Blessed Cartoonists

Some of the greatest names in graphic humor have printed sharp critiques on the pages of Brazilian newspapers and magazines, underscoring what the German thinker Walter Benjamin said about tickling the brain: “There is no better starting point for thought than laughter.”

Alberto Benett, known as Benett, was born in Ponta Grossa (Paraná) in 1974. He has been a bookworm since childhood and lists Jaguar, Angeli, and Charles Schulz as his favorite authors. He ended up embracing the profession of his idols along with journalism. He has collaborated with Folha since 2008. 

The journalist and comic artist Alexandra Moraes was born in Guarujá in 1982. She gave birth to her son Benjamin at the same time that themes such as maternal, existential, and middle-class anxieties hatched the character O Pintinho, in 2009. The character was portrayed in three books.

Benedito Carneiro Bastos Barreto (1896-1947), known as Belmonte, worked at Folha from the first edition of Folha da Noite, in 1921. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, once accused Belmonte of being financed by the US to ridicule Hitler.

Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Jaguar was born Sérgio de Magalhães Gomes Jaguaribe in 1932 and has been working as a cartoonist for over 70 years. In 1969, he was one of the founders of O Pasquim, a newspaper that stood up to the civil-military dictatorship.

He was born in Tubarão (Santa Catarina), but doesn’t know the city. He moved to Cascavel, where he had an accident with a tractor and broke his leg as a child. Immobile, unable to play ball, he started drawing on his cast. “The cast became my portfolio,” he said in an interview.

Evandro Alves, known as Alves, was born in Itabira (Minas Gerais) in 1976 and holds a master’s degree in Geography from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Self-taught, he began drawing at 17 and worked for the newspapers O Estado de Minas, O Tempo, Diário da Tarde, and Pasquim 21. 

Lederly Mendonça was born in Ceará. He is a cartoonist, illustrator, art director, and writer for the Disney comics Turma da Mônica and Zé Carioca. He worked at Folha de S. Paulo from 2012 to 2019.

The writer and comic book artist Leandro Assis and the feminist and anti-racist cyber-activist Triscila Oliveira form the duo behind the webcomic series ‘Os Santos‘ and ‘Confinada.’ Oliveira is the first black female cartoonist at Folha de S. Paulo.

An architect, cartoonist, writer, columnist, and actor, Hubert de Carvalho Aranha, known as Hubert, was born in 1959 and grew up in Tijuca. The son of a lawyer and a housewife, he started working at O Pasquim at the age of 14, alongside Ziraldo, Jaguar, and Reinaldo.

Jean Galvão has been a cartoonist for Folha since 1999. He has been working as a cartoonist and illustrator for three decades. He has published illustrations in Editora Abril (Recreio, Veja, Runners, Gloss) and in the international magazines National Geographic Kids (USA) and Focus Júnior (Italy).

Laerte Coutinho (1951), known as Laerte, began collaborating with Folha in the 1980s and has been producing cartoons since 2014. In his comics, he popularized characters such as the Cats, the Building Manager, Overman, and the Pirates of Tietê.

João Montanaro is the youngest member of the team of cartoonists and illustrators at Folha, where he started at the age of 14 in 2010. A prodigy, he began drawing at the age of six, and at 12 he produced his first professional work for MAD magazine.