A New Member of the 500 Club.

As mentioned in the previous post- 500 is an increasingly rare number for comic book series to achieve but Brazil is hitting the big 5-0-0 mark once again with this month’s Cebolinha 500, published by Panini. Learn more about the journey to 500 and Maurico de Sousa's beloved character!

Cebolinha 1(1973)-Abril/MSP

Ceblinha- “Little Onion” in Portuguese- referring to his five strands of hair is renamed Jimmy Five in the English translations. Always trying to regain the throne as “owner of the street” he always comes up with “infallible plans” to unseat the neighborhood’s leader, usually stealing her stuffed rabbit and making fun of her stature, height or teeth; the more well-known character, Monica, started as a secondary character in his comic strips. The mean little boy is not without his charm. His speech impediment changes his Rs to Ls…making him always declare he will be the owner of the moon, not the street (Lua=moon, rua=street). In English, still mispronouncing his Rs…he would be the owner of the stweet(R=W).

His first appearance was actually in comic strips- he was a secondary character (with more than five strands of hair) appearing frequently after his October 24th, 1960 premiere in “Bidu e Franjinha” from the Sao Paulo based “Folha de Manhã” newspaper. His creator, Mauricio de Sousa, claims the character is based on a childhood acquaintance. Celebrating 50 years in 2010, Panini released a hard cover commemorative book detailing his “career” : Cebolinha 50 Anos.

A celebration of Cebolinha

In 1973, Abril, publisher of Monica, granted the character his own series. Cebolinha stayed with Abril for 168 issues until the property was sold to Globo, enjoying 246 issues there until 2006. With 85 issues under his belt with current publisher Panini(since 2007)…Cebolinha reaches the monumental 500 this month! The preview, released today, states “Cebolinha acquires  Marina’s magic pencil to create a infallible plan, but Captain Ugly(Captain Fray in the translation) has other ideas… Anniversary special that commemorates 500 issues of Cebolinha in Brazil.”

Cebolinha 500- Panini/MSP

Issue 500(listed as 86 on the website) is available in Portuguese from the publisher's website for $1.60(with a high shipping rate, unfortunately). The issue is 68 pages and includes activities and games.

Learn more about his competition, Monica, here!