Spookytongue

Hetamoé, a autora de Spookytongue referiu que esta publicação "é uma banda desenhada  sci-fi existencialista em dois actos, que explora as topografias corporais da emoção através da pseudociência abjeta do misticismo quântico. A primeira metade é um conto visual narrado a partir do ponto de vista de um ser humano bioengenheirizado, concebido para recolher informações sobre mundos paralelos, à medida que o seu sentido de identidade se torna cada vez mais fragmentado e desterritorializado. A segunda metade, composta por vinhetas tipo yonkoma (“quatro painéis”), tenta mapear fluxos transfronteiriços ao colapsar charlatanismo quântico, ídolos japoneses da gravura, ensinamentos budistas, tectônica futura e imagens militares num omake excessivamente longo de poética antropocenica.

Desenho recorrendo a influências como a ficção onírica (anti-)científica  de Tarkovsky, Blade Runner: The Final Cut (dica: o unicórnio!), as tretas da New Age e o meu painel do Tumblr para tecer esta experiência esquizóide, em belos tons de amarelo e azul. Criticado por alguns como «propaganda fascista transhumanista», cabe agora a cada leitor dar o seu veredicto final sobre Spookytongue." (texto original escrito em inglês, traduzido livremente).

Por seu lado, Alex Hoffman escreveu no blogue Sequential State que Spookytongue "opens with a text-heavy dialogue page, like the opening of an 80s anime or a Star Wars film; Hetamoé explains that an uncommon inflammatory mucosal disease, geographic tongue, is a window by which past and future worlds can be seen, and that in 2525, artificial humanoids are being developed in order to wage quantum war. The trick is that this introduction explains little if nothing of the comic that follows.

Spookytongue is split in two distinct halves – the first is a more traditionally western layout, and the second is influenced by the Japanese comic strip 4-koma style. Throughout, Hetamoé’s work takes on a futuristic sociopolitical bent, half cyberpunk and half philosophical musing. I’m reminded of the work of famous mangaka Masamune Shirow as much as I am the work of Finnish cartoonist Ville Kallio, although in both cases Hetamoé’s work is much more abstract about the future it envisions. These comparisons seem apt because like Kallio’s work, Hetamoé’s work is influenced by Japanese art, especially creators like Shirow.

There are some thematic elements to the book that are hard to grok– the unicorn is a frequently appearing visual motif that I had a hard time placing. The book is printed in two colors, a vivid blue and a lime green/fluorescent yellow. The color choice exaggerates and emphasizes the retro-futuristic feel of the book. The language of Spookytongue is flowery and opaque; Hetamoé manages to capture the background noise of cyberpunk with seemingly unlinked ideas and observations of the world and our universe. If anything, Spookytongue, with its unique formal constraints, seems like a window into a future world passing you by. As the reader, you will catch snippets of a whole conversation without piecing together its meaning. Spookytongue is moving too fast, or more likely, you’re moving too slow."

Spookytongue, Janeiro de 2017, 32 págs, impressão digital a duas cores, 11,5x16,3cm. Edição: Ediciones Valientes. Valencia. Espanha.