Pereira Pretend
This is the cover of the graphic
novel Pereira Pretend (Pereira Maintains) based on a novel with the same title.
This copy can be found at the library at Berri-UQAM station. The cover of the
book is separated in two parts. The header is composed of two types, containing
text naming the author, the title of the book and referencing the original
novel. The type used for the title is serif. Although unsure, I would argue the
type is bracketed. It is a type with very high contrast between the thick and
thin section. The stress on the font is vertical. For the remaining of the
text, it’s characterized by its non-serif, no contrast, non-stressed nature.
The book follows a journalist in
Portugal during the 1930s who struggles with the brutal, violent and patriotic
stance of his newspaper. With fascism on the rise, the protagonist is forced to
question his career, his spiritual belief, his health and his political stance.
The book contains multiple tensed
interaction between the characters. So, treating with such a fragile subject,
that, arguably, situate itself between traditional and non-traditional, the use
of the typefaces is very appropriate. It also feeds the imagery that inhabits
most part of the cover. On the illustration, we witness, in the streets of
Lisbon, Pereira, blocked on all sides by the environments, seems to be locked
in a confrontation with another, semi-mysterious, character. In the
illustration we witness that same sense of tensed behaviour that can snap at
any moment. A mood translated in the long thin stroke of the letters found in
the title.
Personally, I am more interested in
the illustrations. Now standing back and having analyzed the title’s type, I am
able to see the same mood translated in the inking of the graphic novel, the
composition of pages and panel, as well as the flow of the story telling. Where
strong elements stand loud and then echoes into a thin illustrated sound. The
practice of having the same mood be reflected in multiples facet of the work is
interesting.