The Cavern Clan


The Cavern Clan is a Brazilian comic strip created in 1961 by Mauricio de Sousa. It is part of the Monica's Gang series.
It centers around a prehistoric tribe in the Stone Age and depicts them living in the presence of dinosaurs. Most of the stories feature Pitheco hunting dinosaurs, running away from Tooga, or even his friends and he fighting against other village's people. The characters were anachronistically aware; for example, if a character needed to walk a long distance, he or she would say, “Too bad they didn’t invent the car yet, ’cause otherwise I could go faster”. Mauricio de Sousa was inspired by the American comic strips Tarzan and Alley Oop strips and named Pitheco's village Lem.

Characters

Stories of the series are often published in comic books of de Sousa characters like Monica, Jimmy Five and others since the 1970s, as well as other works created by Maurício de Sousa. The series also had two special comic books in the '90s by Editora Globo as a part of the series Gibizinho, and also an almanac with classic stories that was published by Panini Comics between 2009 and 2014, the latter starring alongside Horacio's World.

Other versions

Pitheco has also made a cameo in the fourth issue of Monica Teen; he appears as a statue at a museum that comes alive after a spell used by Captain Fray.
In 2009, the character gets new version on the graphic novel MSP 50: in a story by the comic artist Flávio Luiz, he meets the Astronaut. In 2010, was released his second graphic novel, MSP + 50, in which Pitheco is the protagonist in three stories, one of them by Beto Nicácio, one by Emerson Lopes and another by Fabio Ciccone.
In 2011, was released MSP Novos 50, in which Pitheco starred in two stories: one edited by comic book artist Luke Ross and another by comic book writer Alves. In November 2013, it was published in its first graphic novel starring Pitheco, Piteco - Ingá, script and pencils by Shiko; the title refers to the inscriptions of the Ingá Stone, located in Paraíba. The author, Shiko. is originally from Paraíba.
In June 2019, a new graphic novel entitled "Piteco - Fogo", by Eduardo Ferigato, is launched, featuring new characters, such as Thala, Piteco and Thuga's growing daughter, which can be considered a sequel of Ingá.

Other medias

In 1965, Pitheco had a picture book released by publisher :pt:Editora FTD|FTD, which was part of a series of books inspired by the Mauricio de Sousa's characters. In 1971, a song to Pitheco was composed for the album A Bandinha da Turma da Mônica. The characters are also featured in the Monica's Gang's 2007 animated film Uma Aventura no Tempo.
Two episodes of the webseries Monica Toy focused on The Cavern Clan also began to be made under the title Piteco Toy.
Pitheco is also a playable character in the 2018 game Mônica e a Guarda dos Coelhos.