Maurício de Sousa

Maurício Araújo de Sousa is a Brazilian cartoonist and businessman who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's comic books named "Turma da Mônica" or "Monica's Gang". At 17 years of age, he worked for a daily newspaper called Folha da Manhã as a crime reporter. In 1959, Sousa quit that job and began his comic book career, and created Monica's Gang. Sousa's characters were inspired by children he knew from his childhood and by his own children.