Brazilian comics
Brazilian comics started in the 19th century, adopting a satirical style known as cartoon, charges or caricature that would later be cemented in the popular comic strips. The publication of magazines dedicated exclusively to comics, in Brazil, started at the beginning of the 20th century. Brazilian artists have worked with both styles. In the case of American comics some have achieved international fame, like Roger Cruz with X-Men and Mike Deodato with Thor, Wonder Woman and others.
History
Precursors and initial steps (1837–1895)
Brazilian comics have a long history, that goes back to the 19th century. As a charge, the first drawing was circulated in 1837, sold in separate like a lithography, by Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre. This author would later create a magazine of political humor in 1844.In the late 1860s, Angelo Agostini continued the tradition of introducing the Brazilian journalistic and popular publications, drawings with themes of political and social satire. Between his most popular characters, drawn as protagonists of stories in comics, were Nho Quim and Zé Caipora. Agostini published in magazines like Vida Fluminense, O Malho, and Don Quixote.
''O Tico-Tico'' (1905-1957)
Released on October 11, 1905, the magazine O Tico-Tico is considered the first comic book in the country. Designed by the cartoonist Renato de Castro, the project was presented to Luís Bartolomeu de Souza e Silva, the owner of the magazine O Malho. After being approved, the magazine was attended by Angelo Agostini, who created the logo and some stories. The format was inspired by the French children's magazine La Semaine de Suzette, which had some of its characters adapted to a Brazilian version. The magazine had the collaboration of renowned artists such as J. Carlos, Max Yantok, and Alfredo Storni.The most successful character in the magazine was Chiquinho, considered for many years an original Brazilian creation. Other characters who starred in the magazine were Reco-Reco, Bolão e Azeitona by Luiz Sá, Lamparina by J. Carlos, Kaximbown by Max Yantok, Max Muller by A. Rocha, and others.
In the 1930s, some American strips and characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Krazy Kat, and Felix the Cat, were published in the magazine. J. Carlos was the first Brazilian artist to draw characters from the Walt Disney Company in the pages of Tico-Tico.
The magazine lost popularity in the 1930s when new comic books and newspaper comic strips were released in Brazil. The magazine ended in 1957, with some republications until 1977.
Supplements and the creation of the publishers
In September 1929, the newspaper A Gazeta creates a comic supplement in tabloid format, based on the Sunday supplements of the American comics; in the following month, Casa Editorial Vecchi published the magazine: Mundo Infantil, but the success of the supplements was given in 1934 with the creation of the magazine Suplemento Infantil by Adolfo Aizen. Aizen was known to work in the newspaper O Globo, and also in magazines O Malho and O Tico-Tico. His project was loosely inspired by American comics, he formed partnerships to publish the stories with characters like Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Donald Duck, Popeye, along original characters created by Brazilian artists as As Aventuras de Roberto Sorocaba.With the success of the magazine other magazine supplements were created in the following years, among them the one that earned popularity was O Globo Juvenil, created by Roberto Marinho to compete against the Suplemento Juvenil. O Globo Juvenil was responsible for introducing characters such as Superman, The Phantom, Prince Valiant, Li'l Abner, Alley Oop, and the republication of some titles from Suplemento Juvenil.In 1939, Marinho created a second magazine, called Gibi, originally a pejorative word for "Black boy"; it became so popular that gibi became a generic name for comic magazines in Brazil.
In 1937, a new character was created through the newspaper supplements called A Garra Cinzenta, created by Francisco Armond and Renato Silva. The character has become known for its mature themes involving mystery, horror and science fiction. The comics ended in 1939 totaling 100 pages, and was later republished in the Franco-Belgian market.
First individual titles and newspaper strips (1950-1963)
In 1949, inspired by his brother who published Disney comics in Argentina, the Italian Victor Civita moved to Brazil to found a publishing company. In May 1950, he created Editora Primavera, which published a magazine with Italian comics called Raio Vermelho. In July, he renamed the company Editora Abril. The publishing house's first team had six employees, including science fiction writer and radio soap opera scriptwriter Jerônimo Monteiro as editor, and French journalist Micheline Frank, brought from César Civita's company in Argentina, in the jokes section. The Donald Duck comic book was launched on July 12, 1950 and the comic soon became the market leader. After its first twenty-one issues, the magazine became weekly; with the emergence of Zé Carioca comic in 1961, it became biweekly, alternating with this one on newsstands every other week. The two publications also began to adopt the same numbering, with Pato Donald receiving the even numbers and Zé Carioca continuing with the odd numbers in the sequence. In 1952, the Mickey Mouse comic book debuted and original stories made by Brazilian artists were made in the following years.In the late 1950s, the publisher O Cruzeiro stood out by bringing the titles Little Lulu, Tubby and Dennis the Menace to Brazil, quickly becoming popular, which led the publisher to bring new American titles in the following years, starring characters from both Hanna-Barbera and Harvey Comics. In 1960, Ziraldo launched the Pererê comic, published by O Cruzeiro, becoming known for being the first entirely colored children's magazine published in the country. Pererê had appeared a year earlier in the pages of O Cruzeiro magazine in a series of gag cartoons.
In the same period, the young artist Mauricio de Sousa began his career as a police reporter at the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo; he created the characters Bidu & Franjinha in 1959 and the following year with the help of other artists he published comics with his characters in the magazines Bidu and Zaz Traz, returning to Folha de S.Paulo in 1961 where he focused on strips with his character Jimmy Five, as well as other series with different characters like Chuck Billy 'n' Folks, The Cavern Clan, Bubbly the Astronaut, Lionel's Kingdom, Bug-a-Booo and Horacio's World being among the best known.
Military Dictatorship Period (1964-1985)
With the emergence of the Military Dictatorship in Brazil, many magazines ended up being cancelled that same year, which resulted in the abrupt cancellation of Pererê after 4 years of publication. Cruzeiro continued publishing comics until it closed its doors in 1975, with many of its titles gradually being moved to other publishers such as Abril, RGE and Vecchi.In the late 60s, with the commercial success of Monica and Thunder, Mauricio managed to form a partnership with Abril to publish the Mônica comic book in 1970, which was successful enough that in 1973 the comic book Cebolinha starring the character Jimmy Five debuted. Starting in 1974 there were other attempts to publish original comics by Brazilian artists through the publisher, such as Satanésio by Ruy Perotti, Sacarrolha by Primaggio Mantovi, Cacá e Sua Turma by Ely Barbosa, as well as a return of the character Pererê by Ziraldo, however none of the titles lasted more than a year of publication.
In the following years, in addition to Disney and Mauricio de Sousa comics, Abril published other well-known titles such as Little Lulu, Woody Woodpecker, The Pink Panther, Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear and comics of heroes from both Marvel and DC Comics. Starting in the late 1970s popular TV shows such as Os Trapalhões and Sítio do Picapau Amarelo were adapted into long running comic books by other publishers such as Bloch and RGE. In 1982, two more characters by Mauricio de Sousa gained their own title, Smudge and Chuck Billy. In the same year there was a comic book adaptation of the children's TV show Turma do Lambe-Lambe by Abril, whose characters were created by cartoonist Daniel Azulay, who previously worked with newspaper strips between the 60s and 70s.
During the dictatorship, several underground and alternative magazines criticizing the regime emerged, among them O Pasquim, which published satirical comic strips and cartoons by Henfil, Jaguar, Millôr Fernandes and Ziraldo, among others.
Post Military Dictatorship (1985-present)
After several years being published by Abril all Monica and Friends comics were discontinued in 1986 and moved the following year to Editora Globo, where the comic book for the character Maggy debuted in 1989. With the end of Mauricio de Sousa's comics by Abril in the late 80s, the publisher resorted to new titles such as Fofura, Gordo and Patrícia of Ely Barbosa who had previously published the comic book Cacá e Sua Turma by RGE, in the beginning of the decade, and also O Menino Maluquinho based on Ziraldo's 1980 book of the same name, which ended up becoming a success, being published until 1994 and then continued by other publishers.In the 2000s, the Abril comics became mainly limited to just Disney over time. Monica and Friends and Menino Maluquinho comics were published by Globo, however after Mauricio moved his characters to the multinational publisher Panini Comics in 2007, Globo discontinued publishing comics in 2008. Abril discontinued publishing comics in 2018, making the new publisher Culturama continue with Disney comics.