Celsius 232 Festival Poster (2024)

11 x 17 published poster art for the Celsius 232 Festival (July 16-20, 2024)

Over the last few years, I’ve steadily acquired art by Spanish storyteller and illustrator Borja González. We all have artists in our collections whose art speaks to us through its style, subject matter, or some other aspect. González is one of those artists for me. I’ve been a big fan since I first encountered his work in the pages of The Black Holes and Night Cry, both of which have been translated into English. His work reorders the binary distinction between background and foreground (and character and environment) typically seen in comic art.

For González, the background/environment is as equally important to visualize as the characters that populate it. In González’s case, I’d argue background and environment are of even greater importance and interest. This artistic preference for evocative backdrops and environments and how they impact a story lends itself well to horror, the gothic, and to fantasy, and González’s own graphic novels often blend these genres to compelling effect.

The organizers of the Celsius 232 festival evidently held González’s work in the same high regard and asked him to draw the poster for this year’s event. The illustration he delivered evokes menace, wonder, and horror all at once. It’s a fitting image for a festival celebrating the many varieties of genre literature.

Celsius 232 is held annually in the town of Avilés in Spain and offers a week long celebration of genre literature and the arts, with author symposia, panels, and signings held throughout the town. This poster art was featured throughout Avilés, at events, and online.