''Dudão'' is a Brazilian children's comic book series created by former

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

pastor Eduardo Samuel da Silva in cooperation with his brother the artist Jairo Alves da Silva in 1992. The comic with an educational and religious focus was created with the aim of evangelizing children and showing positive messages. The comic book had its first 5 issues published by Louvor in 1992, returning in 1994 by the publisher Vida, where in addition to having the first issues republished, it also had new issues being sold until 1997. During the years of publication the comic derived several other media products, including an LP album sung by

Aline Barros Aline Barros Kistenmacker dos Santos (born 7 October 1976) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Several of her albums have been certified multiple times as Diamond by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD). Partial discogr ...

(in her early career) released in the same year that the comic debuted.

Synopsis

The story behind the Dudão comics is set in a Brazilian neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, focusing on a group of children. The main character, Dudão, is an obese and hyper-religious boy who is often accompanied by his best friends Binho and Rebeca and his not-so-friends Paçoca, Zuca, Pita and Tato. Most of the stories revolve around educational and everyday themes, usually with Dudão trying to reprimand his friends and helping them learn from their mistakes with themes of civility and Christian values.

Characters

*Dudão, the title

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

. An obese and religious boy, he is often trying to educate his friends and prevent them from committing bad deeds. In most of his speeches he always mentions "God" and "Jesus". *Binho, Dudão's best friend. He is also religious like Dudão, and tends to be the most sensitive of the group, crying easily and usually being calmed down by Dudão. In some stories he shows a rivalry with Zuca. *Rebeca, friend of Dudão and Binho and also the only girl in the gang. Just like them she is religious and often accompanies them, but tends to be the most aggressive and immature of the trio, usually being scolded by Dudão and learning with her mistakes. *Paçoca, a naughty little boy that is one of the antagonists in the comic. He has blond hair, and he is often making malicious pranks (usually with Zuca, Pita and Tato) for fun that are usually disapproved by Dudão who tries to scold him. He tends to be the most arrogant and is usually the one who causes the most problems. *Zuca, an Afro-descendant boy who is also one of the

antagonists An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.revistas.usp.br/
PIMENTEL, Susana Couto. Histórias em quadrinhos: uso e potencialidades na formação de leitores. Mocambras, v. 6, n. 11, p. 49, 2011.

Internet popularity

In 2020, the comic became an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

after scans were found on the internet, being rediscovered after several years forgotten, usually being the target of jokes through a

shitposting In Internet culture, shitposting or trashposting is the act of using an online forum or social media page to post content that is of "aggressively, ironically, and trollishly poor quality".: : : : : Shitposts are generally intentionally desig ...

group on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Most of the jokes were due to the art style (considered weird by many people, mainly due to the phallic shape of the eyes), and, mainly due to the fact of being hyper-evangelical, with religious fanaticism and the constant name-calling to any character, especially Dudão, both for being

and for being obese. What explains the name-calling is that, in the 90s, not much was discussed about racism, homophobia and other prejudices, and nowadays it would be considered "

politically incorrect "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

" hence the controversy involved. The comics were also criticized by many for considering the series too similar to ''

Monica's Gang ''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 c ...

''. A

fandub A fandub is a fan-made dub or redub of a live-action or animated production. Dubbing is the act of re-recording of a live-action or animated production, typically in a language other than the original. Most productions are translated from dif ...

of the comics made by the

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channel "Luan.G.B 2003" also helped to popularize the comics, giving voices and personality to the characters.anmtv.com.br/
''ANMTV ESPECIAL: DIA DO QUADRINHO NACIONAL''

References

{{reflist Brazilian comics titles Child characters in comics Comics about children Comics set in Brazil Fiction about bullying Christian comics Internet memes Religious controversies in comics 1992 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1992