Coming soon to crowdfunding is a new graphic novel from Mário César. Blessed Cure is coming from Penguin Press. It’s coming in the spring and looks to be an amazing story – be sure I will be posting more about this when the time comes, but look out for it!
The complicated queer identity of a young Brazilian
A hard-hitting, honest story told in disarming pastels, Blessed Cure follows the life of a closeted gay man from the 1960s to 2017. Through his life, author and artist Mário César looks at how attitudes to LGBTQ+ issues have evolved over time in Brazil, as well as the complexities of personal identity when faced with religious and social persecution.
Blessed Cure won the HQ MIX Trophy for best Webcomic (César’s fourth win) and was nominated for best comic in the Jabuti Awards (his second nomination). A regular at the annual POC Con, a comic convention for queer creators. Blessed Cure is part of César’s ongoing work to raise the profile of LGBTQ+ issues in Brazil.
In publishing Blessed Cure , Soaring Penguin Press is continuing to create a niche in the comic market for telling grounded stories about marginalised identities. Following on from the hugely positive reaction to 2021’s BLACK, there is a clear desire from readers for more books which do not shy away from honest, even if difficult, stories about developing identity. Blessed Cure also follows Urban Tails in bringing to market stories from non-English-speaking cultures that present a queer narrative with honesty and humanity.
Soaring Penguin Press is continuing to use crowdfunding as a way of increasing creator pay-outs, aiming to provide an additional sum on top of the page rate; this title will be seeking funding in Spring 2022.
Said Soaring Penguin Press’ Co-Publisher John Anderson, “Mário César’s story is both heart-breaking and infuriating, and needs to be read. And acted upon.”
Praise for Blessed Cure
“Stories like this are not just for the LGBTQ+ audience, but for everyone who believes the world should be
Dani Marino, Minas Nerds
more egalitarian and people shouldn’t be killed or discriminated just for loving and being who they are.”
