'Robô Gigante'.
Watson Portela was one of the main authors of the Brazilian comic industry during the 1980s. The versatile artist has drawn comics in many genres, including science fiction, adventure, eroticism, humor and superheroes, all for a variety of publishers. Portela's best-known creations are the cyberpunk adventure serial 'Paralelas' and the sci-fi series 'Vôo Livre', but he is equally famous for his manga-inspired comics for publisher Grafipar and his children's work for Abril. While signing most of his work as simply "Watson", he has also published under the names Barroso and Helga.
Early life and career
Watson Portela was born in 1950 in Camaragibe, near Recife, in the state of Pernambuco. An avid doodler since his early childhood, Portela has been influenced by the American comic book artists C.C. Beck and Mike Allred, as well as European creators like Jean Giraud, Jean-Claude Mézières, Yves Chaland and Michel Blanc-Dumont.
During the early 1970s, Portela's artwork first appeared in the local press, for instance the western comic 'O Águia' (1971), which he made in collaboration with his brother, the journalist Wilde Portela. He also provided covers and interior illustrations to Junior, the children's supplement of the local paper Diário de Pernambuco. By 1972, Portela was a regular contributor to this paper, which he supplied with cartoons and comic stories about historical subjects. Portela spent most of the 1970s working not only as a commercial artist, but also as a typist. Several of his early comic efforts have remained unpublished, for instance the three horror stories intended for Editorial Taika and the historical comics 'O Caçador de Esmeraldas' and 'Vida de Napoleão' for Adolfo Aizen's publishing label Ebal. In 1978, Watson Portela designed the cover art for the record 'Até a Amazônia?' by the Brazilian folk ensemble Quinteto Violado.
Comic story from 'Supernatural' (Ed. Vecchi).
Vecchi
In 1978, Portela moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he began a collaboration with the publishing house Vecchi. He became a regular contributor to the firm's digest-sized comic magazines Spektro and Pesadelo, both edited by Ota. These magazines published imported horror, mystery and supernatural stories from American companies like Gold Key and Charlton, but also locally produced stories with occult subjects, created by Watson Portela and other Brazilian authors, including Flavio Colin, Julio Shimamoto, Jayme Cortez and Eugenio Colonnese. Other work by Portela for Vecchi has been the western comic 'Chet' (1979), another co-production with his brother, which appeared in Histórias do Faroeste. The series strongly resembled the Italian comic book 'Tex' created by Gian Luigi Bonelli and Aurelio Galleppini and even used a modified anagram of the Italian original as its title (Tex > Xet > Chet).
Paralelas/Vôo Livre
In Spektro magazine , Portela created the first installments of his best-known series, 'Paralelas'. This surrealistic cyberpunk comic showcased his expressive drawing style and talent for drawing beautiful women, landscapes and action scenes, all clearly inspired by the French comic magazine Heavy Metal and its house artist Moebius. Throughout his career, Portela has released several 'Paralelas' comic book series, all compilations of short stories that combine different genres, from action and adventure to fantasy and science fiction. This has included his first mid-1980s solo comic books, 'Paralelas' (Press, 1986) and 'Entidade Zero' (Press, 1986), as well as the four-íssue 'Paralelas' mini-series by Editora Vidente. Later in his career followed 'Paralelas II' (Ópera Grafica, 2001) and the 2015 'Paralelas' compilation by publisher Devir Livraria. Some of his 'Paralelas' comic book have also included stories of 'Vôo Livre' ("Free Flight"), a sci-fi oriented superhero series that debuted in 1986 in Radar magazine by Press Editorial, and was later continued in the Abril magazine Aventura e Ficção.
'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'.
Grafipar
In 1980, Portela moved again, this time to Curitiba, where his association with the publishing house Grafipar and its editor Cláudio Seto began. Under the pen name Barroso, he produced both science fiction and erotic stories. For a couple of years, Portela and his colleagues Mozart Couto and Rodval Matias were the main creators for the publisher's adult-oriented publications with creations inspired by Japanese, European and US comics. Portela's 'A Saga de Xanadu' (1982) ran in Almanaque Xanadu and was designed in a manga style. The same goes for 'Robô Gigante' (1982), which sailed on the popularity of the giant robot franchises which dominated 1980s youth culture. 'Super-Gay' was a naughty parody of the American superheroes by Marvel and DC Comics, and appeared in a 1982 one-shot book, while the dramatic western 'Rex' was based on DC's 'Jonah Hex' (created by John Albano and Tony De Zuñiga). Portela also drew installments of 'Zamor, o Selvagem' ("Zamor, the Savage"), a series created by Franco de Rosa with a Tarzan or Conan-like hero in the legendary city of Atlantis.
'Paralelas'.
Expanding his output during the 1980s
Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, Watson Portela expanded his collaborations, appearing in comic titles by a great many publishers. In 1982, he illustrated three issues of the western series 'Colt .45' for the publisher RGE (Rio Gráfica Editora), which were subsequently published in France. In the following year, he produced stand-alone comic stories for all five issues of the magazine Inter Quadrinhos by the publisher Ondas from his hometown Recife. In São Paulo, he had an association with Maciota/Press Editorial, where in 1984 and 1985 he produced stories like 'O Cão do Inferno' ("The Dog from Hell"), 'O Machado' ("The Axe") and 'O Alienígena' ("The Alien"), the latter an unofficial adaptation of Ridley Scott's 'Alien', published in Spektros. At Press Editorial, Portela published the first two installments of his sci-fi oriented comic series 'Vôo Livre' (Radar magazine 1986), and his solo comic books, 'Paralelas' (1986) and 'Entidade Zero' (1986).
With Primaggio Mantovi, Portela provided the artwork for the 'War-Man' project (1988) of the Pão de Açucar group, which consisted of posters and comics for a freely distributed magazine. In 1989, he contributed science fiction stories to Pau-Brasil magazine of Editora Vidente. The same publisher also released a four-issue mini-series of Portela's cyberpunk series 'Paralelas'. Among his fanzine work during the 1980s were participations in Oscar C. Kern's Historieta, the Maturi magazine of the Comic Book Research Group from Rio Grande do Norte (GRUPEHQ) and Gang Portela, a 1986 fanzine edited by his sister Tête Portela.
Cover illustrations for Jovem Radical and Arise.
Editorial Abril
Starting in 1987, Watson Portela was a regular artist in the youth titles of Editorial Abril. He drew for the celebrity comic book based on Brazilian television presenter, actor and singer Gugu Liberato (Revista do Gugu, 1988-1990), as well as the children's comic book based on Brazilian comedy group 'Os Trapalhões'. He also drew the adventures of 'As Gatinhas' for the two issues of the girls' comic book Jovem Radical (1988) and provided artwork for licensed properties like 'He-Man' (from the Mattel toy-line). In Heróis da TV, Portela was one of the authors of comics based on Japanese live-action heroes like 'Jaspion', 'Spielvan' and 'Changeman', licensed from Toei Company and Toho Co. Other creators involved in these productions were writers Marcelo Cassaro and Alexandre Nagado and the artist Arthur Garcia. Watson Portela also provided cover art to Abril's Brazilian editions of DC/Marvel comic books like 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', 'Captain America', 'The New Teen Titans' and 'Superman'. He drew the backgrounds for a Brazilian graphic novel starring Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, 'Patrulha Do Universo' (1991), with character art by Eli M. Leon and inking by Antônio de Lima. With Gustavo Machado, Portela drew the comic book 'Didi Volta para o Futuro' (Abril Jóvem, 1991), a children's comic inspired by the film trilogy 'Back To The Future' (1985-1990).
'Spielvan'.
Departure and return to comic books
In the late 1980s, Watson Portela was represented by the Commu International agency, through which he did work for the Franco-Belgian and Dutch market. Both personal and economical reasons forced Portela to largely retire from the comic industry during the 1990s, doing only occasional contributions to fanzines from Recife. During his decade, Portela did provide the 27th installment of the drawing course 'Curso Prático de Desenho' by Editora Escala (1998), which dealt with manga art. Also in the late 1990s, he taught an art course in Recife, Pernambuco, called 'Curso Voô Livre', named after one of his main comic creations.
Watson Portela's manga course.
In 2001, Portela briefly returned to the comics forefront with the critically acclaimed comic books 'Paralelas II' and 'A Ultima Missão' at Ópera Grafica, the latter being a collaboration with Eugenio Colonnese. He also appeared in the Brazilian edition of Playboy magazine with illustrations. After leaving the mainstream media once again, Portela launched his own Fanzine Paralelas (2003), in which he printed both old and new material. Between 2004 and 2008, he produced independent material for the alternative imprint MRD, such as the series 'Ecos da Vida' and new collections like 'O Último Vôo Livre' and 'Entidade Zero 1/2 do Fim'. After being largely absent from the comic book market during the 2000s, from 2010 on he was presenting new material to publishing houses in cooperation with his agent and son Rafael Portela. In 2011, it was announced that Portela would be drawing 'Cabeça Oca e os Elfos de Terra Ronca', the first graphic novel based on Christie Queiroz's cartoon character 'Cabeça Oca'. The book was released in December 2014.
'El Último Vôo Livre' (2005).
Recognition
Watson Portela is widely considered as one of the major artists of Brazilian comics. In 1986, the São Paulo Association of Comic Artists and Cartoonists awarded him their Ângelo Agostini Prize for his contributions to the national comic industry. He was also recognized by his publisher Abril, who awarded him their annual Prêmio Abril de Jornalismo in 1988. He received the 2015 Troféu HQ Mix in the category Grandmaster from the Association of Cartoonists of Brazil (ACB) and the Institute of Graphic Arts of Brazil (IMAG).
'Cabeça Oca e os Elfos de Terra Ronca' (Promo, 2011).