Mauricio de Sousa
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's comic books.
At 17 years of age, he worked for a daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
called Folha da Manhã
Folha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo, known simply as Folha , is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in São Paulo since 19 February 1921. Owned by the Frias de Oliveira family since 1962, it has Brazil's largest circulation since 1986. Alongside O Globo and O Estado de S...
as a crime reporter. In 1959 Sousa quit that job and began his comic book career. He created Turma da Mônica ("Monica's Gang
Monica's Gang
Monica's Gang is a popular Brazilian comic book series. The series was created by Mauricio de Sousa, who signs his work as "Mauricio". Plots are centered on the adventures of a group of seven-year-old friends in the fictional neighborhood of "Limoeiro" in São Paulo...
"). Sousa's characters were inspired by children he knew from his childhood and by his own children. His later style is slightly reminiscent of that of Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
, a famous Japanese manga artist
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
and personal friend.
Story
Mauricio de Sousa was born in Santa Isabel on October 27, 1935. His father, Antonio Maurício de Sousa, was a poet and a barber, and his mother, Petronilha Araújo de Sousa, also delved into poetry. Mauricio developed an interest in cartooning at a young age, and began to draw posters and illustrations for periodicals of Mogi das CruzesMogi das Cruzes
Mogi das Cruzes is a municipality in the state of São Paulo metropolitan region of the state capital. The population in 2010 according to the Census population is 387,241 inhabitants, resulting in a population density of 533.90 inhabitants per km ²....
, where he lived. He sought penciling work in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, but instead took a job writing the police blotter for Folha de São Paulo, but he soon quit and focused on his budding comic book career. This led to the creation of his first character, Bidu, who later became the symbol of his company, Maurício de Sousa Productions, where he employs a great team of tracers and scriptwriters to complement his illustrations.
Today, he is the father of ten children, and drew inspiration from them for new characters such as Monica, Maggy, Marina, Mary Angela. Nimbus and Nick Nope. Three of his children are even employed at his studio: Mônica handles licensing duties, Magali works as a scriptwriter, and Marina is a storyline developer.
The comics of Mauricio de Sousa have gained international fame, been featured on licensed merchandise, and have even been adapted for movies, television, video games, and even a São Paulo amusement park, the Parque da Mônica ("Monica's Park"). Two other Parque da Mônica facilities were also located in Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro, but they both closed in 2000 and 2005, respectively.
From 1970 to 1986, Mauricio's comic books had been published by Editora Abril, until Globo took over in January 1987. His work has been published in many magazines and newspapers since 1959. Since January 2007, the comic book series is published by Panini Comics.
Characters
Some of Mauricio's creations include:- Monica's GangMonica's GangMonica's Gang is a popular Brazilian comic book series. The series was created by Mauricio de Sousa, who signs his work as "Mauricio". Plots are centered on the adventures of a group of seven-year-old friends in the fictional neighborhood of "Limoeiro" in São Paulo...
- Mauricio's long-running signature series. - Chuck Billy 'n' FolksChuck Billy 'n' FolksChuck Billy 'n' Folks are a group of fictional characters appearing at the Monica's Gang comic book series. The stories are centered on Chuck Billy and his friends and parents, who are all caipiras and live in the small Vila Abobrinha , a fictional location on the countryside of Brazil...
- The Cavern ClanThe Cavern ClanThe Cavern Clan is a set of fictional characters created by Mauricio de Sousa and featured at the Monica's Gang comic strips. The Cavern Clan lives in the Stone Age, but their strips always features dinosaurs, which is anachronistic, as the dinosaurs were extinguished 65 million years ago...
- Pelézinho's Team - A tribute to PeléPeléHowever, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
that centered around young Pelézinho ("Little Pelé") and his football playing friends. Published between 70s and 1986. - Tina's PalsTina's PalsTina’s Pals is a set of teenager characters featured at the Monica's Gang comic strips. Their stories are aimed for a more teenager group of readers, rather than the kids who would read other Mauricio de Sousa's works. However, Mauricio prefers not to mention drugs, sex, alcoholic drinks, or other...
- A series about a group of teenage friends, aimed at the adolescent audience. - BluBlu (Monica's Gang)Blu is a character in the Brazilian comic strip, Monica's Gang, created in 1959. He was the first character created by Mauricio de Sousa, along with his owner Franklin . This blue dog appears in the logo of Mauricio de Sousa Produções, the company founded by Mauricio to release his works...
- Anthropomorphized domestic animals (dogs, cats, etc.). Blu regularly exchanged dialogue with the “Tracer” of the comic. - Lionel's KingdomLionel's KingdomLionel's Kingdom is a set of fictional characters created in the 1960s-70s and appearing at the Monica's Gang comic strips. All characters are animals, with the contact with human beings hardly happening...
- Group of wild animals (both African and Brazilian) who lived under the reign of a lion king. - Bug-a-BoooBug-a-BoooBug-a-Booo is a set of fictional Brazilian characters featured at the Monica's Gang comic strips. The main location for their stories is a cemetery. All of the characters are monsters or other supernatural creatures, none of them being a human being...
- Comic horror stories featuring a ghost (the title character, called Penadinho in the original version), a vampire, a werewolf, a mummy, and a grim reaper (Dona Morte - Lady MacDeath in the English version), all of whom lived in a cemetery. - The FunniesThe Funnies (Monica's Gang)The Funnies is a set of fictional characters created in 1963 and appearing at the Monica's Gang comic strips. Almost all strips feature only the main character, Bubbly, while his parents and his ex-girlfriend Rita appear very rarely...
- A Brazilian space adventurer who pilotes a round ship (called "Astronauta" in the original version). First published in 1963. - Horacio's WorldHoracio's WorldHoracio's World is a set of fictional characters featured on the Monica's Gang comic strips. The main character is Horácio, a baby Tyrannosaurus rex. Other minor characters appear occasionally, but Horacio's strips are mostly consisted of monologues and self-reflections , thus making him...
- An orphaned and ethical dinosaur; a tyrannosaurus who happened to be a vegetarian and also has his own gang, like most of Sousa's creations. First published in 1963. - The TribeThe Tribe (Monica's Gang)The Tribe is a set of fictional characters appearing in the Monica's Gang comic strips. All characters belong to an indigenous people from the Amazon . Their tribe was once named "Tribo do Rio" ...
- a Brazilian Indian child (curumim, in the tupi-guarani language) and his friends, who lived in an Amazonian taba (village). - Nicodemon - A sarcastic and evil boy, one of few main characters in Mauricio's comics to have a negative personality. Debuted in 1966.
- Ronaldinho GauchoRonaldinho Gaucho (comic strip)Ronaldinho Gaucho is a comic strip by Mauricio de Sousa. It features a fictionalised version of the soccer player of the same name as a child.The strip was created in 2006, when the 2006 FIFA World Cup was taking place in Germany.-External links:*...
- Along the lines of Pelezinho's Team, this strip centers around another pint-sized football-playing youngster, this time modeled after and possessing the skills of RonaldinhoRonaldinhoRonaldo de Assis Moreira , commonly known as Ronaldinho or Ronaldinho Gaúcho, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian national team as an attacking midfielder or forward. He is a two-time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year, awarded to the best player over the year...
(Ronaldo de Assis Moreira). This comic premiered on December 28, 2005, and the real-life Ronaldinho was even the guest of honor at the launch party in his hometown of Porto AlegrePorto AlegrePorto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
. Ronaldinho Gaucho is syndicatedPrint syndicationPrint syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
worldwide, published in newspapers in Brazil, the Netherlands, England, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, and, most recently, the United States.
Prior to the creation of Ronaldinho Gaucho, Mauricio had also previously developed two additional footballing characters based on Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona is a retired Argentine football player and widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time. Over the course of his professional club career Maradona played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys, setting...
(named "Dieguito") and Ronaldo
Ronaldo
Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima , commonly known as Ronaldo, is a retired Brazilian footballer who last played for Corinthians. Ronaldo is widely considered to be the greatest 'pure' striker in the history of the modern game, and by some accounts, in the history of football. Ronaldo was one of the...
, but they never made it to publication.