January 7, 2023

13:01

Mencius Melo – Amazon Agency

MANAUS – Curumim, the Last Hero of the Amazon, turns 40 years old in 2023. The character was created in 1983. The advanced age is not a reason for the best known character of the Amazonian comic strips and one of the most celebrated creations of the Amazonian comic strips to lose his youthful vigour. Comic strip artists and cartoonists have commented on the four decades of existence of the “eldest son” of journalist Mário Adolfo.

The comic strip artist Marlon Brandão, author of the comic strip “Titans of the Amazon” and the manga “Koutakusseis – The Saga in the Amazon Village”, recalled how he met the character. “In my childhood, in Parintins, I met the character acquiring, in the old stalls near the municipal market Mundico Barbosa, when on the occasions of his arrival to the island. I would buy them as soon as I saw a copy or saw them in the newspaper strips that came from Manaus at the time”, he said.

Marlon comments on the dimension reached by the character in the universe of comics. “In the golden age of Brazilian comic strips, Curumim reached the peak of the best known indigenous characters of the Brazilian children’s world. Such was his fame for starring an indigenous child in the Amazon that the Curumim went beyond our borders”, he said.

Created by journalist Mário Adolfo, in 1983, the journalist recalls the story. “When I was a journalism student at Ufam, I used to answer some questions in the exams with cartoons. Professor Ribamar Bessa, from the column ‘Taquiprati’, invited me to collaborate with the newspaper Porantim, in defence of the indigenous cause. It was only cartoons criticizing Funai and denouncing the genocide of indigenous nations”, he said.

The exercises in Professor Ribamar’s classes had an effect: “When I started as an intern at ‘A Crítica’ in 1976, at the age of 19, I collaborated with ‘A Crítica Infantil’, drawing the cover which was edited by Cristina Calderaro. Until one day, Umberto Calderaro arrived and challenged me: – Can you handle a children’s newspaper alone? A weekly one? Sure, I will, I answered, courageously, without even knowing what it was to edit”, he recalled with humour.

A character of his own

Mário Adolfo surprised the newspaper owner. “He (Calderaro) thought I would present a project based on canned comics, like Hanna Barbera, Disney, Mauricio de Sousa. And I appeared with the ‘doll’ of a small tabloid newspaper, all regional, and with my own character. The little Indian Curumim, the last hero of the Amazon. And more! With a proposal to defend the indigenous cause, when ecology was not yet fashionable”, he recalled.

References and history

Cartoonist Regi Cartoon says that Curumim was part of his professional growth and was one of the influences in the construction and discovery of his own traits as a cartoon artist. “Curumim was very important because when I was starting out, I started to look for references in comics, cartoons and caricatures. It was the research for me to become a real professional, and in this Curumim contributed a lot”, he recalled.

Over 40 years, the Curumim became an icon and gained recognition. Mário speaks with pride: “The Curumim was listed as Cultural Heritage of the State of Amazonas by the Legislative Assembly; was presented at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, in Stockholm, during a lecture by Governor Amazonino Mendes; told the story of opera, in the International Book Biennial, in Rio de Janeiro, in the 2000s, and is becoming a musical with works signed by me and my partner Zeca Torres”, finalized.

After four decades, Mário Adolfo is grateful to the little indigenous boy: “He is the secret of my youth. I never let the child that exists in me die, and I never let the old man in either. When I draw little strips of the Curumim, I feel like myself, walking among trees, talking to animals and jumping headfirst into the waters of rivers and streams. I won two Essos, CNT, Caixa Econômica / Imprensa magazine, Massey Ferguson, but once, a journalist friend of mine, back in 1983, said that my greatest work would be Curumim. It seems he was right”, he concluded.

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