Characters from the Carioca Universe?

Arthur Faria Jr. arthurfaria at projesom.com.br
Sat Nov 23 03:30:32 CET 2002


>  To our Brazilian Disney friends, or anyone else who can answer this,

> Who would you consider to be among the most important secondary characters
> in the Ze Carioca Universe?

> I consider the primary important characters to be:

> Jose Carioca (naturally)
> Rosinha Vaz (Maria Vaz)
> Nestor
> Zico & Zeca
> Afonsinho
> Ze Gallo
> Pedrao Feijoada
> Morcego Verde (The Green Bat)

You're right, they are all important. Rosinha Vaz is
his beloved (and eternal) girlfriend, Nestor, Pedrão
and Afonsinho are his inseparable best friends,
Zico & Zeca are his nephews who live with him, Zé Galo
is his (eternal) rival and Morcego Verde is his heroic
alter-ego (whose secret identity everybody knows :-)

> Among the secondary characters I think maybe these qualify:

> Rocha Vaz
> Gabi (Gabriela Vaz, Rosinha's niece)
> ANACOZECA
> Gilda (Nestor's girlfriend)
> Supergalo

Gabi (Rosinha's niece) is a recent character and
had few appearances. If Brazilian production hadn't
stopped, maybe she could be more important in the future.
Gilda and Supergalo (Zé Galo's narcissistic secret-identity)
also appeared in few stories. In his second story, Zé Galo
actually quits to be Supergalo because "if I can't brag
about my own feats without compromising my secret identity,
then I can't see any advantage of being a super hero!" :-)

> There are some characters with whom I am not familiar, such as Jose's dog,
> Soneca and Rubinho, Nestor's nephew.

Soneca ("Nap") appeared sporadically in at least 7 stories,
3 from the mid-70s and 4 from the early-80s, and since then
disappeared. It's just a little dog, not necessarily Joe's pet,
which appeared sometimes sleeping, sometimes just witnessing
the acting and having "dog-thoughts" about it, sometimes
interfering in the story with a providencial bark or bite...

Rubinho ("little Rubens", like Ferrari's pilot Rubinho Barrichello)
appeared only in one story (B 960001) and as far as I remember
his parents weren't cited. And there is another boy who
looks like Nestor but is *not* his relative, who appeared
in only one story: B 910199.
Do not confuse them (as Jose Carioca did :-).

>  As well as a plethora of Ze's cousins (all looking almost like
> clones of Jose).  If anyone has scans of these and
> can explain how significant they are to the Carioca Universe, it would be
> very helpful.

José has some cousins, each one from a state of Brazil
and carrying the regional characteristics of their states.
In order of importance:

- Zé Queijinho (José "little cheese") who lives in the state of Minas
Gerais, traditionally a rural state. So, Queijinho is a country
parrot who has a humble farm that produces milk, cheese and coffee.
He speaks with regional country dialect and has a nanny goat named
Gabriela which usually eats anything.
His first appearance seems to be in B 74108 and his (probable)
creator is Renato Canini.

- Zé Paulista (José from São Paulo), who lives in the city of
São Paulo (capital of the state with the same name). He appeared in
B 71001 as an owner of a circus visiting Rio de Janeiro.
But after that he was defined as a workaholic (for Carioca's
desperation) who works hard on a different job each time.
(Fernando Ventura, who lives in São Paulo, maybe can tell us
whether every "Paulista" is also a workaholic or not... well,
the rest of the country thinks so... ;-)))
Anyway, he was created by Renato Canini (who doesn't live
in São Paulo...)

- Zé Pampeiro (José from the Pampa), who lives in the state
of Rio Grande do Sul. Pampa is the name of a great plain
area in South America (mainly southern Brazil and Argentina).
First appearance in B 72046. He has a cattle ranch, is very
"macho", likes "chimarrão" (a traditional tea drink) and
speaks with regional dialect.
Curiously he wasn't created by Renato Canini (who is from
the same state), but probably by Ivan Saidenberg (who
is, if I'm not wrong, from Israeli descent...).

- Zé Jandaia (Jandaia = a kind of Brazilian parrot).
Like Zé Queijinho, he is also a humble farmer from one
of the states of northern Brazil, I think Paraíba.
But since this region is often very dry, he is a
humbler and poorer country man than the other
cousin, and speaks with another country dialect.
He has a pet billy goat called Cheiroso.
First appearance in B 72046. Probably created by
Ivan Saidenberg.

- Zé Baiano (José from Bahia). Bahia and his capital
Salvador appeared (a bit stereotyped) in that old animated
movie with Donald, José and Panchito... His inhabitants
are (again stereotypically) known as a very "calm and tranquil"
people who like to enjoy the life in a very beautiful and
touristic region, and so is that cousin.
Of course, José Carioca beats him in that matter easily :-)
First appearance: B 800123, created by Renato Canini.

- Zé Pantaneiro (José from Pantanal). "Pantanal" is
a tropical swampy area in the state of Mato Grosso,
similar to the Everglades (but bigger than that I think)
with a fantastic and protected wildlife. This cousin
lives in this region, and appeared in just one story
(B 920024). Creator unkown, maybe Carlos Edgar Herrero?

And these were the more important Jose's cousins.

> Rosinha has apparently held a secret identity as Mulher-gatinha
(apparently
> a spoof of Batman's nemesis Catwoman) and as Arqueiro Misterioso (what
does
> "arqueiro" mean?). Does she use these disguises often (more than once?)
and
> how is she portrayed in the stories when she uses them?  Is she a villain
> or hero?

Arqueiro Misterioso means "Mysterious Bowman" and is actually
Rosinha wearing a hooded costume and acting as a male "villain".
"He" appeared in only one story (B 870147). Same thing for
"Mulher-Gatinha" (Rosinha wearing a  cat woman costume and this
time looking indeed like a woman!) in the story B 940166.

In both cases, Rosinha just *pretends* to be a "villain".
As the Archer, her purpose was to demonstrate to José's nephews
Zico and Zeca that José's hero identity Green Bat was a great
hero with great enemies (in the end the "archer" disappears
leaving a note that declares that Green Bat is enough
for "him"). As Catwoman, she only wanted to make José stop
acting as a super hero, expending then more time with
her. She never appeared again as a catwoman, but is
"keeping the costume for an emergency"

I'll put scans of José's cousins and some other mentioned
characters at:

http://www.projesom.com.br/afaria/

 -- Arthur.





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