Joana Mosi is an award-winning Portuguese cartoonist whose work is only recently becoming available in English. And that timing matters — because until Pow Pow Press started publishing her books, The Mongoose and now Physical Education, internationally, there was basically no way for English-language readers to come across it unless they happened to be at the right European festival at the right time.

She is part of the growing Lisbon comics scene in Portugal. Paul Gravett called her previous book, The Mongoose, a "formally experimental yet powerful affecting narrative" She draws, she writes, she teaches. Physical Education has already been published in Portugal and was the first-ever graphic novel to be a National Illustration Award of Portugal Highlight Book, but is getting its English language release through Pow Pow Press on May 5th. The work is fictional yet emotionally true, centered on detachment, expressed through sparse characterization, missing facial features, and flexible page design.

[This episode is number 831 in a series.]

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Intro 01:54 – Portugal's Comics Scene 04:38 – Found in Translation 07:17 – Revisiting Finished Books 10:50 – Finding Pow Pow Press 12:42 – Going Global via Festivals 18:35 – Style Shift and Critiques 25:32 – Comics Lessons 31:16 – Teaching With Empathy 32:43 – Letting Students Fail 33:55 – Reaching Out To Mentors 35:34 – Fiction vs Autobiography 39:20 – Drawing Detachment 44:41 – Color Choices 45:40 – Motifs And Mundanity 48:20 – Page Layout Decisions 53:21 – Process 55:57 – Getting Feedback 01:01:58 – Outro