Maurício de Sousa

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Maurício de Sousa bigraphy, stories - Cartoonist

Maurício de Sousa : biography

27 October 1935 –

Maurício de Sousa (Also generally in fast, colloquial speech. born October 27, 1935) is a Brazilian cartoonist who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children’s comic books.Encyclopedia of Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean Daniel Balderston, Mike Gonzalez, Ana M. López – 2000 Page 403 "Brazil’s most famous cartoonist is Maurício de Sousa, especially for his Turma da Mônica (1970) series, which is translated into nine languages and exported to seventeen countries, with international sales of 25 million books per month."Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison Pop culture Latin America!: media, arts, and lifestyle — 2005 Page 171 "Sousa soon set up his own production company, and now Maurício de Sousa Produções owns not only a successful publisher of comics but also amusement parks based on Monica and her gang and the fourth largest animation studio in the world. The toothy main character, Mônica, was based on one of Sousa’s daughters, as was one of her gang, Magali."

At 17 years of age, he worked for a daily newspaper called Folha da Manhã as a crime reporter. In 1959 Sousa quit that job and began his comic book career. He created Turma da Mônica ("Monica’s Gang"). 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, a famous Japanese manga artist and personal friend.

Characters

Some of Mauricio’s creations include:

  • Monica’s Gang – Mauricio’s long-running signature series.
  • Monica Teen – Offshoot series from Monica’s Gang, featuring Monica and her friends as teenagers in a manga-style publication. First published in 2008.
  • Chuck Billy ‘n’ Folks
  • The Cavern Clan
  • Pelézinho’s Team – A tribute to Pelé that centered around young Pelézinho ("Little Pelé") and his football playing friends. Published between 70s and 1986.
  • Tina’s Pals – A series about a group of teenage friends, aimed at the adolescent audience.
  • Blu – Anthropomorphized domestic animals (dogs, cats, etc.). Blu regularly exchanged dialogue with the “Tracer” of the comic.
  • Lionel’s Kingdom – Group of wild animals (both African and Brazilian) who lived under the reign of a lion king.
  • Bug-a-Booo – 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 MorteLady MacDeath in the English version), all of whom lived in a cemetery.
  • The Funnies – A Brazilian space adventurer who pilotes a round ship (called "Astronauta" in the original version). First published in 1963.
  • Horacio’s World – 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 Tribe – a Native Brazilian child (Curumim in Tupi language) and his friends, who live 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 Gaucho – 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 Ronaldinho (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 Alegre. Ronaldinho Gaucho is syndicated worldwide., www.universaluclick.com

Story

Mauricio de Sousa was born in Santa Isabel on October 27, 1935. His father, Antonio Maurício de Sousa, was a poet, 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.