after a long while, we’re back with previews. this time you get a glimpse of THE INSPECTOR. it’s a drama told through the eyes of old Manfred, a bus inspector so used to ruling the environment of the bus station that freaks out little by little when faced with competition. Brazilian audiences will feel a touch of retro style in the vein of Nelson Rodrigues, who wrote masterful [a]moral tales of human misery by putting somewhat pathetic characters through emotional grinders blended with fetish and bureaucracy.

the story is by Mauricio Santoro and the art is by his frequent partner Angelo Ron, with letters by our co-editor Pablo Casado. Santoro’s stories has been published in anthologies like ALCOOL COM AÇÚCAR and QUADRIX - AVENTURA E FICÇÃO, with a collection of short comics in book form coming up. Angelo has done several short comics w\ lots of writers, including CAPE CANAVERAL with me. he’s been published at QUADRINHÓPOLE, PROJETO CONTINUUM, PRISMARTE and others. he’s now working on NEW HELADE w\ Cadu Simões and CHIMERA’S CALLING w\ Leonardo Melo.

the lovely Dark Horse editor was at FIQ and talked to Érico Assis about working with brazilian authors [Bá, Moon, Grampá & Pelizzari], the “Portland scene” and… INKSHOT.

shame she left out the bit about our agents waiting for her to come out of the bathroom at the festival to hand her the pitch document. sorry, Sierra, they didn’t want to scare you! it was their last opportunity before you left.

and no, we’re not being published by DH [we do believe this is unrelated to the bathroom pitch], but read the article if you know Portuguese. she gives great advice and also hope for latin writers wanting to break in. hint: do an anthology.

INKSHOT is not [i reapeat, NOT] taking in any more script or art submissions. we already have around 50 comics - most are done and some still in production - so we can’t deal with editing new ones for the time being. we still don’t know if there will be a volume 2 yet [we’re trying to find a home for vol. 1] but all of the good names that have come after we shut the door are being put on a list to be invited to submit next year. also, all of the artist positions have been taken; any new artist will only be called in case one of the current ones drop out [this has already happened - see previous posts]. thank you very much to all who have submitted stuff.

Portão das propostas de HQ: fechado

a INKSHOT não está mais [repito: NÃO] aceitando propostas de roteiro ou arte. já temos cerca de 50 HQs - a maioria já pronta e algumas em produção - então não temos mais como lidar com a edição de novas histórias por hora. ainda não sabemos se vai haver um volume 2 [estamos tentando achar uma casa pro vol. 1] mas todos os nomes legais que chegaram depois de fecharmos as portas estão sendo colocados em uma lista para serem convidados a propor material ano que vem. além disso, todas as vagas de desenhista foram preenchidas; qualquer desenhista novo só vai ser chamado no caso de algum dos que estão trabalhando agora ter de sair [isso já aconteceu antes - olha os posts anteriores]. muito obrigado a todos que mandaram material.

ATUALIZAÇÃO: JÁ ENCONTRAMOS OS DESENHISTAS! OBRIGADO A QUEM ENVIOU MATERIAL.

we have 3 scripts with no artists attached to them… one of said scripts being my own. each story requires a specific style. these are the possibly the last new comics to be produced for INKSHOT - for this volume, at least. if you are from Brazil and want to be part of this project that is soon to be published and likely to put your name out there, send a link to your online portfolio to hectorlima@gmail.com.

UPDATE: WE’VE FOUND THE ARTISTS! THANKS TO ALL WHO SUBMITTED.

same from the people I talked to at Festcomix, a small comic fest in São Paulo. everybody is impressed by the project’s quality and can’t wait to see it in print. we don’t have a publisher yet, but that’s soon to change, from what we gather.

all brazilian and north-american comic publishers that put out similar books to INKSHOT have now a pdf in their inboxes that contains all the comics that are ready to run. if you are a publisher and wants to take a peek, let me know: hectorlima@gmail.com

I won’t be able to go, so I’ll stay in Headquarters shooting the pitch around to a very selected group of editors. if you want to see it and don’t get and email from me until the end of the day, drop a message to hectorlima@gmail.com.

[FIQ’s mascot - you have to be a little crazy to survive Comics; that’s what Seal’s song was about]

here’s a sneak peek of some of the comics that will be featured here soon. some are already finished and being translated, others are in the final art stages, some [those who need it] lack only greytones, a couple are in the sketch phase. all have been told the final art deadline, so we’ll see how that comes out.

you can be certain it’s quite a cool collection of stories and a great variety of styles. i’m very proud of what we’re putting together. if you are one of the authors who’ doing a comic or INKSHOT, try finding which detail belongs to your art. and to everybody, try naming the other artists if you can.

the answers will be shown here for each comic on its given time.

You see that girl by chance in the subway. The one whose online profile you love to check; the one with the cool friends. the one apparently with so much in common with you. the one who’s likely to freeze you with her look if you ever dare approaching. Yeah, that one. what are you going to do?

Sueli Mendes is the writer-artist behind this small tale of platonic love. the story is being versed into English, fear not. Sueli is a rising talent with a thing for delicately examining relationships, mostly through the eyes of young, cool music-loving characters. the way it happens is not always delicate - emotions are deep and the outcome can be rather cruel sometimes. just like in Life. for where this one falls you’ll have to read INKSHOT to learn.

Sueli works at an art studio doing illustration and storyboards. her comics have been published in many anthologies, such as Café Espacial, Subversos and she’s working on a story written by me that will reimagination CSS’s LET’S MAKE LOVE AND LISTEN TO DEATH FROM ABOVE as a short comic for Mojocomix.

more comic store talk than interview in a pretty relaxed setting, if not for me acting awkward in front of the cameras, haha. i talked about my own comics and explain INKSHOT by the end of the second segment, with some cool preview images to boost. only a shame they cut my Batman spoiler at the end credits, haha.

the forbidden love of a boy and Music, and where this crazy feeling takes both of them. this alien language you read in the balloons is Portuguese, soon to be proper translated into English.

writer is Estevão Ribeiro, a prose author who’s self-published works like SAD TALES, TRISTAN - LORD OF FIRE and his first novel WHILE HE WAS DEAD. he is currently writing comic scripts for textbooks and studios like Mauricio de Sousa’s. he’s just started an online strip called THE BIRDS and will soon show LITTLE HEROES to the world.

artist is Davi Calil, who does regular amazingly colored comics for the brazilian version of MAD magazine. he’s a freelance editorial illustrator - with works published in magazines like MUNDO ESTRANHO - and teaches Painting and Illustration at renowned Quanta Art Academy.