Chuck Billy 'n' Folks

Chuck Billy 'n' Folks (Turma do Chico Bento) are a group of fictional characters appearing at the Monica's Gang comic book series. The stories are centered on Chuck Billy (originally named Chico Bento) and his friends and parents, who are all caipiras and live in the small Vila Abobrinha (Zucchini’s Village), a fictional location on the countryside of Brazil. The only characters who don't live on the countryside are Chuck's cousin, Zeca, and his parents, who live on the city. A distinct feature of this part of the characters is that they go to school, different from Monica and her friends.

Characters

Main characters

• Chuck Billy (Chico Bento)

Main article: Chuck Billy (Chuck Billy 'n' Folks)

• Cousin Benny (Zé da Roça) - Originally called Zé da Roça, which literally means "Joe from the farm", Benny is one of Chuck's best friends. He is the top student of his class one of the few characters who don't speak with a caipira accent.

• Rosie Lee (Rosinha) - Rosie Lee is Chuck's girlfriend. She mostly appears in the stories dating Chuck or just showing her jealousy of him. They are commonly drawn together sitting on a fallen Trunk.

• Granny Mae (Vó Dita) - Granny Mae is Chuck's grandmother. She is famous for the stories she tells to Chuck and his friends. The stories are mostly based on life stories of people she knows, and are sometimes dosed with some folkloric elements.

• Taka (Hiro) - Taka is a Japanese descendent. He also speaks correct Portuguese, and lives in a typical Japanese house, adopting some habits from Japan, like Bonsai, Ofuro, etc.

• Zeke (Zé Lelé) - His name in Portuguese means something like "Joe Nuts". He is the country cousin of Chuck Billy, and is very distracted and is a student as bad as Chuck.

• Zeca (Zeca) - His name is hardly mentioned, as people would call him simply "Cousin of Chuck". Sometimes he is named Zeca, but he once introduced himself as Osvalderson.^[1] Zeca lives in the city with his parents. In most of the stories featuring him, the main issues are the differences between life in the city and in the farm. When Zeca comes to visit Chuck, he suffers because of the lack of technology and modern equipments. On the other hand, when Chuck visits Zeca, he finds himself lost in the middle of so many technological things and things he doesn't understand very much.

Minor characters

• Animals - Beyond living on a farm, Chuck is very friendly with animals. Because of this, he holds close relationships with his "pets", which are typical farm animals. The most famous are his chicken, his cow, and his pig, which are called Ma Megg (Giserda), Malhada and Torresmo. He also owns an unnamed dunce, a dog named Fido and several other animals which appear occasionally. There's also the Jaguar (Onça), a wild feline that is mostly a threat to Chuck and his friends, but would sometimes be treated like a friend. As a wild animal, she lives in the local jungle.

• Teacher Marocas - She is the teacher of the local school. she doesn't teach an specific subject, her classes are mostly about basic grammar, literature, history, geography and sciences. She faces a daily challenge when it comes to teach Chico, because of his poor grades and the fact that he never does his homework.

• Mr. Lau (Nhô Lau) - Mr. Lau owns an orchard filled with Apple Guavas, which are frequently "visited" by Chuck and his friends, who steal his fruits. Mr. Lau would respond to these constant attacks by shooting them with his Rifle, which is not charged with true bullets, but with lead, the fruits of the castor oil plant, or even salt.

• Genesinho – Genesinho is the son of the local Colonel, and is a rival to Chuck Billy, because of his attempts to date Rosie Lee. As Genesinho is much richer, well-dressed and cleaner than Chuck, Rosie Lee tends to have a crush on him, but in the end she always comes back to Chuck.

• Mariana – Mariana is Chuck's little sister, who appeared only in a special story, titled "Uma estrelinha chamada Mariana" (A little star called Mariana). She died just after she was born and became a star then, visiting Chuck on this story.

References

1. ^ de Souza, Maurício (May 2002). "Chico Bento em Primo Chato". In Arlete and Alonso (in Portuguese). Chico Bento e o Primo. Um Tema Só. Brazil: Editora Globo. p. 141. 

• Chuck Billy 'n' Folks at Mônica’s Gang official website (English)

External links

	Brazil portal
	Comics portal

• English version
• Portuguese version