'O Amigo da Onça'. Translation: "Why don't you phone the dentist to see if your wife is actually there???".
Péricles de Andrade Maranhão, who signed with simply Péricles, was a Brazilian cartoonist, and the creator of 'O Amigo da Onça' ("The Jaguar's Friend"', 1943-1961), a well-known cartoon feature from Brazil. It first appeared in the illustrated weekly O Cruzeiro on 23 October 1943, and stood out for its satirical, critical and ironic view on society. The series was so popular that other artists continued it after his death.
Early life and career
Born in 1924 in the Espinheiro neighborhood of Recife, Péricles de Andrade Maranhão published his first drawings in the school newspaper of the Colégio Marista. In 1942, he settled in Rio de Janeiro and began an association with Assis Chateaubriand's newspaper and magazine group Diários Associados.
A Cigarra
For the magazine A Cigarra, Péricles created several features, including his first comic character, 'Oliveira, o Trapalhão' ("Oliveira the Clumsy"). The character also appeared as a comic strip in O Guri, the bi-weekly comics supplement of the Rio newspaper Diário da Noite. Other creations for A Cigarra included 'Cenas Cariocas' ("Scenes of Rio"), a satirical view of Rio de Janeiro, 'Miriato o Gostosão', about an unsuccessful flirter, 'O Negócio Foi Assim' ("This Was The Deal"), starring losers who try to cover up their failings, 'O Rádio por Dentro' ("Inside the Radio"), a satire of the artistic world, and the joke-of-the-month feature 'A Piada do Mês'.
'O Amigo da Onça'. Comic strip from O Cruzeiro (1950).
O Amigo da Onça
On 23 October 1943, the Péricles feature 'O Amigo da Onça' made its first appearance in O Cruzeiro. It was created by request of editor Leão Gondim, who wanted a character with a broader appeal than merely the Rio audience. The main inspirations were Howard Baer's cartoon feature 'Enemies of Man' from the American magazine Esquire, and Guillermo Divito's character 'El Enemigo del Hombre' from the Argentinian magazine Patoruzú. Péricles' elegant character, with his slick hair and pencil mustache, had a cunning talent for bringing others in humiliating situations.
His name "O Amigo da Onça" (literally: "The Jaguar's Friend') was based on a popular joke of the time, in which one person keeps asking another person what he would do if a jaguar would attack him. The other has several answers, but the interviewer keeps coming up with alternative situations. Eventually, the second person answers, annoyed: "Hey, are you my friend or the jaguar's friend?" 'O Amigo da Onça' quickly became one of Brazil's most popular cartoon characters. The phrase "O Amigo da Onça" even became a popular saying, referring to someone who always gets a friend in trouble. Péricles continued the feature for nearly 20 years, while for ten years also providing the art for Millôr Fernandes' section Pif-Paf.
'O Amigo da Onça'. Translation: "I had nothing to do with this, but it was this "team" who signed for your eviction."
Death
On New Year's Eve 1961, Péricles commited suicide by gassing himself in his apartment. Before his deed, he had hung a sign with "Don't strike a match" on his door.
Posthumous run of 'O Amigo da Onça'
After the artist's death, several authors made an attempt to continue 'O Amigo da Onça', but the strip was simply too connected with its creator. The first to try were Maranhão's friend Getúlio Delphim and Zé Geraldo, who signed their work together as "Equipe de O Cruzeiro", and continued the comic for two years. Then came Carlos Estevão, who worked on the comic from 1964 until his death in 1972. The comic experienced a popular revival in the 1990s, when José Alberto Lovetro, Sergio Morettini and Octavio Cariello began creating new strips for Sémanario.
Legacy and influence
A 1988 theater play based on 'O Amigo da Onça', written by Chico Caruso starring Paulo Betti and Grace Gianoukas, appeared on the stages. Ofeliano de Almeida's short film 'A Última do Amigo da Onça' ("The Last Friend of Oz") was released in 2005, and portrayed a meeting between Péricles (played by Osvaldo Mil) and his creation (Fábio Lago).
Péricles.