Olhos na noite: a produção de uma graphic novel inspirada no folclore brasileiro

Abstract

This work’s objective is to document the production of Olhos na Noite, the pilot episode of a series of digital graphic novels (yet to be named) in development, published in2020, which intend to present the brazilian folkloric bestiary with a more mature view, in order to recover the more traditional view of creatures like Mapinguari, Boitatá, Ipupiara, etcetera, evoking the young adult public’s interest in those beings, so usually represented under an infantilized lens in conventional media. The motivation behind the work came from the finding that, through quantitative research, there is a prevalence of works aimed at kids that depicted those creatures. From that point on, the graphic novel was written and drawn following the guidelines of Luis da Câmara Cascudo’s folkloric research, and Will Eisner andScott McCloud works about making comics, and then published online. Following publication, reader’s impressions were collected, many of which stating that they didn’t know the central creature of the story, and that they got interested and would like to see more stories of the same type in the future, which tells us there is a demand for possible developments of a series.