Monica and Friends (), previously published as Monica's Gang in Anglophone territories and as Frizz and Friends in London, is a Brazilian comic book series and media franchise created by Mauricio de Sousa.
The series originated in a comic strip first published by the newspaper Folha da Manhã in 1959, in which the protagonists were Blu (Bidu) and Franklin (Franjinha), however, in the following years the series was shaped towards its current identity with the introduction of new characters such as Monica (Mônica) and Jimmy Five (Cebolinha) who became the new protagonists. The stories revolve around a group of children who live in a fictional neighborhood in São Paulo known as Lemon Tree District (Bairro do Limoeiro) which has a street with the same name called Lemon Tree Street (Rua do Limoeiro) where Monica and her several friends live, inspired by the neighborhood of Cambuí in Campinas and the city of Mogi das Cruzes, where Mauricio spent his childhood.MundoHQ - Pelezinho vai para a Copa!!!
Although the title of the franchise mainly refers to the core group of children who live on Lemon Tree Street, it's also used as an umbrella title who encompasses other works created by Mauricio throughout his career such as Chuck Billy 'n' Folks, Tina's Pals, Lionel's Kingdom, Bug-a-Booo, The Cavern Clan, Bubbly the Astronaut, Horacio's World, The Tribe, and others, since stories from these series are frequently published in comics focused in characters such as Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge, Maggy and Chuck Billy. Since 1970, in the form of comic books, the characters have been published by publishers such as Abril (1970-1986), Globo (1987-2006) and Panini Comics (2007-present), totaling almost 2,000 issues already published for each character.
The English title of the series was later changed to Monica and Friends. The characters and comics were subsequently adapted into, among other media, an animated television series as well as films, most of which are anthologies.
In 2008, a spin-off series, Monica Teen, was created in a manga style and features the characters as teenagers.
Monica is considered the most well-known comic book character in Brazil. In 2015 alone, the characters were used on three million products for over 150 companies.Sousa, Monica Spada nee. Freedom the Size of an Elephant. Nowadays the comics are sold in 40 countries in 14 languages.
Publication history
Maurício de Sousa, then-reporter for Folha da Manhã, in 1959, decided to enter the field of comics hitherto disputed in the country. In the same year made his first characters Blu and Franklin, and decided that Blu would be the protagonist. Both were based on his own childhood, Franklin based on Maurício himself and Blu on his pet dog Cuíca. The main inspirations of Monica and Friends were through American comics like Peanuts and Little Lulu, which have inspired some recurring themes like the boys' club. In the following year of 1960, the characters gained ground through the children's magazine Zaz Traz by publisher Editora Outubro, later getting their own comic titled Bidu by Editora Continental. However, the magazines were canceled that same year.
After that the characters returned to newspaper strips, the character Jimmy Five which had won great popularity in the previous magazines has become protagonist of their own strips of newspaper next to Blu and Franklin in 1961. Seeing potential in the character, Mauricio went on to create several supporting characters to appear in the Jimmy Five strips, like Smudge and Specs. But after so long Maurício received a complaint for the lack of feminine characters in his comics. So to avoid further controversy, in 1963 Monica was created, initially as a supporting character in the Jimmy Five strips (at first as the Specs' little sister) based on Mauricio's real daughter Mônica Sousa. Over time, the success and the charisma of the character made her be the protagonist of the series alongside Jimmy Five which became her sidekick. Also in 1963, Mauricio began to create new projects of comic strips with other characters without links with Monica and Jimmy Five, like Zezinho and Hiroshi (now called Chuck Billy 'n' Folks), The Cavern Clan, Bug-a-Booo, The Tribe and Raposão (now called Lionel's Kingdom).
The characters only returned to be published in a monthly comic book from 1970, by publisher Abril, initially under the title of "Mônica e Sua Turma" (Monica and Her Gang), later being changed to "Mônica" and "Turma da Mônica" (Monica's Gang), the latter title used only for merchandising. With so many of the characters ever created by Mauricio in strips of newspaper also began to appear in the comics of Monica's Gang. At that time the area of comics was more competitive in Brazil, many Brazilian artists were trying to hold his own in the stalls along the publications of American comics like Donald Duck, José Carioca, Little Lulu, and many others. Even with these new comics, Monica's Gang remained with their good sales on newsstands and with this soon came to the Jimmy Five's solo comic book three years later. Sales were great and with that a contract with the footballer Pelé was made for the launch of a character based on him, the Pelezinho, which was a phenomenon among children at the time, marking time in the history of Brazilian comics. Pelezinho was one of the few black characters made by Maurício, and his design wasn't the most flattering to the black community, with a pale colored circle around the character's mouth to represent his lips, a concept made infamous by the black face depiction of African people. In late 2013, however, Pelezinho's design was updated to reflect more modern sensibilities.
The staff of cartoonists has grown, leading to the foundation of the Estúdios Maurício de Sousa, that produce comics with the characters created by Mauricio de Sousa, and other marketing projects and cartoons of the characters. The first attempts to make a Monica and Friends cartoon occurred in the late 60s during a deal with Cica food company that produced some commercials for television, these being commercial who originated the character Thunder, who is currently a main character of the Lionel's Kingdom stories. The first film was only released in 1982, As Aventuras da Turma da Mônica which was produced in partnership with Black & White & Color and distributed by Embrafilme.
Over the years, other characters gained their own comic books, like Smudge (1982), Chuck Billy (1982) and Maggy (1989). Other media have strengthened over the years and Monica-branded merchandise were launched, with products like books, toys, discs, CD-ROM and video games. A Monica-themed amusement park was created in 1993 in São Paulo, titled "Parque da Mônica" (Monica Park). In 2008 the franchise received a manga-style comic entitled Monica Teen.
Characters
The Monica and Friends series has an extensive amount of main and secondary characters. It has as main protagonists Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge and Maggy and each has its own comic book. Currently the character Milena was recently added as the fifth main character of the group. Other characters from other series created by Mauricio de Sousa are also included on Monica and Friends, making crossovers or quotations from each other in several stories, among several other characters. The main setting of the stories is the fictional Lemon Tree Street (Rua do Limoeiro).
Most stories focus on the daily lives of the main characters and occasionally on the secondary characters; the humour usually uses various types of repetitions, allusions, appeals to the nonsense, paranomasias, sarcasm and metalanguage. The stories with Monica and Jimmy Five revolve around the conflict between the two. Jimmy Five is a troublemaker and bully who always tries to scold Monica or steal her stuffed bunny to give knots in its ears (usually having Smudge or another boy accomplice), always having Monica get her revenge by hitting him with her stuffed bunny, often leaving him bruised and with black eyes. Often Jimmy Five makes plans against her with various traps, sometimes using Franklin's inventions or talking Smudge into helping, but he always loses to Monica at the end.
Smudge's stories often focus on his penchant for dirt and mess and his fear of water, having never bathed in his life, and constantly being threatened by villains or his friends to take a shower, with him always succeeding in not getting wet and staying dirty. The stories with Maggy generally focus on her gluttony, with a superhuman ability to eat more than a normal person without ever getting fat and sometimes stealing food from her friends.
Among the villains are Captain Fray, a supervillain with the power to control garbage and dirt, and Lord Raider, a space rabbit whose first appearance was in the movies. A joke often breaks the fourth wall.
Related works Other related works which relate to the series are: Thunder - Based on the first character of Monica and Friends, it shows the character Blu, a sentient blue dog of the Schnauzer breed, as acting as a mere actor in a studio of comics. Chuck Billy 'n' Folks - Focuses on the comic daily life of Chuck Billy, a lazy farmer boy and his friends who live on a farm in Brazil's countryside. He's the one that most often appears in contact with Monica and Friends. The character have his own spin-off comic book series. As Monica and Friends, he received a spin-off manga-style comic in 2013 called Chico Bento Moço (Chuck Billy Young Man).Chico Bento ganha revista com versão adolescente Access date: 18/12/2013 Bug-a-Booo - Focuses on comedy stories involving monsters of horror films (ghosts, vampires, werewolfs, Frankenstein and even Death) in a cemetery. Tina's Pals - Shows a daily routine of a group of college students and their daily lives as they date, go to college, among other issues. In 2014, it received its own spin-off comic book series. Access date: 23/05/2014 The Funnies - Focuses on the comic adventures of Bubbly, an astronaut, as he explores space. Lionel's Kingdom - Focuses on the daily lives of a group of anthropomorphic animals of different species in a forest led by a lion king. The Cavern Clan - Focuses on Pitheco, a caveman inventor who is living in the midst of pre-history and tries to revolutionize humanity with his inventions. Horacio's World - Focuses on the life of a young philosopher, the dinosaur Horacio, and his friends. The Tribe - Focuses on an Amazonian native, Tom-Tom, who lives in a tropical forest constantly threatened by white men.
Publications
Monica and Friends and its related works are released in a number of different books. Firstly, they were published by Editora Abril, from 1970 to 1986, then Editora Globo, from 1987 to 2006. From 2007 on, Panini Comics was chosen to keep the publications. So far there are comic books starring many characters, among the best known and sold are the characters of Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge, Maggy and Chuck Billy, plus almanacs with republication of classic stories with varying characters. In 2015 was released an app for smartphones gathering more than 500 editions of comics franchise for download.
Franchise Television and film adaptations Animated series