O Menino Maluquinho

Menino Maluquinho
First cover of the book released in 1980 by Ziraldo
First appearance	"book" (1980) "comics" (1989)
Created by	Ziraldo
Information
Species	human
Gender	Male

O Menino Maluquinho (The Nutty Boy) is a comic book and comic strip series created by Brazilian writer and cartoonist Ziraldo. It was based on the eponymous children's book published in 1980 that became a phenomenon during the 1990s and 2000s, spun off into movies, plays and TV series.^[1] The comic books were published by Abril and Globo from 1989 until 2007. It was Ziraldo's second series of comic books, after "Turma do Pererê".

Maluquinho is a cheerful and optimistic 10-year-old boy who wears a pan on his head like a hat. Most of the stories revolve around the misadventures of Maluquinho and his friends.

Characters

• Maluquinho (literally Nutty) - The main character, an eccentric and playful boy, mischievous and troublemaking but good-hearted. He is always close to his friends Bocão and Junim, and is popular with girls (it is said in the book that he has 10 girlfriends, all at once), mainly Julieta. He often wears a pan on his head as an improvised Napoleon's hat,^[2] an adult-sized blue jacket and brown dress shoes, both pieces looking quite oversized on him. Aside from that, his main attire is a yellow T-shirt, black shorts and white and sky blue sneakers.
• Julieta - Maluquinho's girlfriend. She's also a 10-year-old girl, sometimes considered a female version as "Menina Maluquinha" ("The Nutty Girl"). Julieta is cheerful, energetic, and talkative. She has a blue pet cat named Romeu (a reference to the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet). She had her own comic that was released in 2004. She has long, black, frizzy hair, wears a red T-shirt with a lightning bolt design (very similar to Captain Marvel's symbol), pleated white skirt and red and white sneakers.
• Bocão (literally Gobber or Big Mouth) - Maluquinho's best friend, a chubby and glutton boy which often is always beside of Maluquinho in most of his plans and jokes. Usually he is ingenuous and is induced to the conversations of his friends. He has a little sister named Nina, that usually annoys him. He is a bit taller than the others and dresses all in blue.
• Junim (a corruption of Juninho, in turn an affectionate form of Junior) - Another of the Maluquinho' best friends, short in stature and with thick-rimmed glasses. Often gets stressed when his friends make fun of his little size. Like Maluquinho and Julieta, he also had his own comic that was released in 2007. Has blond hair which stands upright, wears a black-and-red striped shirt, blue pants and tennis shoes.
• Carolina "Carol" - A Julieta's best friend and possible love interest of Maluquinho. She is a vegetarian who cares about nature. She has black hair done in braided pigtails and wears a green dress.
• Herman - A bully and Maluquinho's rival. He is a tall strong boy who is jealous of Maluquinho for always being the center of attention and often threatens to beat him. Has strawberry blond hair and wears mainly a blue sweater with jogging pants in the same color.
• Lúcio - A friend of Maluquinho. He is the most intellectual kid in the class, always with a book in his hands. He is an African-Brazilian boy, usually wears a plaid shirt in the black and yellow colors.
• Sugiro Fernando - Another friend of Maluquinho. He is a Japanese-Brazilian boy who loves technology, computers and video games. He is usually seen with closed eyes, wears a red shirt and white pants, and has a buckteeth.
• Shirley Valéria - Julieta's frenemy. A rich girl who is always obsessed with fashion and always buy new clothes to attract the boys. She is blonde and is the only character to have blue eyes, usually wears a pink sleeveless shirt, a pink gym pants and white-pink sneakers.

Titles

The first time a comic was published was in 1989, initially under the title of "O Menino Maluquinho em Quadrinhos" (The Nutty Boy in Comics). In the last years of publication they have been sold titles starring Julieta and Junim. There were a total of 109 comic books have been published over the years.

Editora Abril

• O Menino Maluquinho (1989-1994) - 70 issues
• Revista do Menino Maluquinho (1994-1996) - 18 issues

Editora Terra

• O Menino Maluquinho (2000-2001) - 10 issues

Editora Globo

• O Menino Maluquinho (2004-2007) - 29 issues
• Julieta (2004-2007) - 29 issues
• Junim (2007) - 6 issues

Adaptations

Films

In 1995 Nutty Boy - The Movie was released, directed by Helvécio Ratton, with a cast of Samuel Costa, Roberto Bomtempo, Patrícia Pillar, Othon Bastos and Luís Carlos Arutin. Maluquinho and his friends play during the holidays, and Maluquinho visit's his grandfather's house. At the end of the film the grandfather dies, leaving his grandson very sad.

The film had a sequel in 1997 titled Nutty Boy 2 - The Adventure,^[3] directed by Fernando Meirelles, with the same cast as the first film. In this movie Maluquinho tells his friends a story of another trip to his grandfather's house, where they discover a creature of fire called Tatá and become her friends.

TV series

In 2006 the channel TVE Brasil (currently TV Brasil) produced a live-action sitcom called Um Menino Muito Maluquinho.^[4] This was the channel's second adaptation of Ziraldo's comics, following A Turma do Pererê.^[5] The series, usually narrated by an adult, follows the life of Maluquinho and his friends, alternating between their early childhood (up to age 5) and his current age of 10. The show became popular, winning several awards and being broadcast on other channels— TV Cultura^[6] and Disney Channel— but did not have a second season.

In August 2014 the production of a cartoon series of 26 episodes based on the character was announced,^[7] to be produced by the studio Oca Filmes with traditional 2D animation, based on Ziraldo's original style. Another cartoon, for the preschool audience and titled "Bebê Maluquinho" (Nutty Baby), was announced in July 2014 using CGI animation.^[8][9]

References

External links

• Official Website (Portuguese)