Nicoz Balboa's 'Born To Lose' turns blog into graphic diary

In 2017, Coconino Press published 'Born To Lose', a graphic diary by Italian artist Nicoz Balboa, based on her blog MOMeskine. The project began in 2011 when Balboa, a Roman expatriate in France, started drawing daily life with her two-year-old daughter Mina in a Moleskine notebook, posting pages online. The blog gained a following among mothers, artists, and comic enthusiasts for its punk, direct style. In late 2013, acclaimed comic artist Igort (Igor Tuveri), then director of Coconino Press, contacted Balboa after commenting on her blog, proposing a book. They met in Sardinia in January 2014, where Igort selected pages from her diaries (three completed and a fourth started in 2014) to compile into a volume. The 192-page book, priced at €19, features a raw, spontaneous style with childlike, scratched drawings and vibrant colors, evolving from pencils and pastels to markers and pens. Balboa describes the diary as therapeutic, a way to confront personal struggles and learn self-love through storytelling. The book chronicles picnics, surprise parties, panic attacks, fights, tears, and the end of a long relationship, all treated with irony. Published in Bologna, the work is both a personal testimony and a universal almanac of smiles and laments.