{{Short description|Brazilian comic artist (born 1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox artist | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|4|8|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Além Paraíba]], [[Minas Gerais]], Brazil | awards = {{Awards|award=[[Prêmio Angelo Agostini for Master of National Comics]] |year=2022}} | notable_works = ''[[Psychorock]]'', ''[[Timeless Voyage]]'', ''[[Vic Voyage]]'', ''Lakota'' }} '''Sergio Macedo''' (born 8 April 1951) is a Brazilian comic artist. Born in [[Além Paraíba]], he pursued a career in illustrating for advertising and journalism, before illustrating for Brazilian newspapers and magazines. In the 1970s, he moved to France, where he published comics in the publications ''[[Métal Hurlant]]'' and ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]''. He eventually moved to [[French Polynesia]], where he published several comics, many of which focus on the indigenous peoples of the region and others. Other works focus on aliens and esoteric themes.
== Early life == Sergio Macedo was born 8 April 1951 in [[Além Paraíba]], [[Minas Gerais]], Brazil.<ref name="Pereira2014">{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Cláudia Matos |date=January 2014 |title=Povos Indígenas em Quadrinhos: o olhar etnográfico-semiótico do artista brasileiro Sérgio Macedo |trans-title=Indigenous people in Comics: the ethnographic-semiotic look by the Brazilian artist Sergio Macedo |journal=Estúdio |language=pt-BR |issue=9 |pages=79–84 |issn=1647-6158}}</ref><ref name="Lambiek2007" /> He began drawing early in life. In 1954, he moved to [[Juiz de Fora]].<ref name="Yashima2007">{{Cite web |last=Yashima |first=Humberto |date=2007-10-20 |title=Entrevista: Sérgio Macedo |trans-title=Interview: Sérgio Macedo |url=https://www.bigorna.net/index.php?secao=entrevistas&id=1192911499 |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=Bigorna |language=pt-BR}}</ref> He credited his artistic inspiration as a child to both foreign and Brazilian comic book artists, as well as realist artists.<ref name="Yashima2007" /> Later on, in the late 60s and early 1970s, he became inspired by American and French underground comic artists.<ref name="Yashima2007" /> He was self taught.<ref name="Mayer1989" />
== Career == He pursued a career in illustrations for advertising and journalism.<ref name="Lambiek2007">{{Cite web |date=2007-10-19 |title=Sergio Macedo |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/macedo_sergio.htm |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=[[Lambiek]] }}</ref><ref name="Yashima2007" /> Newspapers he contributed illustrations to in Brazil included ''[[Estado de São Paulo]]'' and ''[[Folha de São Paulo]]''; he also contributed to the magazine ''Planeta''. He had a solo exhibition, his first, at the Celina Art Gallery in 1970.<ref name="Silva2017">{{Cite journal |last=Silva |first=Matheus Moura |date=2017-12-19 |title=Quadrinhos visionários de Sergio Macedo |trans-title=Sergio Macedo's visionary comics |journal=Art&Sensorium |language=pt |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=97–116 |doi=10.33871/23580437.2017.4.2.097-116 |issn=2358-0437|doi-access=free }}</ref> He was sent to prison in 1972 for six months. He gained perks after he drew art for the prison guards, which resulted in better treatment.<ref name="Silva2017" /> From 1972 to 1973, he would publish his comics in the magazine ''Grilo.<ref name="Naranjo2004">{{Cite web |last=Naranjo |first=Marcelo |date=2004-02-10 |title=Grilo, um importante momento dos quadrinhos no Brasil |trans-title=Grilo, an important moment for comics in Brazil |url=https://universohq.com/museu-dos-quadrinhos/grilo-um-importante-momento-dos-quadrinhos-no-brasil/ |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=[[Universo HQ]] |language=pt-BR}}</ref>''<ref name="Silva2017" /> About that time, he and several friends founded the newspaper SOMA, which they sold on the street during [[Military dictatorship in Brazil|Brazil's period of military dictatorship]].<ref name="Silva2017" /> He was interested in [[psychedelics]], but stopped in 1975, as he viewed it as a lazy method instead of pursuing inner effort to achieve the results he wanted.<ref name="Silva2017" /> In the 1970s, he was for a time associated with the German band [[Kraftwerk]].<ref name="Oakl771002">{{Cite news |last=Kelp |first=Larry |date=1977-10-02 |title=The Acoustic Marriage of Man and Machine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-the-acoustic-marriage-of/173857382/ |access-date=2025-06-05 |newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]] |page=13-E |language=en-US |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |issn=1068-5936}}</ref>
He moved to Europe in 1974, where he illustrated for the Dutch magazine ''Bres''.<ref name="Silva2017" /> He then moved to France, and began publishing comics in ''[[Métal Hurlant]]'', ''{{Ill|Circus (French magazine)|lt=Circus|fr|Circus (périodique)}}'', ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]'',''<ref name="Naranjo2004" />''<ref name="Lambiek2007" /> as well as the educational magazines ''J'Ai Lu'', ''Fiction'', and ''Galaxie''.<ref name="Lambiek2007" /> He also contributed to the ''Neutron'' and ''Sexbulles'' magazines.<ref name="Lambiek2007" /> His first album of comics was published in 1975 by Kesselring, publishing ''[[Psychorock]]'' and ''Telechamp'' in the following years with [[Les Humanoïdes Associés]].<ref name="Lambiek2007" /> He created the [[Vic Voyage]] series of comics in the 1980s, first published in ''Circus'' magazine, an adventure and mystery series focusing on a man who discovers that he is of alien origin. The series was later continued through the Aedena and Vaisseau d'argent publishers.<ref name="Lambiek2007" />
== Works and reception == Most of his bibliography is unpublished in his home country of Brazil; while well known abroad, he is little known there.<ref name="Silva2017" /> In 1989, the Swiss newspaper ''[[24 heures (Switzerland)|24 heures]]'' said Macedo's art was of "a rare purity" and that he displayed an "ecologist-mystico-baba-futurist philosophy".<ref name="Mayer1989">{{Cite news |last=Mayer |first=Thierry |date=1989-12-31 |title="Brazil!" de Sergio Macedo ou la Bd comme conscience |trans-title="Brazil!" by Sergio Macedo or comics as conscience |url=https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/14523/view?page=1&p=separate&search=%22sergio%20macedo%22&hlid=522762429&tool=search |access-date=2024-09-05 |work=[[24 heures (Switzerland)|24 heures]] |location=Lausanne |page=48 |language=fr-CH |via=[[Scriptorium (website)|Scriptorium]] |issue=303 |issn=1661-2256}}</ref> Earlier in 1976, a critic from the same paper had negatively described his work in ''Circus'', calling him "promising but long-winded" with an "annoying cosmic bucolicism", and that it was less funny than usual.<ref>{{Cite news |last=N. |first=R. |date=1976-06-03 |title=Des classiques et des revues... |trans-title=Classics and reviews... |url=https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/10406/view?page=63 |access-date=2024-09-05 |website=[[24 heures (Switzerland)|24 heures]] |location=Lausanne |page=49 |via=[[Scriptorium (website)|Scriptorium]] |issue=128 |issn=1661-2256}}</ref>
Many of his works take place in Pacific sea settings.<ref name="Gessler1986">{{Cite news |last=Gessler |first=Antoine |date=1986-08-30 |title=Pays des bulles |trans-title=Land of bubbles |url=http://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NVE19860830-01.2.110.25.2&srpos=2 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=[[Le Nouvelliste (Switzerland)|Le Nouvelliste]] |location=Sion |page=23 |language=fr-CH |via=[[e-newspaperarchives.ch]] |issue=200}}</ref> Several of his works focus on indigenous peoples, as well as aliens and extraterrestrial contact.<ref name="Pereira2014" /><ref name="Silva2017" /> Motifs in his art include esoteric, cabalistic and visionary themes and elements.<ref name="Silva2017" /> Following his joining the UFO religion [[Siderella]], his works focused increasingly on extraterrestrial themes.<ref name="Silva2017" /> His art has been noted for its characteristic metallic smoothness, with detailed renderings alongside heavy airbrushed highlights.''<ref name="Patten1979" />'' His artwork is styled in a realist manner, utilizing airbrush and [[gouache]].<ref name="Mayer1989" /> Joe McCulloch of ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' noted Macedo as a "smooth-edged artist", comparing him to [[Angus McKie]], calling him "one of a class that basically vanished forever" from North American comics following the end of the ''Heavy Metal'' publication.<ref name="McCulloch2011">{{Cite magazine |last=McCulloch |first=Joe |date=2011-12-13 |title=THIS WEEK IN COMICS! (12/14/11 - Amazing Heroes) |url=https://www.tcj.com/this-week-in-comics-121411-amazing-heroes/ |access-date=2024-07-28 |magazine=[[The Comics Journal]] |location=Seattle |language=en-US |issn=0194-7869}}</ref> He named [[Wallace Woody]], [[Norman Rockwell]], [[N. C. Wyeth]], [[Inácio Justo]], [[Jayme Cortez]], [[Philippe Druillet]], [[Caza]], [[Richard Corben]], and [[Winslow Homer]] as inspirations. Later in his career he named nature as his biggest inspiration.<ref name="Yashima2007" />
In 2007, Macedo received the 2007 [[HQMIX]] award in the Great Master category.<ref name="Minuano2007">{{Cite news |last=Minuano |first=Carlos |date=2007-10-15 |title=Ataque ao xingu |trans-title=Attack on Xingu |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/folhatee/fm1510200704.htm |access-date=2024-09-09 |work=[[Folha de S.Paulo]] |language=pt-BR |issn=1414-5723}}</ref> Macedo was one of four people to win the [[Prêmio Angelo Agostini for Master of National Comics]] award in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-29 |title=Troféu Angelo Agostini divulga vencedores da edição 2022 |trans-title=Angelo Agostini Trophy reveals winners of the 2022 edition |url=https://www.publishnews.com.br/materias/2022/08/29/trofeu-angelo-agostini-divulga-vencedores-da-edicao-2022 |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=PublishNews |language=pt-BR |issn=2526-7728}}</ref>
=== ''Psychorock'' (1976) === {{Main|Psychorock}} ''Psychorock'' was published in 1976. The English version was published the next year.''<ref name="Patten1979">{{Cite magazine |last1=Patten |first1=Frederick |date=February 1979 |title=Miscellaneous |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K9P1T0doSpkC&pg=PA11 |access-date=2024-07-28 |magazine=Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review |location=Vista |page=11 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]] |volume=1 |issue=1 |isbn=978-0-89370-624-1 |issn=0739-649X}}</ref>''<ref name="McCulloch2011" /> The comic is split into five stories, all of which depict humanity being guided by a greater cosmic intellect.''<ref name="Patten1979" />'' McCulloch described ''Psychorock'' as "a work that couldn't exist in quite this way at any other time, certainly not in English-translated form in an ostensibly mainstream comics outlet", calling its illustrations both funny and eerie. He noted its depiction of aliens, as well as "giant-breasted women and long-haired hippie dudes [...] lounging bare in floating space gardens."<ref name="McCulloch2011" /> ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review'' argued it promoted the [[flower power]] generation of the 1960s in all five stories; they called the hippie elements of the plot slightly dated, but argued that people were still interested in plots about the interaction between aliens and humanity.''<ref name="Patten1979" />''
=== {{Lang|fr|Voyage Intemporel}} (1982) === {{Main|Timeless Voyage}}
In 1982, Macedo illustrated the comic {{Lang|fr|Voyage Intemporel}}. It was written by Appel Guery, the guru of Siderella, of which Macedo was a member, who also lived in Tahiti.<ref name="David1996" /><ref name="Mayer1999">{{Cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Jean-François |author-link=Jean-François Mayer |title="Our Terrestrial Journey is Coming to an End": The Last Voyage of the Solar Temple |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |issue=2 |volume=2 |pages=172–196 |date=April 1999 |language=en |translator-first1=Elijah |translator-last1=Siegler |translator-link1=Elijah Siegler |doi=10.1525/nr.1999.2.2.172 |issn=1092-6690}}</ref> This comic focuses on a group of UFO believers who are taken away by a flying saucer before a great cataclysm destroys the earth.<ref name="David1996">{{Cite magazine |last=David |first=Marc |date=1996-01-10 |title=Jouret et Di Mambro la recommandaient: La BD qui annonçait le massacre |trans-title=Jouret and Di Mambro recommended: The comic book that foretold the massacre |url=https://scriptorium.ch/zoom/196663/view?page=26 |access-date=2024-09-05 |magazine=[[L'Illustré]] |location=Lausanne |pages=26–27 |language=fr-CH |via=[[Scriptorium (website)|Scriptorium]] |issn=1420-5165}}</ref><ref name="Mayer1999" /> It later received some attention for its connection to two cult leaders.<ref name="David1996" /> After the comic came out, the religious group the [[Order of the Solar Temple]] bought hundreds of copies and distributed it within the movement as recommended reading; they later committed [[1994 Solar Temple massacres|mass suicide in Switzerland in 1994]] in a way seen as similar to the group's actions in the comic.<ref name="David1996" /><ref name="Mayer1999" />
=== ''Vic Voyage'' (1983–1989) === {{Main|Vic Voyage}}
Macedo created a comic book series centered around the eponymous Vic Voyage, an ocean adventurer who is instructed by the gods to teach humanity how to live in harmony with nature, and if not, initiate the [[apocalypse]]. It had five books, published from 1983 to 1989.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lofficier |first=Jean-Marc |title=French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Pulp Fiction |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7864-0596-1 |location=Jefferson |page=249 |language=en |chapter=Vic Voyage}}</ref>
=== ''Lakota'' (1996) === Asked which of his own works was the best, he picked ''Lakota''. Published in the United States, the book received the Benjamin Franklin Award in 1997 for the best multicultural work.<ref name="Yashima2007" /> The book is an illustrated one from the point of view of the [[Lakota people]] in the [[Indian wars]]; ''Wild West'' praised the artistic quality and the historical ties present in the work, though noted not everyone would agree with Macedo's view of history.<ref name="WildWest1997">{{Cite journal |date=April 1997 |title=Reviews in brief |journal=Wild West |language=en |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=89 |issn=1046-4638}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1980, he joined Appel Guery's UFO group Siderella, after which he supposedly received visions of extraterrestrials.<ref name="Abgrall1999">{{Cite book |last=Abgrall |first=Jean-Marie |author-link=Jean-Marie Abgrall |title=Les sectes de l'apocalypse: gourous de l'an 2000 |publisher=[[Calmann-Lévy]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-2-7021-2954-8 |location=Paris |page=95 |language=fr |chapter=Sectes Ufologiques}}</ref><ref name="Silva2017" /> He moved to [[Moʼorea]] in French Polynesia in 1982,<ref name="WildWest1997" /><ref name="Yashima2007" /> in what the Brazilian newspaper ''Folha de S.Paulo'' described as a "search of the hippie dream"; he stated he "got used to living barefoot."<ref name="Minuano2007" /> Another commentator says he moved to French Polynesia with Guery.<ref name="Silva2017" /> He said that while he liked moving to different places and discovering new cultures, he disliked the cold of Europe and the "gray and sad view" of life he perceived Europeans as having.<ref name="Yashima2007" /> Macedo surfs regularly. In an interview he stated that he had never owned a television.<ref name="Minuano2007" /> He is married to a Tahitian woman.<ref name="Mayer1989" /><ref name="Pereira2014" />
== Bibliography == {{refbegin|colwidth=25em}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=O Karma de Gargoot |publisher=Massao Ohno |year=1973 |language=pt |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Fume, c'est du Macedo |publisher=Kesselring |year=1975 |language=fr |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Psychorock |title-link=Psychorock |publisher=[[Les Humanoïdes Associés]] |year=1976 |language=fr |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Telechamp |publisher=[[Les Humanoïdes Associés]] |year=1978 |language=fr |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Caraïbes |publisher=[[Éditions Glénat]] |year=1981 |language=fr |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Voyage Intemporel |title-link=Timeless Voyage |publisher=[[Éditions Glénat]] |year=1982 |language=fr |author-mask=2}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Les Aventures de Mike the Bike et Molly |author-mask=2 |year=1982 |language=fr |publisher=Editions Neptune}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Eldorado 1: Le trésor de Paititi |series=[[Vic Voyage]] |year=1983 |language=fr |author-mask=2 |publisher=[[Éditions Glénat]]}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Eldorado 2: A la recherche d'Agharta |series=[[Vic Voyage]] |year=1985 |language=fr |author-mask=2 |publisher=[[Éditions Glénat]]}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Pacifique Sud 1 |year=1985 |series=[[Vic Voyage]] |language=fr |author-mask=2 |publisher=Éditions Aedena}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Pacifique Sud 2: Le mystère des atolls |series=[[Vic Voyage]] |year=1986 |language=fr |author-mask=2 |publisher=Éditions Aedena}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Brazil! |author-mask=2 |series=[[Vic Voyage]] |year=1989 |language=pt |publisher=Le Vaisseau d'argent}} (later published in 2007 in Brazil as ''Xingu!'') * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Lakota: An Illustrated History |author-mask=2 |year=1996 |language=en |publisher=Treasure Chest Publications}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Honu iti ē |author-mask=2 |year=2000 |publisher=CTRDP}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=La Légende de Tuivao |author-mask=2 |year=2002 |language=fr |publisher=Éditions des Mers Australes}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Te Tere O Te Tupuna |author-mask=2 |year=2003 |publisher=CTRDP}} * {{Cite book |last=Macedo |first=Sergio |title=Povos Indígenas em Quadrinhos |author-mask=2 |year=2012 |language=pt-BR |publisher=Zarabatana Books}} {{refend}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{Cite book |last=Knigge |first=Andreas C. |title=Comic-Lexikon |date=1988 |publisher=Ullstein |isbn=978-3-548-36554-1 |series=Ullstein-Bücher Ullstein-Sachbuch Populäre Kultur |location=Frankfurt/M Berlin |language=de}} * {{Cite journal |last=Silva |first=Matheus Moura |date=2023-07-11 |title=Ayauhuaya: Processos inconscientes, arte e espiritualidade |trans-title=Ayahuasca: Unconscious processes, art and spirituality |journal=O Mosaico |language=pt |volume=16 |issue=1 |doi=10.33871/21750769.2023.16.1.7418 |issn=2175-0769 |doi-access=free}}
[[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:People from Além Paraíba]] [[Category:Brazilian comic strip cartoonists]] [[Category:People associated with the New Age]] [[Category:Living people]]