versations, the narrative of Dog Mendonça fulfils the purpose which each panel discloses: to tell an adventure story without taking itself too seriously and never abandoning the juggling act of gags, popular references and twists which are essential to it. Between parody and the lightness of an adventure story, Melo and Cavia construct solid narratives which progress along a main storyline to which other threads attach themselves, at times centred on contemporary daily life and at others on conspiracies that cover a wider chronological period. In the first volume, the strange case of the aliens and the kidnapping of children intersects with a Nazi conspiracy which takes place in the Lisbon underworld; in the second, the third secret of Fátima acts as the starting point for an apocalyptic scenario, when the final book of the Bible plays out and brings terror to the streets of the capital. In both volumes, the development of the underlying plot seems to have little concern for injecting plausibility into a fantasy narrative, preferring to intermix old conspiracies with the problems faced by many in this day and age – from the bank’s reminder to pay off an ever increasing debt to the need to accept precarious work which could be delivering pizzas or filling a booth at a call-centre. With both worlds mixed together, plausibility ceases to be the goal, even becoming the subject of a certain ridicule. This can be seen in moments such as the one in which a modern-day Hitler who feeds on the blood of others is destroyed by various fantasy beings; or in another in which an apocalyptic beast prepares to crush a member of a university musical group fully dressed in traditional garb and who the hero, Dog Mendonça, refuses to save because he feels the world would be no worse off with one less fan of academic traditions. Cavia’s artwork combines so well with Melo’s writing that it is difficult to imagine the drawings being different. Without the dark hues, underlining the seediness of the places frequented by the heroic gang, the juggling of foreground and background, emphasising the monumental aspect of certain scenes in some places and supplying the sequences with the speed required in others (particularly in the chases and many of the fight scenes), and the detailing of the physiognomies of the characters and their expressions, The Incredible Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy would be something, and somewhere, altogether different. The jury is still out on whether the success of The Incredible Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy might help to smooth the way for more commercial comics in the Portuguese market. The crisis certainly won’t help, but the idea remains that the development of a certain niche in the comics sector (which, to be honest, is also a niche) could expand the openings and the willingness to create varied portfolios. Be that as it may, Melo and Cavia’s series need not carry a heavy burden. Its commercial success can be put down to many factors, not all of which are easy to put a finger on, but primarily due to the effectiveness of a formula which openly accepts its pastiche origins and the clever way it develops an adventure-story narrative without allowing naivety or a desire for the plausible to interfere with an obvious exercise in humour in a world filled with late-20th-century memorabilia.
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Filipe Melo in person The third volume of The Incredible Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy will be launched at the 24th Amadora BD by Tinta da China. For this to happen, the authors undertook a successful crowd-funding campaign: at the time this catalogue had been completed, over 106% of the amount requested had been donated. This confirms that there is enough fondness for this series amongst readers to be able to count on their financial support before the books have even been printed. According to Filipe Melo, the third volume of The Incredible Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy will definitely be the last. Until then, as long as the finale of the gang which put paid to Hitler for good and avoided the apocalypse in Lisbon remain unknown, we will let the writer of the series say a few words. The Incredible Adventures of Dog Mendonça and Pizza Boy will come to an end when the third volume in the trilogy reaches bookshops. How did this three-man project, with an ocean separating you, come about and how did it get from project on to paper? Originally, the project was a film script, an exercise I did at the time – I was using some books to teach myself how to write a script and I tried to write a classic one for the journey of Campbell’s hero in three acts. It was a chance to pay tribute to some of the horror/ comedy films that had influenced me when I was growing up. At that same time, I met Juan Cavia, who did a three-page storyboard for a funding application we sent to the Instituto de Cinema. We didn’t get it, but everyday I think it was fate telling us that it ought to be a comic. And that is what it became. One day, at 4 am, I asked Juan if he wanted to do a 100-page book. And he said yes. Didn’t it seem a risk to publish in the comic-book format with a story and style of artwork that is common in North America but which is not very traditional here? Commercially, we weren’t worried at all. It seems contradictory, but we chose this format because it seemed the best suited to the story we had in mind. Fortunately, during the eight years I’ve worked on Dog Mendonça, I’ve never had to make any artistic compromises. The references and world created in Dog Mendonça are a mix of pulp fiction, Hollywood clichés and the myriad permutations of pop culture. Are these important references for you or were they above all important in order to create this world? I was fortunate to grow up with very different influences. My mother was a book publisher, so from an early age she taught me a lot and encouraged me to try and use my ideas. I was lucky. She took me to lots of concerts and as a result I decided to become a professional musician. But I grew up in the generation of pirated VHS cassettes, adventure films, and this book is a tribute to the films I liked at that time. Although it’s not the only genre I like, these are important references for me because they remind me of who I was back then. It’s terrible being totally grown up. What was the reaction to the book in the US, where the first volume was published by Dark Horse? The second book will come out in January. The reaction was good and the compilation our stories were include in won an Eisner Prize. It was amazing luck and something we worked really hard for.