Pandora Box ·:· Comics, Concept Art, Writing, Illustration, Design & more

To You

2008-11-17T17:09:00.006Z

"May the words of old friend La Boétie

someday wake up the god

sleeping inside you.

A Big Hug
a."

The handwriting has to be from someone real as well as the signature. Reality and fiction are merged together like in a self-portrait. The date "2015" has to be visible; it's taken from António Câmara's speech at the Pessoa Award ceremony in 2006: "In 2015, Portugal is the more vibrating place for living, studying, and working in the European continent". Each and every detail about this sequence is important and significant, even the publisher's name. Nervertheless, not all details need to be within reader's reach.
Álvaro Áspera, in Discourse on Voluntary Servitude comic script

The Flame Inside

2008-11-12T14:19:00.030Z

Image by Filipe Alves, from comic Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, by Álvaro Áspera & Filipe Alves, published in Aula Magna #0 magazine (Nov 2008).

Credits
Artist: Filipe Alves
Concept: Álvaro Áspera
Client: Aula Magna
Medium: Mixed

Script
Angelo wakes up. We see the chimerical flame reflected on his eye, as if it was burning inside him. This is a polysemic metaphor. To find its plural meaning we have to understand the human eye simultaneously as the soul's window and the world's mirror. We should picture it like this: the human eye is a strange oasis in the desert of the skin. And the sky it mirrors is a strange image of itself.
Álvaro Áspera, in Discourse on Voluntary Servitude comic script

The Morning Dream

2008-11-10T22:45:00.072Z

Illustration by Ana Afonso, from comic Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, by Álvaro Áspera & Filipe Alves, published in Aula Magna #0 magazine (Nov 2008).

Credits
Artist: Ana Afonso
Concept: Álvaro Áspera
Client: Aula Magna
Medium: Mixed

Script
This dream is an allegory. Animal heads symbolize the animal aspect present in human nature. That's why the important thing is to show human attitudes through animal figuration. The tracking shot along a Lisbon street leads to a flame burning above the ground. The flame symbolizes the most mysterious element in human nature, referred to as divine spark by spiritual traditions. No one sees it. This oneiric image has to be in grayscale. The flame alone bears color.
Álvaro Áspera, in Discourse on Voluntary Servitude comic script

Characters
The wolf symbolizes the leaders of society. Similarly to puppets on a string [from the Coldplay song on the script], here we meet a flock of tourists (some from exotic distances, others rather of the domestic type) which are guided by someone who thinks only of taking advantage of them. Once in possesion of the money these "poor" people paid for a guided tour for the masses, we do not know what else this leader is capable of, being a "shepherd" that couldn't care less for his herd's well-being. If he were merely a wolf, his presence would be noble and dignified like the other animals'. But the single fact that he's wearing a disguise makes us alert.
Ana Afonso, in email sent Sat Oct 11 2008 16:12

Graffiti
The graffiti on the monument is a reproduction of the one found in Geneva, at Rue du Prieuré (Pâquis district), in the context of the squatter movement and habitation crisis. It is an evocation of Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, by Étienne de La Boétie, the book used as reference in the comic.
Ana Afonso, in a Pandora Box meeting