Acedia / last 30 copies

Acedia it's the new graphic novel by André Coelho actually his true first solo book - Terminal Tower was a collaboration with Manuel João Neto... This book manages to strike a balance between experimentation and tradition in the "comics" field by establishing a paradox between the creative energy and the morbid atmosphere of the narrative. It can be speculated that the main character is an alter ego of the author or that some episodes should be autobiographical... but let's establish that we are in the realm of selffiction.

Acedia is this year the winner project of a graphic novel contest - Toma lá 500 paus e faz uma BD - promoted by Chili Com Carne. Other titles resulting from this contest includes The Care of Birds (2013 winner) by Francisco Sousa Lobo to be published in Spain next year, Askar, O General by Dileydi Florez and That which is Subtracted from Sight by Filipe Felizardo.

Sinopsis: 

Due to a strange body housed somewhere in his eye socket, Daniel suffers from perceptual deformations. Although the insistance on the urgency of medical treatments, he becomes confronted with the chance given by these hallucinations to escape towards a new perception of reality. Daniel will have to choose between facing his illness as a sign of his own mortality or accept it as life intensifier. 

Some pages:

104p., black and white, 18x24,5cm, 500 copies

Contest supported by IPDJ and all Chili Com Carne members.

Buy at Chili Com Carne online store, Fatbottom Books (Barcelona), Neurotitan (Berlin), Quimby's (Chicago), Floating World (Portland), Le Mont-en-L'air (Paris)...

History 

Released October 2016 at Lounge Lisboa with live-acts of Smell & Quim and Rasalasad vs shhh... 

...

André Coelho (b.1984, Portugal) is an Oporto based illustrator and comic book author. For 10 years he has developed fanzines, short stories and four graphic novels to date, as well as posters, record covers, merchandising and other graphics for different music scenes. This includes Amplifest, SWR Barroselas Metalfest, Lovers & Lollypops, Witchcraft Hardware and the American Industrial label Malignant Records, among many others. 

In 2016 he was awarded with the first prize of “Toma lá 500 Paus” comic book competition and was part of the Amadora Comics Festival 2014 award winning anthology Zona de Desconforto. His work ranges from traditional drawing or painting techniques and mediums to collage and digital manipulation. 

Besides Portugal, his work has been exhibited in several countries such as Brazil, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States of America, Italy or Spain.

Selected English bibliography: SWR Chronicles (SWR; 2014), Terminal Tower w/ Manuel João Neto (Chili Com Carne; 2014), Evan Parker - X Jazz (c/ prefácio de Rui Eduardo Paes, Chili Com Carne + Thisco; 2015) Colective books: MASSIVE (Chili Com Carne; 2010), Destruição (Chili Com Carne; 2010), Futuro Primitivo (Chili Com Carne; 2011), Inverno (Mesinha de Cabeceira #23, Chili Com Carne; 2012), Antibothis, vol.4 (Chili Com Carne + Thisco; 2012), PostApokalyps (AltCom, Suécia; 2014), Quadradinhos : Looks in Portuguese Comics (Treviso Comics Fest + MiMiSol + Chili Com Carne, Itália; 2014).

Feedback

I’ve always liked his art, and this was no exception, in a darkly hallucinatory story of sex and mental states.

Mattias Elftorp