The story is called "The Trouble"
and is the result of a totally independent work, without links to publishers,
and whose "main objective is even if it is read for free on the Internet", said the author
to lusa agency.
"In terms of history, it's about Romans
of the future who live in Peso da Régua and who go on a mission to Arouca to
recover the wreckage of a satellite, and end up taking four shots at an 'alien'
and starting a war. It's a story about war, conflict and especially long-term
cooperation," Shizamura said.
The author began regularly publishing the
pages of "The Trouble" on the Internet in 2016, but was seeking
funding in crowdfunding for editing the paper chapters, for presentation at BD
conventions.
"I like the idea of making things
available for free and then whoever is interested [supports]. There are people
who will then not be able to support financially, but that is not why I should
deprive them of history. I think you can reach more people in this digital
format, he explained.
The third request for crowdfunding was
launched at the end of March, and the author did not expect so much to be
added, because it has already exceeded the initial goal of reaching 1,000 euros
by more than 200%.
"On the Internet a person has that
instant gratification, of putting 'online' and having a reaction.' The Trouble'
took a while to grow until today, it is not a phenomenon, but it is giving to
feed the ego", said the author.
Shizamura is the artistic pseudonym of Alda
Canito, a 32-year-old computer engineering researcher living in the Porto
region, "who is losing her hair with her doctorate, and when she doesn't
do it she does BD."
The author recalled that the first attempts
to make comics arose in college, but it was only with "The Trouble"
that structured a story. According to the planned plan, it will have work for
another decade.
"The Trouble" takes place in a
reality in which the characters live in a country called Lusitania, which
manages to escape the annexation of Imperial Meditate Augusta, an empire bathed
by the waters of the Mediterranean.
In the story there are three brothers who
have to go to enemy territory to collect the wreckage of an ancient satellite
and run into alien beings, inadvertently starting a war.
On "The Trouble", Shizamura
recognizes visual influences from japanese comics, but everything else results
from an amalgam of readings since childhood.
"I really like stories, I love to read
a little bit of everything, I've always been very attached to books, and it
comes to a stage a person has to tell a story too. So I think comics are the
perfect wedding," he explained.
Shizamura recalls reading everything from
Asterix – "which is what was in the school library" – a lot of
Japanese COMICS, a lot of science fiction, a lot of Portuguese literature, in
particular José Saramago.
Therefore, he argues that history could
only be Portuguese and linked to Portugal. "It's trouble, because that's
what they [the characters] are into."
Because of his phD, Alda Canito recognizes
that it is not yet time to make contacts with comic book publishers, and knows
that "The Trouble" is not an immediate project: "I'm doing a
long series, each volume depends on the previous one, if it was more episodic
the publishers would be more interested, but I do not want to change".
Regretnot being in contact with more
Portuguese authors and artists of comics, but in return, "on the Internet,
you end up in contact with the whole world".
Those who helped fund the paper edition by
'crowdfunding' will have early access to the end of the sixth chapter, whose
pages will be revealed online next October.
