The ins and outs of possible cities in comics: Procurando São Paulo1

Disappearing traffic jams, endless rain and the transformation of a city and of its inhabitants’ urban life due to mysterious and eventful incidents: these are the possibilities of everyday life in the short comic series Procurando São Paulo. Created by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, Procurando São Paulo explores the artists’ own relationship with their native city, expanding on the city’s existing urban imaginaries to approach a specific characterization and critique of its sociocultural and urban spaces. In other words, the urban imaginary is filled with alternative possibilities of the same city, offering different albeit real perspectives, as is the case with the Brazilian city of São Paulo in this comic. My analysis engages with the dynamics between this urban imaginary and a reality where hypothetical and fantastical situations are evoked within a realistic setting of everyday stories and places. This creative narrative used in a critical fashion precipitates examples of significance and identification with urban spaces, integrated with the whimsical situations depicted in the comic. Due to this comic’s engagement with both reality and imagination, I build upon Edward Soja’s concept of thirdspace and Alejo Carpentier’s concept of the marvellous real. This article calls for an improvement in the scope of comic studies to include the questioning of urban experiences and spatial representation. In addition, the case study investigated by this article calls for a critical postcolonial perspective to be brought forward in the construction of global comics production. More than just an escape from reality, Procurando São Paulo reflects on the real city and its issues, simultaneously questioning its conditions and the relationships between inhabitants and spaces through imagination.