Jimmy Five

Jimmy Five
Monica's Gang's character
First appearance Removable Newspaper strips of 1960
Last appearance Indefinite
Created by Maurício de Sousa
Information
Gender Male
Family Mrs. Five (Mother), Mr. Five (Father), Mary Angela Five (Sister)

Jimmy Five, known as Cebolinha[nb 1] in Brazil, is one of Monica's Gang main characters. He was created in 1960, and currently has his own printed comic strips, called Cebolinha, which were first released in 1973.[1] His English name is Jimmy Five due to his hair composed of only five strands.

Mauricio de Sousa, creator of Monica's Gang, says he based the character on a child he knew while growing up in Mogi das Cruzes.[2] He was a friend of his brother Márcio, and the boy would also switch the letter "r" for "l" and, because of his pointy hair, he earned the nickname "cebolinha" from Márcio's and Mauricio's father.[3] Jimmy's family name is "Cebola" (Onion in Portuguese), and he has a little baby sister called Mary Angela (in Portuguese, Maria Cebolinha, after her brother's name), also based on a real person.[4]

In the first adaptations of comics into English the character's name was Stanley.[5]

Concept and creation

Jimmy Five first appeared in the comic books Zaz Trás and Bidu in 1960. At first he was a 4-year-old boy who was a friend of Franklin and his gang, he was the youngest boy. In the first stories he was hairy, but with time his design was becoming increasingly simple, Mauricio de Sousa began to draw him more shorty and with less hair strands. In 1964 he came to have his current look with 5 hair strands.

He also has become the protagonist of the comics in 1961, in the place of Franklin and Blu. His first friends were Specs and Smudge. After the introduction of Monica in the comic strips he began to share the leading role with her, but then Monica became the main protagonist and Jimmy became her rival sidekick.

Characteristics

Jimmy Five is incapable of pronouncing the sound of the r letter, replacing it with the letter l, in the Portuguese comics, or with the letter w, in the English version. When the letter is used in the end of a word, however, he pronounces it normally (as in "car" or "locker").

Out of the main cast of Monica's Gang he is the only one to regularly wear shoes (when barefoot, he is also one of the rare characters to be shown with toes). He often complains and despairs over his main physical feature - his lack of any hair other than five single strands. His madcap attempts to rectify this often causes him (and those around him) a great deal of grief. He was originally drawn with a full head of hair, which often becomes a topic in his laments to the comic artist to "help him out" and restore his full head of hair.

He is always plotting to steal either Samson or the title of "owner of the street" from Monica with his "infallible plans" (which were initially created by Specs), which always end in failure, mostly because Smudge (his best friend) accidentally reveals to Monica that she's in a trap. On some stories he gathers the other boys of the gang just to pick on Monica.

In some earlier stories, he devised background plans to find out the secret of her strength, but he always ended up beaten solely by her. Even with these frictions, Jimmy and Monica are still friends to each other. In the futuristic special edition stories, they are often portrayed as married or dating each other.[6][7] Indeed, in Monica Teen, they are seen kissing.[8]

It was once revealed that Jimmy is not the first one in his family to have his famous speech impediment and that it caused all his relatives (minus his father) to believe he will never be able to pronounce 'r'. However, this is disproven in the Monica Teen stories, where he is said to take up speech-language pathology sessions to correct his speech impediment;[8] however, he reverts to mispronunciation when under stress or close to girls (especially Monica).[8]

Whereas his family was always composed of his mother, father and little sister, he once had a little brother, introduced in a 1972 story.[9] Jimmy himself even ended the story asking his readers to send name suggestions to Editora Abril (which published Monica's Gangs' comics at that time), but the toddler ended up disappearing from the stories.[9] Mauricio stated that he simply didn't have time to plan the continuation of his arrival, and the character was never featured again.[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Cebolinha" means both chives and the diminutive for onion, in Portuguese

References

  1. ↑ Cebolinha at Turma da Mônica's official website
  2. ↑ Maurício - 70 anos - MundoHQ
  3. 1 2 "Quem inspirou os personagens da Turma da Mônica?". Mundo Estranho (in Portuguese). Editora Abril. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Mary Angela at Mônica's Gang official website
  5. ↑ http://www.planetagibi.com.br/2010/03/monica-em-ingles-real-one.html
  6. ↑ de Sousa, Mauricio (1998). "Parque 2023". Mônica 35 anos (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Editora Globo. p. 113.
  7. ↑ de Sousa, Mauricio (1993). "30 anos". Mônica 30 anos (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Editora Globo. p. 233.
  8. 1 2 3 "Mônica e Cebolinha se beijam em nova fase da turma" (in Portuguese). G1. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 de Sousa, Mauricio (June 1972). "O Irmãozinho". Mônica (in Portuguese) (2nd ed.). São Paulo: Panini Comics. pp. 40–61. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help);
  10. 1 2 "Personagens da Turma da Mônica inspirados nos filhos de Mauricio de Sousa". O Globo (in Portuguese). Grupo Globo. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  11. ↑ de Sousa, Mauricio (9 June 2000). "Here comes Fluff, the 'toon pup". Monica's Gang official website. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  12. ↑ de Sousa, Mauricio (2002). "A Raça do Floquinho". Cebolinha (in Portuguese) (1st ed.). São Paulo: Editora Globo. pp. 56–591.
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