Bug-a-Booo

Bug-a-Booo (“Turma do Penadinho”) is a Brazilian comic strip, created in 1963 and part of the Monica’s Gang series. All of the characters are monsters or other supernatural creatures, none of them being a human being. The main location for their stories is a cemetery . However, their stories are not intended to be scary , actually they are sometimes classified as “Terrir”, which is a Portmanteau ^[1] of the Portuguese words “Terror” ( horror ) and “Rir” (to laugh). Some of their stories, they have to deal with the fact that vampires, ghosts, zombies and mummies are no longer appreciated as characters of horror movies. People are opting for assassins, psychopaths, serial killers, etc. ^[1]

Characters

• Bug-a-Booo ( Penadinho ) – Bug-a-Booo is the main character, a short ghost. He is actually invisible, but wears a white sheet so he can be seen. In one strip, it is Stated That He Was engaged to a woman named Ernestina and Was about to open a factory of disposable socks for People Suffering from foot odor before he died. ^[2] An unnamed friend de son Reveals while regretting Bug’s Death In His death anniversary At His grave That he ended up marrying Both Ernestina and opening the factory, though the factory closed three months later and Ernestina est devenu obese. ^[2]
• Lady MacDeath ( Dona Morte ) – Lady MacDeath is a Grim Reaper , the personification of Death who is responsible for going after all the people whose time to die has come, yet unlike a typical Grim Reaper, sometimes her body is not pictured as made of bones . She uses her sickle to kill people, and they take their heads to the purgatory , for them to be judged and sent to hell or heaven (sometimes after much bureaucracy ^[3]). She always carries a list with the name of the dead. Most of her stories feature a pursuit, sometimes punctuated with struggles facing every day by normal people. Maurico says that the purpose of creating is “taking death less seriously, while it does not come to us.” ^[4]
• Vic Vampire ( Ze Vampir , full name Jose Morcego ( Bat ) Vampiro ^[5] ) – Vic is a yellow-skinned vampire , and therefore, he is able to turn himself into a bat . He feeds on blood and fears butts , sunlight , garlic and holy water . In one strip, it is revealed that he was born 300 years ago in the fictional city of Transylvania do Sul (South Transylvania), near Varginha ^[5]and turned into a vampire at infancy after one of them, which turn on him and his parents. ^[5] Vic has the power to turn other people vampires with a dick on their necks. ^[5]
• Moe the Mummy ( Muminho ) – Moe is a mummy of Egyptian ancestry. When the swabs which cover its bodies are taken out, Moe appears unseen, as if the swabs were covering nothing, ^[6] [7] or as a dry corpse.
• Frank – Frankenstein , Frank is a green with a very weak brain.
• Wolfgang ( Lobi ) – A charming werewolf . While being able to talk, he can live on his side with his canine instincts, like chasing cats, urinating on lamps and trees, and howling to the moon. He has not an “official” human from, thus this form can change his personality dramatically from story to story. He has fangs, claws and yellow eyes.
• Skully ( Cranicola ) – Skully is single skull , which rests all day on top of a stone. He can not walk nor move, but on the other hand, he provides fine conversations to whoever speaks to him.
• Al Ashmore ( Zé Cremadinho ) – Al Ashmore is nothing but the remains of someone who has been cremated . However, he is still able to talk, and jumps around just like Skully does sometimes. In most of his appearances, he is confused with dust and is attacked by broomsticks and vacuum cleaners .
• Sid Skully ( Zé Caveirinha ) – A full skeleton . He is clumsy and is always losing his bones.
• Sally Soul ( Alminha ) – Sally is Bug’s girlfriend, they are constantly having arguments with each other. Like Bug, she is actually an invisible ghost who wears a white sheet.
• Little Boo Boy ( Pixuquinha ) – The Bug’s nephew. He is a child ghost.
• Espírito de Porco – In Brazil , pranksters are sometimes called “espíritos de porco” (lit. “pig spirit”). Espírito de Porco is thus a pig-nosed ghost who likes pulling irritating pranks on the other residents of the cemetery.

References