Mauricio writes...
Story 59 - From Mandrake
to Monica
Entrepreneur Roberto Marinho and Mauricio de Sousa
Mauricio writes...
Story 59 - From Mandrake
to Monica
Entrepreneur Roberto Marinho and Mauricio de Sousa
The occasion was the launch of an educational TV channel, one of the many projects created by Brazil's largest and most powerful communications enterprise, the Globo group.
I was there in Rio de Janeiro to attend that important cultural event with the owner of TV Globo, media mogul Roberto Marinho and his three children.
Following the ceremony, we were taken by helicopter to another location which is also an object of pride for the Marinho family: Projac - a gigantic complex of studios and movie sets where the production of the Globo programs takes place.
While the other guests ohhed and ahhed over the organization and the technology, I had additional reasons to admire it all. First, because my comic books are published by the Globo group and have been at the top of the sales charts for children's magazines in Brazil for many years now, the result of a fruitful partnership between our studios and Globo's publishing division. Second, because entrepreneur Roberto Marinho also has something to do with the origin of cartoonist Mauricio de Sousa, many moons ago.
I must have been about six years old when my dad presented me with my first issue of "O Globo Juvenil," a publication filled with America's most famous comics, which appeared on newsstands three times a week, published in Rio by the same Roberto Marinho with whom I was now talking at the Globo studio. In the wake of the success of that publication came "O Gibi," also published three times a week and containing excellent stories in comic-book format.
So, while Marinho's two publications competed with each other, I took advantage of the situation to enjoy the stories and, more importantly, to learn to read. Since I wasn't in school yet, I would spread the magazines out on the floor, pick out a story with colorful pictures that attracted me, and then try to figure out the sounds of the letters and syllables.
I remember in particular a story starring Mandrake, the Magician and giant amazons which I was determined to figure out. Fortunately, my mother was always nearby to help me with the sounds of the words and syllables, which I would memorize or recognize as they appeared repeatedly.
Other stories, other heroes came along and helped me in my development as a cartoonist -- resulting eventually in the current success of our Monica's Gang characters. That's why, as I walked around the lot of the Globo studio with the Marinho family, I couldn't help remembering and feeling grateful to the entrepreneur who built the bridge that enabled me to learn, to dream, and finally to be at his side creating comics.
Meanwhile, again we have dreams. This time about television.
Mauricio de Sousa
12.03.1997
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