Blu (comic strip character)

Blu
Monica's Gang character
Blu in his current visual
First appearance	July 18, 1959 (comic strip)
Voiced by	Odair Batista Maurício de Sousa
Information
Family	Franklin (owner)

Blu (Bidu) is a character in the Brazilian comic strip Monica's Gang, created in 1959. He was the first character created by Maurício de Sousa, along with his owner Franklin (Franjinha). The character appears in the logo and is the mascot of Mauricio de Sousa Produções, the company founded by Sousa to release his works.

Blu is the only character who appears in two different kinds of stories. In one, he is a normal dog, owned by Franklin, who fears taking baths (but is invariably forced to take them by Franklin), does anything in exchange for a bone, and plays around with the other dogs from the neighborhood. In the other type of stories, he is a director-actor of his own stories, is highly personified (walking with two feet behind the sets, and walking like a normal dog when acting), and is famous for the strips in which he talks to objects, especially the rock called Mrs. Stone.

Mauricio says he has based both Blu and Franklin on himself and Cuíca, the dog he had when he was a child. His first appearance was in 1959 in the comic strip "Bidu e Franjinha" published in the newspaper Folha da Manhã. The very first stories had the kid Franklin (Blu's owner) and his friends Bucky, Jeremiah, Manezinho and Hummer as protagonists. In 1960, through a partnership with the publisher Editora Outubro, Mauricio de Sousa collaborated making stories of his characters to children's magazine Zás Trás, while in the same year he created Blu and Franklin's own magazine, titled Bidu by Continental. But his comic was canceled in the same year after only 8 issues.

In 1961 he and Franklin became supporting characters for Jimmy Five after he became the protagonist, however stories with him and Franklin kept being published for many years. In 1963, when Mauricio founded his own studio, the project was originally called "Bidulândia Serviços de Empresa" (now known as "Mauricio de Sousa Produções") in tribute to the character. In the 70s and 80s the Blu and Franklin stories became less and less frequent. Franklin went on to be a recurring character for Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge and Maggy, while Blu went on to starring in both solos stories and stories with Franklin.