Marcello Quintanilha, described in Brazil as a “visual storyteller”, draws inspiration from reality to create powerful stories. Rio, Niteroi, Salvador de Bahia or Sao Paulo are the setting for his realistic stories, in which he pays attention to details, soundscapes and dialogues. In each album, he changes technique, alternates register, varies framing and revisits the common codes of the comic genre. The protagonists are connected and often face a situation that escalates. Between action, introspection, fear, anger, but also mutual aid, love and friendship, Quintanilha mixes emotions and shakes the readers in a story that goes to a crescendo. This ever-present tension, he says, mirrors that of everyday life in Brazil. Quintanilha introduces striking characters whose psychology he refines in order to improve telling the story of the country he has known and carries within him. His stories, translated into several languages, show the soul of a multicultural society, but also expose the country’s social inequalities and inequities. A poignant humanity that makes Marcello Quintanilha an essential contemporary author and makes his work universal.
