''Blu'' (''Bidu'') is a character in the Brazilian comic strip ''
Monica's Gang
''Monica's Gang'' or ''Monica and Friends'' (Portuguese: ''Turma da Mônica''; British English: ''Monica & Friends'') is a Brazilian comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simp ...
'', created in 1959. He was the first character created by
Maurício de Sousa, along with his owner Franklin (''Franjinha''). The character appears in the logo and is the mascot of Mauricio de Sousa Produções, the company founded by Sousa to release his works.
Blu is the only character who appears in two different kinds of stories. In one, he is a normal dog, owned by Franklin, who fears taking baths (but is invariably forced to take them by Franklin), does anything in exchange for a bone, and plays around with the other dogs from the neighborhood. In the other type of stories, he is a director-actor of his own stories, is highly personified walking with two feet behind the sets (and walking like a normal dog when acting), and is famous for the strips in which he talks to objects, especially the rock called Mrs. Stone.
History
Mauricio says he has based both Blu and Franklin on himself and Cuíca, the dog he had when he was a child. His first appearance was in 1959 in the comic strip ''Bidu e Franjinha'' published in the newspaper ''
Folha da Manhã
Empresa Folha da Manhã is a company owned by Grupo Folha that runs dailies Folha de S.Paulo and Agora São Paulo and classified sheet ''Alô Negócios'', a paper that circulates in Paraná State, Brazil.
The company was founded in 1921 by a gr ...
''. The very first stories had the boy Franklin (Blu's owner) and his friends Bucky, Jeremiah, Manezinho and Hummer as protagonists. In 1960, through a partnership with the publisher Editora Outubro, Mauricio de Sousa collaborated making stories of his characters to children's magazine ''Zaz Traz'', while in the same year he created Blu and Franklin's own magazine, titled ''Bidu'' by Continental. But the comic was canceled in the same year after only eight issues.
In 1961 he and Franklin became supporting characters for
Jimmy Five after he became the protagonist, however stories with him and Franklin kept being published for many years. In 1963, when Mauricio founded his own studio, the project was originally called Bidulândia Serviços de Empresa (now known as
Mauricio de Sousa Produções) in tribute to the character. In the 1970s and '80s the Blu and Franklin stories became less and less frequent. Franklin went on to be a recurring character for
Monica, Jimmy Five,
Smudge and
Maggy, while Blu went on to starring in both solos stories and stories with Franklin.
Since the 1960s, Blu doesn't have his own printed comics, but when he celebrated his 40th anniversary, a special edition was released in remembrance, titled ''Bidu – Especial 40 Anos'' (''Blu – 40 Years Special''). Blu also had an almanac with classic stories that was published by Panini Comics between 2008 and 2014 (returning in 2020) called ''Almanaque Bidu & Mingau'', in this almanac Blu stories were published along with stories focused in Vanilla,
Maggy's pet cat.
Related characters
* ''Franklin'' (''Franjinha'') – Blu's owner and the brains of the gang. The only character who is closely related both to Blu and to Monica and her friends, apart from Duke. He keeps a personal laboratory attached to his house. In there, he concocts all sorts of things, including complex machines such as
time machines
''Time Machines'' is a 1998 studio album by English experimental group Coil, originally released under the one-off project alias Time Machines. The album was created under the premise of psychedelic drone pieces named after corresponding hallu ...
,
teleporters,
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...
s, etc., not always with success. He is in love with
Marina, the artist of the gang, even though she has no interest in him.
* ''Duke'' (''Duque'') – Blu's best friend, appears mostly on the stories in which Blu is a normal dog.
* ''Glu'' (''Bugu'') – Glu is not an enemy, but usually annoys Blu by doing almost everything to take part of his strips. Blu never accepts, so Glu sees himself forced to perform his famous "imitations", even against Blu's wills. However, in the end he is always kicked off the strip (literally). He always says "Alô, mamãe!" (''Hello, mommy!'') when he enters the strip, and "Tchau, mamãe!" (''Bye, mommy!''), when he is kicked off. He has also appeared as Mister B (a reference to the magician
Mr. M), a great magician who everybody thought to be Blu. Glu was one of the few characters not conceived by de Sousa himself, but by his brother Márcio, who describes him as his "self-prortrait" for always trying to "steal his famous brother's show".
* ''Manfred'' (''Manfredo'') - Blu's main assistant, appears almost exclusively on the strips in which Blu is a director/actor. He is a secretary, producer, and arranger and is always carrying a clipboard.
* ''Mrs. Stone'' (''Dona Pedra'') – The most famous object that talks to Blu. A single grey stone, which cannot move. She mostly engages in philosophical conversations with Blu, or just talks about daily issues.
* ''Fog'' (''Zé Esquecido'') – As his Portuguese name suggests (roughly translated as Forgetful Joe), this character was introduced in 2003 and suffers from
amnesia, affecting his
short-term memory.
Reception and legacy
Blu is considered an iconic character in Brazil, especially when it comes to his creator Mauricio de Sousa. In 2014 a graphic novel starring the character entitled ''Bidu - Caminhos'' was published by Eduardo Damasceno and Luis Felipe Garrocho being part of the
Graphic MSP ''Graphic MSP'' is a series of graphic novels published by Panini Comics based on the characters of Monica and Friends.
Development
In November 2011, during the Festival Internacional de Quadrinhos held in Belo Horizonte, Sidney Gusman, editor of ...
collection. This graphic novel had a sequel in 2016 titled ''Bidu - Juntos''.
References
Blu's page at Monica's Gang official websiteDuke's page at Monica's Gang official websiteGlu's page at Monica's Gang official websiteManfred's page at Monica's Gang official websiteFog's page at Monica's Gang official website
External links
Official Monica's Gang website
{{Monica's Gang
Fictional dogs
Monica's Gang
Fictional Brazilian people
Brazilian comic strips
Comics characters introduced in 1959
Mascots introduced in 1959
Male characters in comics
Male characters in advertising
Dog mascots
Magazine mascots
Talking animals in fiction