WHO'LL WATCH THE WATCHMEN?

When I was a kid, in the corner of where I lived, there was a newsstand that I visit every single day. It was the 80's – So, I don't have to explain what this meant to comics – Each time I went, there was a huge wave of new information to blew my mind. Always something, from all over the world, that get it's way to that small corner in São Paulo, only to drive kids like me nuts. Pages and pages of wonderful art and meaningful stories, panels and panels of a universe that sticks with me untill today. 

And one day, in a small super-hero comic book, bought in that same corner, maybe Avengers or even Batman, there was a ad of a new release. Black,white and red, only a clock with some blood on it, written:

WATCHMEN. 

That stayed with me. And one morning, I saw it. American format, soft cover, between the adult comics section, behind a brazilian magazine.

WOW.

I was forever changed. I brought it home, read it, and study all the scenes, lines and colors (that I love to hate until today). I couldn't keep my eyes of it. How could something be so perfect? How could this talk to me is such a deep level? It seemed that it was always there, since the dawn of time, in our genes, and this artists only translated it into paper.
And next month a new issue. And another. And another...

So many things to see. It took me years to understand all it's depth. I still think I didn't get it all. And that's the fun part.
I thought that I would loose interest with time, but it's virtually impossible. It's that same book that grabbed me in that old newsstand. Each page I draw today, I think it is that boy trying to repeat those panels and that pace. I may never do it as good, but it's there with me, in each stroke, each line.

There is many other books that moved me, but this was almost like my first love, my first kiss. I could say that I lost my virginity to it. 

I lost my virginity to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and I liked it.