the only place where you’ll find all the publishers, from the smallest to the big mainstream ones, where independent or alternative artists interact and share their passion in the same space as international super stars of books you grew up reading, and it’s where we can still celebrate the Eisner Awards (where everybody who attends is bound to discover at least one cool book that catches your attention).
It is getting harder and harder to attend SDCC, getting a 4 day pass is hard, getting a hotel room is hard, and there are more and more people going for the entertainment part of the convention rather than the comics part, but still I think SDCC is pretty special and the energy from the authors and the readers was just unbelievable. If you can see past the sea of people, the comics-section  is still the most inspiring place you’ll find on those five days of summer. And, since we didn’t have a table this year, we could also walk around and discover so much more stuff, and see and talk to so much more people, and leave with the even stronger feeling that we’re living in these very special creative moment in Comics, where the audience is really diverse, the production is diverse, and the doors are wide open for Comics to go everywhere.
We even did a presentation about that during the convention.


One of the panels we were part of this year was called “Different is cool”.
We created that panel.
We made that name up.
It was basically me and my brother talking to the audience about how incredible it is to go your own way, find your own style, and how your work stands out when you stop trying to do what everybody else is doing and try to focus on doing what only you can do. Our presentation was a love-letter to the convention and to the Comics’ World, to this place where we can discover such a wide variety of artists and styles and possibilities, and how refreshing that is, and how inspiring, and how many of the authors we admire have had that same moment when that voice in their heads said it was okay to do something you love even if nobody else is doing it.
The room was big, full of readers, of fans and friends, and it was great having that opportunity to talk about our love for comics, and to reflect on how nowadays is a great time to go after your dreams. It was the best way to start the last day of the Con, and it gave us this buzz that we carried to the interviews we made, and to the signing session that followed. We love comics so much and, with the response from the audience at our panel, we felt loved back. It was an incredible feeling.
We first came to SDCC in 1997 dreaming of drawing super-heroes for Marvel and DC, but our journey took us to a completely different path. A more personal path.
We haven’t looked back ever since.


We always come back from San Diego inspired to make more comics. Bá spent a couple of days in L.A to share that enthusiasm with Gerard and talk about the new Umbrella Academy series. It’s going to be great. Knowing there are more Umbrella comics coming is more exciting to me than the news of an Umbrella Academy TV series. Bá and Gerard have so much fun stuff planned.
As I write this, I got my copies of Casanova Acedia #3 in from the printer. It should be in comics stores on July 29th. We’re really making an effort to go back on schedule, since releasing Two Brothers in Brazil and France and touring took us so much always from the drawing board and resulted in this very big (unprofessional) gap between issues 2 and 3. Issue 4 will come out next month.
This year I finally stopped at some point and managed to be interviewed by my friend Jimmy Aquino for his Comic News Insider podcast and I talked about the books I did, the new book coming out (Two Brothers) and about what I love about comics. When he finally asked me the geeky questions, about which characters or books I would like to work on, I think I let him down with my answers, but I forgot to tell him one thing:
Despite focusing on creating new stories and trying to do different things, my brother and I will draw on a mainstream DC book for the first time this year, and it will be published next month.
Back to the drawing board.

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Original pages at SDCC 2015

We have a wide range of original pages we brought to San Diego this year, and they’ll be available at the Beguiling booth (1629).

Hellboy cover and pages, American Vampire pages, Umbrella Academy pages, Chrononauts and Killjoys covers, and more. The image shows some of the pages we left with them.



Monday, July 06, 2015

CBLDF party and auction at SDCC 2015

Every year, we contribute a new piece of art to the auction that takes place at SDCC to help raise funds for the CBLDF. Many of the artwork and original pieces are exhibited at the party they throw every year at the Westgate Hotel, where you have at chance to chat with many creators.

The auction itself takes place on saturday, and here are the two new pieces we did.




CBLDF Live Art Auction
July 11, 2015 • 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m
Hilton Bayfront, Sapphire CD
(check out the CBLDF Booth 1918 for more informations).

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

SDCC - Different is Cool!


For the first time in a while, I looked at the whole upcoming SDCC program, and that reminded me how big the show is. There's a lot going on there. Of course there are loads of TV and movies useless bullshit that drag thousands of people every year to gigantic pitiful lines, but you can find many panels with comics creators and publishers with experience and knowledge to share, with lessons about the craft and great advices to the young artists and writers.
There’s a pattern to be recognised on the panels that jump to my eyes while reading the whole program. First, let’s see a list that I find very interesting, and that I might even go to.


On Thursday there’s a panel called "breaking into comics right now" at 12pm on room 28DE and "Breaking into Comics the Marvel way" at 1pm on room 7AB. At 11am, a "Writing Workshop with Kelly Sue DeConnick" on room 2, and at 3pm, "Writing 101: what to think about before you start writing" with Marv Wolfman on room 30CDE. On the same room, it's followed by "Comic Book Art: making a living doing it", talking about how to price and sell your art, exploit and merchandise it and try to squeeze those dollars out of it. 

At 4pm, on room 28DE, there's the "Delcourt panel", with the French publisher's founder Guy Delcourt. Decades of experience and millions of comics sold every year, it'll be good to learn that there's more to comics than American super-heroes. And while you're discovering new cultures, at 5pm, "Making a living in Manga: Japan creators and editors talk" on room 29AB.

Fábio and I will be on two panels on Thursday. At 1pm on room 2, we'll join "DeConnick and Fraction: Milkfed Criminal Masterminds at work" to talk about all the projects this crazy couple is working on, including Casanova. And at 3pm we'll be at room 23ABC on "Dark Horse Originals: The New Mainstream", talking about our new graphic novel, Two Brothers. 

Wow, and that was just Thursday. 

On Friday at 11am, "Publishers Weekly: The French Comics Invasion" on room 29AB. 

If you want to create comics for kids, you should go to two panels. On Friday at 12:30pm, "GRAPHIX: Beginning, Present and Beyond" on room 24ABC, and on Saturday at 3pm, "Kid's Comics" on room 23 ABC, and 

Friday at 3pm, "Breaking into Comics and Staying in" on room 30ABC and on Saturday at 4pm, "IDW: So, You want to be in comics" on room 4. 

On Sunday, if you still have energy for panels and want to learn a little bit more about digital comics, “Comixology Submit: The Future of Self-Publishing” at 3pm on room 29AB. 

And almost every day there's a cool IMAGE COMICS panel with creators and editors talking about how awesome comics are.

You might have caught the pattern on the panels I’ve picked. They’re all about creating Comics, getting into Comics, different approaches and mind sets. Well, that was my way to prepare you to our panel on Sunday, “Different is Cool”, at 11:15am on room 6DE. 



In the last 20 years, we’ve self-published Comics and we’ve worked with small and big publishers, on tiny to gigantic projects, and we have been living exclusively out of comics for the last eight years. We have been to conventions all around the world (we’re open for invitations for show on Japan and Australia, by the way). The first thing we learn on our first trip to San Diego Comic Con in 1997 just proved to be one of the most valuable once we started going to Comics Conventions and Festivals in other countries. Diversity is the most precious quality the Comics global industry has to offer. Yes, Global Industry, because good creators can come from anywhere in the world, and a good story breaks barriers and travels to distant countries and gets translated to the most exotic languages. 

So I invite you to enjoy the whole show, go to all the panels you can, go to the Eisners ceremony, learn all the things you can, talk to all the people you can, and then come meet us on Sunday on room 6DE, at 11:15am, and let’s talk about how the best way to break into comics and build a career may not be by doing what everyone wants, but by doing what only you can do. And let’s find out what that means.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Wonder Twins SDCC 2015 Schedule

We'll try to keep this schedule updated in case something new comes up.

THURSDAY, July 9th

1PM - DeConnick & Fraction: Milkfed Criminal Masterminds @ Work
- Room 2
Lauren Sankovitch (Milkfed managing editor, former Marvel editor) pulls back the curtain on life at Milkfed, what a comic book editor does exactly, and which are truly the best donuts in Portland. Expect utter nonsense, a Q&A, and a parade of special guests who may drop in. Or not. Guess you'll have to be there to find out!

3PM - Dark Horse Originals - the new mainstream - Room 23ABC
Comics literature is the new mainstream, and Dark Horse Originals covers it all, from post-Depression-era America in The New Deal to the return of Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon withTwo Brothers. Bá and Moon are joined by Matt Kindt (MIND MGMT) and Colleen Coover (Bandette) to discuss pushing the boundaries of what comics can accomplish in literature.

FRIDAY, July 10th
2:30PM-3:45PM - Fábio Moon signing at the CBLDF booth (#1918)
4PM-5:15PM - Gabriel Bá signing at the CBLDF booth (#1918)

SUNDAY, July 12th
11:15PM - " Different is Cool" - Room 6DE
Eisner Award-winning Brazilian Wonder Twins Gabriel Bá (Daytripper, Umbrella Academy) and Fábio Moon (Daytripper, Casanova) share their experiences, both inside and outside the U.S. comics market. They invite young creators and readers to a discussion about how the best way to break into comics and build a career may not be by doing what everyone wants, but by doing what only you can do. An eye-opening Q&A will follow the presentation.

1:30Pm - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá signing at the Dark Horse booth (#2615)

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Going places

We've been to San Diego Comic Con International 17 times, once to NYCC, and one time to TCAF (ok, it's in Canada, but it's awesome). Although we've been to conventions all around the world, in the United States we've been to only two. So we're really happy to be going to Denver and Phoenix the next two weekends.



At the Denver Comic Con, we'll have tables G2 and G4 on the Artists' Alley, where we'll be most of the time. We'll sign books, make free sketches. We'll have comics and prints to sell. Stop by.
On Saturday, May 24,  from 12:55pm to 1:45pm, we'll be on Room 304 on the panel Festival de Brazil, with our friend Rafael Albuquerque.


Then on the next weekend we'll head to Phoenix Comicon, where we'll set up our stuff on tables 13140 and 13142 on the Artits' Alley. If we still have comics and prints, we'll be selling them. If not, signing, sketching and talking comics.
On Friday, May 29th, we'll be on room North 121 for a Spotlight panel about our work, from 1:30pm to 2:30pm.
And we have two signings at the Dark Horse booth. On Friday at 3pm, and on Saturday at 11am.

We're really excited to go to these two different places and meet new readers and creators.
See you all there.

Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Last Man is awesome


I just read the two first volumes of “Last Man”, the incredible action comic by french authors Bastien Vivès, Michael Sanlaville and Balak, published by First Second. Each book is around 200 pages, but I read it in one sitting 'cause I just couldn’t put it down. It was such a refreshing take on an action and adventure story, with a great cast of original and captivating characters. And it’s such a funny book. At certain scenes I had to put the book down to catch my breath because I was laughing out loud.

I haven’t laughed this hard while reading a comic since Jeff Smith’s Bone was coming out on a monthly basis.

Highly recommended.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Next stops around the Globe

Want to catch up with us outside of Brazil? Want to know what we're currently working on and need to ask us in person? Maybe you have some books to sign, or just want to share a little love for comics?

These are the following international trips we have ahead.

- May 9-10th - Stockholm international comics festival - SWEDEN

-May 23rd-25th- Denver Comic Con - USA

- May 28th-31st- Phoenix Comic Con - USA

Back to work, and see you around the world.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Two Brothers! In France and Brazil, so far.

Our new graphic novel, Two Brothers, is going to be published by Dark Horse in October, but it has already been released in Brazil and in France in March.

We've been to France to release it, also to represent Brazil in the Salon du Livre de Paris, since the country was the guest of honor. We toured for a week and visited Bordeaux, Pau, Nantes, Lille and Paris and all the signings were amazing. I will try to write a more detailed report here in the near future.

Salon du Livre de Paris 2015

Salon du Livre de Paris 2015

Tour de France 2015 - Deux Frères

The release of the book here in Brazil was a blast. We always fear no one will show up, but it always surprises us how much readers and fans we have and how much love they have for our books. We have a big tour ahead of us and we are thrilled to travel with this book all around the country.

Dois Irmãos - SP 2015

Dois Irmãos - SP 2015

There's still a long way to go, but I can't wait for the book release in the U.S. We have comics to work on until then (Casanova? Umbrella Academy?), and we love comics.

By the way, you can already order Two Brothers on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online stores. And then wait until October. It's just around the corner.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

"Deux Frères" French Tour 2015


We're leaving for France. The Salon du Livre is around the corner, and we're releasing our new book, "Deux Frères" with Urban Comics at the event. Afterwards, we'll be touring the country for the following week, visiting cities, bookstores and signing your books. Come meet us somewhere along the way. Here's our schedule:

-- March 20th-23rd - Salon du Livre de Paris

-- Friday, March 20th, Urban Comics stand (H29): signing (from 16h to 18h)

-- Saturday, March 21st, Urban Comics stand (H29): signing (from 14h to 16h)

-- Sunday, March 22nd:

1- Stand du Brésil, 12h30 to 13h45: Conference "Deux frères: liens déchirés en bande dessinée" - Fábio Moon, Milton Hatoum and Gabriel Bá

2- Salon littéraire CNL, 14h to 15h30, conference "L'âge d'or de la BD brésilienne" - with S. Lobo, Marcello Quintanhila, Daniel Galera, Fábio Moon et Wandrille

3- Stand du Brésil: signing from 15h30 to 16h30

After the Salon du livre, our tour begins.

--March 23, Paris

Signatures at the bookshop Bulles en tête, 15h to 18h
( Librairie Bulles en tête 54 Rue des Dames 75017 Paris)

--March 24, Bordeaux

Signatures at the bookshop Mollat, in the afternoon
( Librairie Mollat 15 Rue Vital Carles 33080 Bordeaux)

--March 25, Pau
Signatures at the bookshop Bachi-Bouzouk, 14h30 to 16h30
(Librairie Bachi-Bouzouk 7 Rue Latapie 64000 Pau)

-- March 26th, Nantes
Signatures at the bookshop La Mystérieuse Librairie Nantaise, 14h to 17h
(Librairie La Mystérieuse Librairie Nantaise 2 Rue de la Paix 44000 Nantes)

--March 27th, Lille
Signatures at the bookshop Librairie Astrocity, 12h30 to 14h30
(Librairie Astrocity 74 Rue de l’Hôpital Militaire 59000 Lille)

--March 27th, Paris
Signatures at the bookshop Librairie Les Super Héros, 17h to 19h ( Librairie Les Super Héros 175 Rue Saint-Martin 75003 Paris)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Two Brothers at work


Bá draws the characters of our new book, Two Brothers.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Bá and Moon fonts

There's a much bigger text to be written here, about the time we started lettering our photocopied independent comics in the computer, about when we started having our comics lettered by other people, one of those being Nate Piekos, of Blambot fame (who, as we came to learn, had designed many fonts we were already using), and about the moment we decided to have our comics look a little more ours by lettering them by hand again.
Hand lettering a comic is a lot of work. And, when you're publishing your stories in at least two languages (english and portuguese), it's impossible to do it all on the page. Because of that, even if we started hand lettering our comics, we decided it was time to turn our hand writing into computer fonts. And that's when we came back to Nate.
Besides being an awesome letterer (he lettered Umbrella Academy and Sugarshock for us), he also is a great font designer, and has made a lot of custom fonts for artists.

image

First, Nate turned Bá's hand lettering into fonts. We were on the final stages of our new book, "Two Brothers", which we were already negotiating to be published in portuguese, in french, in english and in italian, and we really wanted it to have Bá's lettering in all versions.
Both Bá and I have been hand-lettering our weekly strip at the brazilian newspaper, "Quase Nada", since 2008 (even though we replaced the letters with computer fonts for print), but since 2013 I have restarted to hand letter some short stories I was doing, to get better at it, and do try and really define my style. After the incredible results of Bá's custom font, we knew it was only a matter of time until we would hire Nate to do his magic on my font.

image

I plan on continuing to hand-letter my comics whenever I can. More and more, I'm trying to make everything blend a little better, from the drawing, and the inking, and the balloons, and the letters, and the colors.
Now, with these custom fonts, we can do that all around the world.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Two Brothers

After 4 long years working on this book almost in secrecy, we can finally talk a little bit about it. 
Our new book, TWO BROTHERS, is an adaptation of the novel “The brothers” (Dois Irmãos, in Portuguese), by Brazilian novelist Milton Hatoum. It’s the story of twin brothers Yaqub and Omar, and their family of Lebanese immigrants living in the port city of Manaus, on the riverbanks of the Amazon. It’s a story about identity, love, loss, deception, and the dissolution of blood ties. A strong story worth the huge challenge of adapting it.




It’ll be publisher by Dark Horse and it’ll come out only in October, but you can see a 10 page preview at Publishers' Weekly.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

CMYK- Farewell


Over the last three volumes of these color themed anthologies, I’ve told the story of these characters who, faced with the inevitability of change, have to reflect about what they do, and the importance of where they are, or how they got there and, the power of the memories that the objects we keep can carry and, finally, in the end, where they’re headed.

I came up with the idea to tell a story about change the moment the editor, Will Dennis, told me about his desire to put together this four anthologies based on the primary colors. And, I don’t know exactly why, I never imagined that I would choose only one color. I already thought that the best way to explore the artistic possibilities of this approach to the story would be to think of four stand-alone-yet-somehow-connected tales, so I could show how to change gears as we moved from one “color” to the next, and so that we could really reflect a little longer over one subject as seen at four different lights.

Tomorrow, Vertigo will publish CMYK-K, the last issue of the anthology, and with it, the last chapter of my story. It’s called “Farewell”. I hope you pick it up.

Here’s the first page.


There’s a nod to one of the very first Vertigo stories I ever read on this page. There are others, throughout these four little stories, but this one is pretty easy to spot.

Not all references need to be obscure, or hidden.

Wear your passions on your sleeve, I say.

We’ll be all right.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Once you get it, it works.

I like acquiring a rhythm as I draw new pages every day. Each new page gets easier and flows better as I get into the zone, and by drawing every day, working on the story and seeing it grow in front of my eyes, my hand remembers the characters, the places, the mood. Still, working on a deadline can have its disadvantages, and I worry that sometimes having to finish a book that month, or even a page that day, might hurt your story in the end.

Wednesday, I went to sleep at 2AM because I stayed up late inking a page to finish that day's work. I usually work during the day, and my usual long days of labor end around 10PM, so Wednesday was a very long day even for my standards.

Yesterday, having a penciled page ready to ink if I had another very long day, I wasn't so sure finishing a page that day was the best choice for my story.

I wasn't happy with the last panel, and with the main character on that panel, to be precise. He wasn't badly drawn, he worked on the scene, but there was something weird about the body language. Something off. In a failed attempt to convey a natural pose, I ended up stiffing it, and had I inked it, it would be forever there, not quite there, not quite the pose that the character was supposed to have at that particular time. And one of the things I like most when drawing is getting the body language right, it's one of the strongest visual tools a storyteller has (one of the reasons Frank Quitely is SO GOOD is his complete control over the most sutil movement of his characters), so I decided, around 10:30PM, to stop drawing and rest. The next day I'd try again, talk it over with Bá, maybe do some preliminary sketches, or take some reference pictures.

That's what I did, and today, after going in and out of my "drawing zone", and indeed talking it over with Bá AND taking reference pictures, I finally got the pose I wanted, one I think tells the story even if there were no words on that panel.

It is almost 1AM. I am tired again, but happy. I don't think I'm going to ink any of these pages tonight, because I can still mess it up with the inking, and I also really enjoy inking and want to have fun while doing it, so I'll probably ink three pages tomorrow, and I'll be much more inspired because I got it right, and I waited and erased and redrew it over and over, and then I got it.

Once you get it, everything else works.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Helping you find us

In an attempt to help you find us, I have created a page inside our tumblr called "FIND US -APPEARANCES". I'll do my best to keep it updated, and I'm sure I'll end up missing something somewhere along the way, but it's a start.

Right now, there are only three events in there: The Salon du Livre in Paris, in March, San Diego Comic Con in July, and Comic Con Experience here in São Paulo, in December.

We'll have more french dates in March soon, as soon as we lock our little book tour for the french release of our new book, Deux Frères. I'll even put the dates for the brazilian release of the book here in São Paulo pretty soon.

We're in final talks about some other US conventions, so stay tuned.

If we bump into your hometown, come say hi.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Choices on Paper

I could already see, with the first new issue of Casanova going to the printer last week, how much more hands-on we’ll be on the production side of our comics once more, just like the way we used to do on the comics we did independently, like 5, Rock’n’Roll and Atelier. I like knowing all aspects of comic making, and I think people can see a different side of your book when every inch of it reflects a decision you made. You’re the author, and it’s your story, your art, but you’re also helping to tell the story by choosing the paper, and thinking about the design that will fit the world you’re trying to create, and carefully deciding the order of the ads you’re putting on the eventual free extra pages inside your book.

On a similar manner, Bá and I are overlooking and, in some parts, working on the design of the brazilian edition of our next book, Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers, in english). Later this week, on thursday, we’ll have a meeting with our editor and with the art department at the publisher to try to make the final decisions regarding the book. Sometimes it’s easier to make books trying to make them look like the books you know, and then it can be more difficult when you want to make your book a little more special. I don’t think overworking the design helps the book, because “too much” will distract the reader from the story, so it’s a matter of finding the right balance.

And sometimes finding the right balance is a simple matter of choosing the right paper.