Feitiço da Vila: a poesia de Noel Rosa em quadrinhos brings together ten Brazilian writers and illustrators, including Lucio Luiz, who use songs by composer Noel Rosa (1910-1937) as the starting point for twelve original comic stories. One of the most important figures in the history of samba, despite dying at just 26, Noel gave the genre a more urban and ironic tone, with lyrics full of wordplay and social commentary. The book’s own title is a tribute to him: “Feitiço da Vila” (roughly, “Spell of the Vila”) is the name of one of his best known songs, from 1934, dedicated to Vila Isabel, the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood where he lived, which earned him the nickname “Poet of the Vila.” The book is the first volume in the “Som e Traço” (“Sound and Line”) series, conceived to include further volumes dedicated to different composers, though it never continued beyond this one.
Lucio Luiz contributed two of the book’s twelve stories, each named after a Noel Rosa song. In “Seja breve…” (“Be Brief…”, art by Mario Cau, 8 pages), an office worker turns to neuro-linguistic programming techniques in a desperate attempt to get rid of an annoying, overly talkative coworker once and for all, with results as unexpected as they are hilarious.
First page of “Seja breve…” (the full story runs 8 pages).
In “Gago apaixonado” (“Stutterer in Love”, art by Lu Cafaggi, 6 pages), a boy who starts stuttering whenever he gets nervous faces what seems like an impossible obstacle: telling the girl he has a crush on how he feels.
Third page of “Gago apaixonado” (the full story runs 6 pages).