The Lights of Niteroi (2026)

A suspenseful crime thriller and poignant story of friendship set against a backdrop of 1950s Brazilian beaches, soccer, fishing, and nudism.

In 1950s Brazil, somewhere by the beach, not far from Rio, Hélcio, a young and promising soccer player, and his friend Noël, spot someone fishing with dynamite. They decide to take a boat and steal some of the dead fish to make some money. The boat trip turns into a perilous journey as the two thieves embark on an adventure that will challenge their friendship. Inspired by the life of Marcello Quintanilha’s father, Hélcio Quintanilha, this graphic novel is both a suspenseful thriller and a breathtaking story about friendship.

In The Lights of Niterói, internationally acclaimed graphic novelist Marcello Quintanilha returns to the city where he was born and raised. He dives into the waters of Guanabara Bay and crafts a plot based on real events that took place in the 1950s. It’s an adventure full of suspense, involving fishermen, soccer, the Brazilian feminist and striptease artist Luz del Fuego, and the first naturist camp in Brazil. Translated by the author with Bruna Dantas Lobato. more