This is a list of characters from the Monica's Gang franchise, created by Brazilian cartoonist Maurício de Sousa. Note that only characters from the main series are detailed here. For characters from related publications, check the navigation box at the bottom of this page.
In 2011, in an internet chatroom, Maurício revealed that the character's neighborhood was inspired on the neighborhood of Cambuí, in the city of Campinas, where he lived for a few years. It's a place with lots of plants and trees, a soccer field (where the boys play), a garbage dumpster which Smudge used to play in (which is not the case in recent editions), and little to no asphalt.
Before Monica's debut in 1963, Maurício's initial characters were all male. After being accused of misogyny, he began creating his first female characters which were inspired by some of his own daughters.
Main characters
The four main characters of Monica's Gang are:
Monica (Mônica)
Jimmy Five (Cebolinha "Little Onion")
Smudge (Cascão)
Maggy (Magali)
Secondary characters Franklin Franklin (Franjinha, Little Fringe Carlos Frederico Médici) The child prodigy of the gang, being a preteen. He is a scientist who creates formulas, time machines and several fantastic devices in his laboratory that often fall into the hands of their friends creating serious problems. Jimmy Five takes advantage of his inventions multiple times to use them to defeat Monica, sometimes even convincing Franklin to take part on his plans to dominate the street. He owns of the puppy Blu, who has been his best friend since the first comic strips. Usually seen walking along with Bucky, Jeremiah, and Manezinho, which has been his friends since the earliest comics. He also has a secret love for Marina, often using their inventions to try to impress her. He is blond with a black bangs covering his forehead, usually wears black shorts, brown shoes, and a red shirt with a button (very similar to Jimmy Five's clothes), and occasionally also a white coat when in his laboratory. The character was originally based on Mauricio de Sousa himself as a child.
The character has been among one the most popular outside of the main quartet of protagonists. He was once listed as the third best character behind only Curly and Bug-a-Booo.
Bucky Bucky (Titi, Timóteo Tiago Soares de Lima) is Franklin's best friend and one of the older boys in the gang. He is arrogant, narcissistic and flirty. Bucky has the same teeth as Monica, but his friends rarely make fun of that. Bucky dates Annie, despite being seen flirting with other girls. In some stories, he ends up being rejected by other girls due to his infidelity. He is usually seen together Franklin, Jeremiah and Manezinho in most of the stories, sometimes forming the team of the older preteen boys known as the "Turma do Bermudão" (lit. Big Shorts' Gang).
Jeremiah Jeremiah (Jeremias) is another of Franklin's best friends, and one of Mauricio's first Afro-Brazilian characters. He is seen most of the time hanging out with Franklin, Bucky (who is his best friend) and Manezinho. He often wears a red cap (which belonged to his grandfather), hiding that he is bald. Until the early 80s, he was drawn in a strong black color with blackface features,A imagem do negro nos quadrinhos e nas produções audiovisuais infantojuvenis but since circa 1983, his color is a softer brown and has thin lips.
In 2018, the character became the protagonist of a graphic novel from the Graphic MSP collection, entitled Jeremias: Pele, addressing issues of racism. The graphic novel was written by Rafael Calça and drawn by Jefferson Costa, having had a sequel in 2020 entitled Jeremias: Alma.
Manezinho Manezinho (Manoel Alcunha Miranda Filho) is another of Franklin and Bucky's best friends. He is a Portuguese immigrant who recently moved to Brazil. He wears red overalls and has hair similar to Monica's. He was frequently present in the comics until the early 70s, only returning in the 2000s with an excuse that in the meantime he was living in Portugal and returned to Brazil again. In the current comics it is revealed that he has a young brother called António Alfacinha.
Hummer Hummer (Humberto, Alberto Silveira Filho) is a boy suffers from muteness, which means all he can do to communicate is to murmur "hmm-hmm". In some strips, it is stated that he is also deaf, and that he reads people's lips to understand what they are saying. Originally he was introduced in 1960 as a pre-teen being one of Franklin's friends, but over time he was redesigned as a boy the same age as Jimmy Five. In some comics it is also implied he is deaf.
Mary Angela Mary Angela (Maria Cebolinha, Mariângela Cogumélio Menezes da Silva) is Jimmy Five's baby sister. She is a baby who is between 1 and 2 years old, sometimes being able to speak a few words. Just like Monica and Maggy she was also based on one of Mauricio de Sousa's first daughters, Mariângela, being the eldest daughter of the family.
Specs Specs (Zé Luís) is one of the oldest kids of the gang. Specs likes reading and studying, but also finds time to hang with his friends. He was introduced as one of the Jimmy Five's best friends and sidekick during the return of the strips in the newspapers in 1963, at first without personality. After Monica's debut, he was designed to be her older brother, although those ties were discarded in later strips.
Specs was also originally the leader of the boys' club, but this idea was also forgotten giving his place to the Jimmy Five. Currently he has rarely appeared in modern comics, usually in favor of Franklin who is the main genius of the gang. His age is inconsistent, being portrayed as a pre-teen in earlier comics or as a teenager in most recent comics. In Monica Teen he along with Crystal first appeared working for Bubbly in his spaceship, occupying the rank of Ensign.
Couch Gag Louie Couch Gag Louie (Teveluisão, Luís Televieira Lacerda) a portmanteau of the Portuguese words "Televisão" (Television), "Luís", and "Luisão" (Big Luís)) is a boy that as his name suggests, he is addicted to television, and spends all day watching it. He is one of the older boys being the same age as Specs (who is sometimes seen as his best friend). His friends always tells him that this is not healthy, and forces him to go outdoors. His main feature is that in addition to his glasses he is often seen with a grin even when he is speaking, being rarely seen without the grin. He is Bloggy's older brother. Like Specs he used to be a regular character between the 60's and 70's, but has few appearances in current comics.
Sunny Sunny (Xaveco, Xavier Ximenes Júnior Lorota Diniz Filho) is Jimmy Five and Smudge's best friend. The main characteristic of this boy a lack of any defining features. He is always referred to as "the secondary character", and the main characters always make fun of his apparent uselessness. He constantly attempts to elevate his rank to that of a main character, a trait which he transfers to his teen version in the spinoff series Monica Teen.
Sunny originally appeared in the 1960s comic strips as one of several Jimmy Five's friends with whom he starred, and continued to appear in the comic books usually serving as a supporting character in most of the stories without showing any personality. Starting in the 2000s he began to have more prominence in stories written by Emerson Abreu, which helped to develop his current trait of "secondary character", as well as his family starting with his older sister Xabéu and his divorced parents.Mauricio's interview with RIO MÍDIA In recent stories he is seen spending time with his clumsy father whom he visits often as he lives with his mother and sister. Also in more recent stories he is seen having a paternal grandmother named Xepa and a yellow poodle named Ximbuca.
Angel Angel (Anjinho, Ângelo Ceolino lit. Little Angel) he is an angel kid who is friends with the children of Lemon Tree Street and occasionally acts as their guardian angel. He often appears on a cloud and is often called upon by Monica and her friends to help them with a problem. Most of the time he acts as a responsible figure for the children in Lemon Tree, wanting to guide them on the right path and often trying to protect them from danger, which most of the time makes him suffer in comical situations. Sometimes the character is also seen rivaling some demon kids, besides having affiliations with Heaven and Saint Peter.
The character was originally introduced in a 1964 comic strip as a new friend for Jimmy Five, having been presented as an angel who was punished by the heavens being transformed into a normal boy for being very mischievous, but little by little he returned to his angel form, at one point even saying goodbye to Jimmy Five, but later returning as a regular character due to his popularity. Over the years, several divergences about the character have occurred among the writers, with some stories establishing that he is genderless, showing that he is capable of aging like the other characters, that only children can see him or even that he was born as an angel. However, in a story written by Flávio Teixeira de Jesus in 1991 it is shown that Angel was originally a boy who died on December 25th during the Roman Empire period, having fallen from a cliff while picking up a rose that he gave to God to be used to create the Star of Bethlehem.
Between the 70s and 90s, the character became popular enough to the point that he often appeared interacting with the quartet of protagonists Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge and Maggy, sharing the spotlight with them in various media such as the film A Princesa e o Robô, the game Turma da Mônica em o Resgate (where is one of the playable characters), appearing in various products and even starring 3 issues in the Gibizinho series, however, the character's protagonism has reduced over time becoming rarely seen with the quartet in current stories. A graphic novel focused on Angel in the Graphic MSP series was published in May 2022 under the title "Anjinho: Além", having been made by Max Andrade and Kaji Pato. In Monica Adventures the character is shown as a teenage angel (having aged, contradicting the story published in 1991) initially presenting himself with a superhero name called Céuboy (lit. Skyboy), but later he adopts the name Ângelo, which is revealed to be his real name.
Annie Annie (Aninha, lit. Little Ana) is Bucky's (main) girlfriend. She caught Bucky flirting with other girls multiple times, but in the end, she ends up forgiving him. Annie is very jealous, but Bucky still manages to date other girls while she is not watching over him. Later, on the series sequel, Monica Teen, Annie finally ends her relationship with Bucky, leaving him desperate to reconsiliate the relationship.
Dustine Dustine (Maria Cascuda, Gabriela Silva) is Smudge's girlfriend. Originally in the early stories Dustine was just as dirty girl, easily being a female counterpart of Smudge as her Portuguese name suggests, but over the years she has gradually changed her personality into a clean girl who takes frequent showers (even when she was drawn with smudges on her cheeks just like her boyfriend in older stories), what is occasionally portrayed as a running gag, as Smudge still prefers dirt. In the recent comics is a great friend to Monica and Maggy. She sometimes shows difficulties with her relationship with Smudge, both because Smudge doesn't take dating seriously and is often feel jealous to see her boyfriend with other girls, very similar to the relationship between Bucky and Annie. Her real name is Maria Cassandra, but she is usually referred to by the nickname Cascuda (Dustine in the English translations).
Toddy