Diagnósticos, de Diego Agrimbau e Lucas Varela: a estética dos quadrinhos como forma de representação de distúrbios mentais

Abstract

this paper dwells on the work Diagnósticos (2016), by the Argentines Diego Agrimbau and Lucas Varela. The work gathers a collection of six independent short stories about diverse psychological disorders, such as claustrophobia or synaesthesia. Along the article, we seek to analyze how the fundamental elements in the composition of the comics are intentionally used to simulate the effects of each disease featured in the story. Aspects such as the composition of a panel, the relation between the word and the image, the use of the speech balloons or the notion of movement are analyzed in order to understand not only the constituent elements of the graphic narratives, but also the resources used to optimize each plot and reinforce the representation of psychological disorders pictured on them. To this end, the analyses dialogue with the views of other researchers in Comics and the relation text-image, such as Will Eisner (1999; 2008), precursor of the studies in graphic narratives, Laura Vazquez (2012), Jacques Rancière (2012) and Sophie Van der Linden (2011).