ENG
(I apologize to the PT people perhaps I can review this post in Portuguese later on!)
It’s making about a Month now, since I went to Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival. For personal reasons I had a bit of trouble processing the whole trip but I found myself in the latest days going over the Zines I adquire there and so came the necessity of finally speaking about it.



woohoo eerie corner!

Leeds was a nice town. I thought I was going to be in a little town but really, compared to Portugal what is a little town. The first day I was there (I went with my friend Mosi) we went to discover the beautiful streets, eerie corners AND WHAT WAS 4 DEGREES CELCIUS (we also took a photo with the Tardis). We quickly discovered the Travelling Man which was one of the BEST comic book store I was ever in. It wasn’t that big but the variety and quality of the books there was astonishing (same for the gameboards) and the INDIE comics!!! OMgggggg. Leeds was a quite open city with beautiful gardens and hot drinks in every coffee shop everyone was nice and the only low points were the awfull design in beauty shops and how early everything closed (seriously we had no place to eat at 9pm except Mcdownlads that was closing at 10pm with also awful design and no Ice Tea).
But the Juicy part was The COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL



WE WERE HOBBITSES

There were so many authors (SERIOUSLY THOUGH 440 Exhibitor Tables! - and here was I saying 200) one could easily get lost in so many wonderful works. It really pushes up the bar to what happens compared to Portugal. In Portugal the current Cons (growing now) are all turned to Merchandise and in Thought Bubble everything was turned to AUTHORS . Authors, writting, drawing - art everywhere - Panels discussing the latest INDIE releases and pressing matters. The only stores there were selling BOOKS. And since you have so many authors around you just turn off from the big companies (or at least I did). I serious felt a bit guilty not being able to pay attention to every author I passed by because every table was so carefully disposed, so much good work and you saw that everyone there was pushing themselves to aim higher and higher (I even felt a bit ashamed xox).
I didn’t know anyone there except for Sarah Graley Illustration (cutest!)works and KIM JUNG F***ING GI - which already made the experience overwhelming! - But I crossed a few people I’d like to mention because I was quite touched by their work. Note to Sarah: I’m sorry if I sounded awkward I was just really exited to meet you guys in person ๑•́ㅿ•̀๑) ᔆᵒʳʳᵞ

The first I’d like to mention is Maria Stoian Illustration. Even though her book was the main spotlight (and congratulations on that ;O;) I got instantly drawn to her zines since their graphic language seemed somewhat familiar to me. It’s a honest touching kind of work that I don’t think I can really describe and even though we’re not on the same page it seemed to me like a work i could heavily relate to. I just wish I could have given you something in return.


Laydeez do Comics

One of the main reasons that brought me here was We All Start At The Begining. A zine about mental-health and, most important, recovery. Una Comics was an author I was driven to meet by the description of her new book On Sanity at the Laydeez do comics panel. It was the only panel I was able to watch from half a dozen I was really interested in and all the authors speaking in the panel were working on stories of intense intimacy. The works of Una around mental health were specially moving to me both in the presentation and back at home. They have an honest aura around them, a touching yet gentle way to them. I’ll definitely follow them. Since all of this was brought on sensitive subjects I’d like to mention The Sad Ghost Club, the cutest club in all of Thought Bubble! I got some of the cutest stickers I’ve ever seen from them but mainly I just fell in love with the whole project and the nice message around mental health and self-acceptance! Congrats to Laura & Lize and I’m sorry I didn’t speak!! I really loved this project! And yet about nice messages one of the artists with the sweetest messages was Mike Medaglia. I only met him on a rush out of the con but the whole exhibitor table was so ever sweet! His work is completely sweet to the very last detail! And I’m repeating sweet here because I can’t think of a better adjective! I brought a Bee with me**
Last but not the least, another author with a very elegant kind of work was anja uhren illustration. It was so graceful I was apprehensive to even open her zine for I was afraid to tear it! Her work is a kind of magical comfit, a bit overwhelming. A quick thanks to #Jakedetonator for his trust and his Beatles poster!
Also would like to mention Daniela Viçoso, André Caetano and Ricardo Bessa Illustration who were the portuguese folks among the exhibitors!! They all have wonderful work you should totally check out. There are more author’s I’d like to mention and had no record of their name T-T But I have a cute Bumm Bag and Powerup patches to remember them (Doctor Geof!!! awesome patches here!).
For all of this review I could have spoken about how awesome was to hang with some of the best Portuguese authors, how JungGi Kim drew me (OMG!STILL) or how Mike Mignola was right there, but what touches me the most are small and simple projects with a lot of heart to them. I thank for everyone I met in those days and everyone who crossed my trip but I really wanted to make a little post about these projects that came home with me and, if you read it this far, I hope you will be just a little curious to check them out for they deserve recognition (as well as everybody there, really, this was so overwhelming x-x)

ALSO THANKS MOSI FOR BEING AN AWESOME FRIEND AND I LOVED TO GO WITH YOU T-T BAE FOREVER (Ɔ ˘⌣˘)♥(˘⌣˘ C)


External Links: Thought Bubble Travelling Man Maria Stoian Una Laydeez do comics The Sad Ghost Club Mike Medaglia Anja Uhren #Jakedetonator And if you didn’t know already! Sarah Graley Kim Jung Gi And portuguese exhibitors Daniela Viçoso André Caetano Ricardo Bessa


Festa da Ilustração - SetúbalJunho 2016 - Galeria do 11


Luis Filipe de Abreu recebeu-nos (a mim, a Hugo Lami Pereira e a Rui Costa) com humildade e simpatia, por coincidência de um trabalho académico pelo qual o ficámos a conhecer, assim, um pouco melhor. 
Não deixem de ir visitar esta exposição, por um autor que merece o reconhecimento por um trabalho excelente, que já desempenha há umas quantas preciosas décadas. 
É mais uma pequena conexão algo familiar de quem entra e saí daquela que é um pouco a nossa casa, FBAUL, mas principalmente de quem ama desenhar.


Paulo Monteiro (1967) tem sido um exemplo que observo, um pouco distante desde os meus 14 anos - quando aprendi que alguém poderia viver e fazer banda-desenhada de coração.
Admirei sempre a nobre execução do FBDB que recai sobre os ombros do Paulo, da Susa, do restante pessoal da BDteca, Casa da Cultura e demais voluntários - sabendo que é o Paulo que lida com as maiores dificuldades na organização para trazer um festival tão especial e tão virado para o seu próprio público a nós. 
A verdade é que ainda tendo esta admiração longínqua nunca tinha de facto lido uma história escrita e desenhada pelo Paulo Monteiro (não sei porquê).
E foi nesta feira do livro que me deparei com O Amor Infinito que te tenho, que por pouco não o trouxe comigo no último festival de BD, visto que os barcos têm de ser divididos pelas marés (e isto sou eu a inventar ditados quando não me lembro deles). 

Decidi começar a lê-lo num momento ocasional, a um almoço - porque não? Preciso de quebrar barreiras entre mim e os "meus" momentos ideais para ler. Mas parei a poucas páginas do início.
Talvez por ser uma BD sobre pessoas, de certeza por ser uma BD sobre sentimentos. Bateu-me mais fundo do que estava à espera e fiquei sem fome.
Ainda não li o restante, mas são poucas as coisas que me conseguem fazer "sentí-las" e ainda menos as BDs (mais uma vez não sei porquê, se calhar simplesmente ainda não li suficientes BDs sentimentais). 
Mas doeu... um doer não malicioso mas um doer de empatia, um doer de eu sei como me sinto e alguém também já o sentiu. 



As minhas palavras podem não fazer sentido nenhum mas a verdade é que estou para escrever Reviews há imenso tempo e para este livro não é uma review completa, nem sei se é de facto uma review por que não tenho palavras para esta primeira quinzena de páginas e muito menos para as seguintes... não sei o que dizer. 
Mas parabéns Paulo, não que o meu congratulamento tenha muito valor, mas se te importa o que uma pessoa viu ou sentiu, sabe que independentemente das centenas e milhares de pessoas com acesso ao teu livro - a esta pessoa tocou-lhe no coração. E ainda nem vou a meio. 

Um agradecimento por seres um exemplo daquilo que quero ser um dia. 



Mariana