Monica was based on Mauricio de Sousa's daughter in childhood. The reason for her creation was due to a complaint of the lack of female characters in Mauricio comics. At that time, newspaper strips of Blu and Jimmy Five were produced. When Monica made her first appearance was in a strip of Jimmy Five in 1963, at first as a secondary rival of main character. In the very first strips, Monica appeared as a 4-year-old little girl, she had a aggressive behavior and kind of bully, she used to wear shoes and had an angry face. Monica's hair was influenced by a haircut her older daughter Mariângela gave her once when she was a kid. But Mauricio improved her visual over the years giving to Monica a cute and friendly appearance and making her more naive and kind. However her characteristic of beating the boys with her rabbit was maintained, only reversing the roles making the boys act as antagonists to Monica often creating plans to defeat her. For most of the 60s she was considered a supporting role for Jimmy Five, however her popularity increased significantly at the end of the same decade when Mauricio received a contract with the food company CICA to use Monica and Thunder to appear in television commercials. With the popularity of Monica in the TV commercials in 1970 Mauricio made a new contract for a series of comic books with his characters, but with Monica as the title character instead of Jimmy Five. The real life Monica graduated in industrial design at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in São Paulo and works as executive director at her father's company.
Characteristics
Monica is a 7-year-old, strong and decisive girl, who does not tolerate impertinence, but at the same time, has her moments of femininity. She lives with her parents, has a little dog called Ditto, and does not let go of her blue stuffed rabbit called Samson. This rabbit, which she loves so dearly, is also a weapon against boys. Especially Jimmy Five and Smudge, who are always teasing her and calling her roly-poly, toothy, and shorty. She is described as possessing powerful strength, which she uses to beat up boys who tease her or to defend herself and her friends. She is known by the other characters as the "ruler of the street". She is often at odds with Jimmy Five, but backs him up whenever he gets into trouble. Monica's best friend is Maggy. Monica's also very shy to date boys, and she often causes trouble when she tries to talk or impress them. Her buckteeth are her trademark, but also the main reason for people to call her toothy.
Relatives and friends
Dona Luísa' – Monica's mother. Works as a designer for pieces of furniture.
Seu Sousa ' – Monica's father. He is based on Mauricio de Sousa himself, but he is a separate character. He works in a business company.
Samson' – Monica's blue rabbit toy. He is not only Monica's favorite toy but also the "weapon" that she uses on whoever calls her by names she doesn't like. Samson is a constant victim of Jimmy Five, Smudge or other boys who love to tie his ears in knots. Initially, he didn't have a name, "Samson" was suggested by Roberta Carpi, in 1983. It was based on a yellow toy rabbit stuffed with straw that the real Monica had when she was 2 years old. Originally in the very first strips Samson was also yellow, but was later changed to blue to match the new rabbit plush that Mauricio's daughter won in place of the old one in a TV show in her 7 years. In the first comic strips that appeared constantly was used as a weapon to beat and scare the boys of the neighborhood. In a strip from the same time it was revealed that the reason boys were afraid of the rabbit was because Monica carried a brick inside him to beat them, but this idea was dropped over time when Monica went on to demonstrate super strength. In some old stories is also revealed that inside him lives an elf-like imp. The character also has a female pink counterpart called Dalila, who rarely appears in comics and is used more in marketing. The real-life Samson was exposed in 2013 in a museum in honor of Monica's 50th birthday.
Ditto ' – Ditto is Monica's pet. He was a gift from Jimmy and Smudge, who did not remember to bring one to Monica's party. Ditto looks so much like her that the boys decided to buy it with the initial purpose of mocking her as soon as they saw the pooch on a pet shop window. However, their plan backfired, as both Ditto and Monica got along immediately and now stick together. Among the pets of Monica's Gang, Ditto is the most active. He is sometimes portrayed as having super strength, which often leads him or Monica to get into troublesome situations.
Monica is one of the main protagonists of the spin-off Monica Teen, published since 2008 by MSP and Panini Comics. In this Japanese-style comic-manga Monica and her friends are now 15 years old and go to school at Limoeiro High. The very first edition shows a drastic change in Monica and her friends since childhood when they were 7 years old. Monica is brave and no longer tormented by the boys in Limoeiro even though she is still strong and temperamental. On the other hand, her buckteeth and hair stay the same. She develops a passion for Jimmy Five that ends up with them dating over the comics with many fights and jealousy in high-comedy misadventures. Despite having changed in some ways, she still has an adventurous spirit and continues to use her super strength to stop the enemies that appear. Later on, she joins her friends in a crossover with characters by Osamu Tezuka such as Princess Sapphire, Astro Boy and Kimba.
Video games
Monica starred in a series of games for Master System and Sega Genesis developed by TecToy. The games were based on the Wonder Boy franchise, and their adaptations were exclusive to Brazil. In the adaptations of these games, Monica and her friends replace the protagonists. In 2014, Monica was added by publisher Nurigo Games as a playable character in the Brazilian edition of Massive Multiplayer Onlinerace gameTales Runner. Monica is also one of the default playable characters in the 2018 game Mônica e a Guarda dos Coelhos.
Reception and Legacy
Monica is often considered and referred to as the most popular character and icon in Brazilian comics and cartoons. In 1993 a special issue called "Mônica 30 Anos", of which celebrated the 30 years of the character was published, this edition besides comics showed curiosities about the origin of the character, an interview with the real Mauricio de Sousa's daughter and also arts made by other Brazilian artists. With the success of this issue, similar ones were launched in later years commemorating the 35, 40 and 50 years of the character. In 2013, during the character's 50th birthday celebration various old products, retro toys, books based in the character's history were sold, in addition to exhibitions and plays. The 50th anniversary was also celebrated by Cartoon Network in Brazil. In 2016 a Graphic Novel focused only on Monica entitled "Mônica - Força" was published, having been made by the artist Bianca Pinheiro, this Graphic Novel had a sequel in 2019 entitled "Mônica - Tesouros".
