Α=-Α is a graphic novel about Doubt. Alpha strives to understand who he really is and what this bizarre world in which he exists is. Is he a man dreaming?  Is he a drawing in a graphic novel? Perhaps a mad man in a delirious state? Or a ghost that has returned to the world of the living? Through an extraordinary wandering from childhood to old age, in locations out of place and eras out of time, Alpha will try to understand, only to be faced with a mystery that is beyond his grasp.

The particularity of Α=-Α is that it does not have a single distinctive drawing style; instead, it changes in line with the state of consciousness (and in part the mental state) of the main character as well as the narrative flow.

Almost each frame constitutes a small, complete painting.

Α=-Α consists of 60 autonomous pencil drawings, 52 pages drawn in ink and other techniques, on which the frames have been created not independently but on the same page (following the logic of comics), and finally of 45 autonomous oil paintings on canvas or wood.

The three consisting chapters are varied. The main difference is that the first two chapters are black and white (with some exceptions), while the third is full-colour.

The page make-up comprising the autonomous pencil drawings of the first chapter and the oil paintings of the third has been digitally composed, with the (hand-written) text placed under the pictures.

In chapter two, which comprises four subchapters, the style constantly changes. The pure realism of the first and third chapters is abandoned and drawing becomes darker, more grotesque and cartoonish, as the style changes based on the incidents and the psychological changes of the character. The best part of this chapter is drawn in ink (pencils, coloured pencils and acrylics have also been used).

Thus, Α=-Α, this cognitive mystery, constitutes a narrative journey through the mental landscapes of Alpha and at the same time, a visual journey through different drawing styles.

Kaleidoscope Publications  2018, 114 p. (32×35)