BONZZO The Comic Strip
By John Rivas
By John Rivas
BONZZO© Comic Strip appeared in various Puerto Rican Newspapers.
Thus BONZZO© becomes our ambassador of our daily lives, the goodhumorman, not the cynic, satirical, malicious and highly critical kind ofcartoon character but the simple guy, the anti-Keaton face with acontagious wide half moon smile. He does not go into politics, nor ishe haughty, proud, he never uses foul language, nor mocks or ridiculesothers. On the contrary, he’s the one who receives the barbs. Andthat’s BONZZO©, the number one cartoon character in Puerto Rico. A hardplace for cartoonist to thrive in, because most of the cartoons aresyndicated and thus represent foreignhus BONZZO© becomes our ambassador of our daily lives, the good humorman, not the cynic, satirical, malicious and highly critical kind ofcartoon character but the simple guy, the anti-Keaton face with acontagious wide half moon smile. He does not go into politics, nor ishe haughty, proud, he never uses foul language, nor mocks or ridiculesothers. On the contrary, he’s the one who receives the barbs. And that’s BONZZO©, the number one cartooncharacter in Puerto Rico. A hard place for cartoonist to thrive in,because most of the cartoons are syndicated and thus represent foreigncharacters and translated into Spanish, where most of the time themeaning is lost or they simply don’t relate. BONZZO©, on the otherhand, has a wider appeal that foregoes the frontiers of languagebecause he is a truly globalized character, a young adult facing lifewith a childish mentality, candid enough to have a Martian for a friendand not noticing his alien appearance.
But there’s one more element in BONZZO© that we must constantly payattention to in the strip. It’s the “Happy Faces” that we see on hisshort pants. They are round green faces that act like masks, each withthe liberty to have it’s own expression and, like a Greek chorus, they“comment” with their expressions how they react and view what’s goingon. You’ll always find them present, even in the outfit of BONZZO’sfemale friend character, BOGZZY©.
BONZZO© 2011 John Rivas. All Right Reserved.
Thus BONZZO© becomes our ambassador of our daily lives, the goodhumorman, not the cynic, satirical, malicious and highly critical kind ofcartoon character but the simple guy, the anti-Keaton face with acontagious wide half moon smile. He does not go into politics, nor ishe haughty, proud, he never uses foul language, nor mocks or ridiculesothers. On the contrary, he’s the one who receives the barbs. Andthat’s BONZZO©, the number one cartoon character in Puerto Rico. A hardplace for cartoonist to thrive in, because most of the cartoons aresyndicated and thus represent foreignhus BONZZO© becomes our ambassador of our daily lives, the good humorman, not the cynic, satirical, malicious and highly critical kind ofcartoon character but the simple guy, the anti-Keaton face with acontagious wide half moon smile. He does not go into politics, nor ishe haughty, proud, he never uses foul language, nor mocks or ridiculesothers. On the contrary, he’s the one who receives the barbs. And that’s BONZZO©, the number one cartooncharacter in Puerto Rico. A hard place for cartoonist to thrive in,because most of the cartoons are syndicated and thus represent foreigncharacters and translated into Spanish, where most of the time themeaning is lost or they simply don’t relate. BONZZO©, on the otherhand, has a wider appeal that foregoes the frontiers of languagebecause he is a truly globalized character, a young adult facing lifewith a childish mentality, candid enough to have a Martian for a friendand not noticing his alien appearance.
But there’s one more element in BONZZO© that we must constantly payattention to in the strip. It’s the “Happy Faces” that we see on hisshort pants. They are round green faces that act like masks, each withthe liberty to have it’s own expression and, like a Greek chorus, they“comment” with their expressions how they react and view what’s goingon. You’ll always find them present, even in the outfit of BONZZO’sfemale friend character, BOGZZY©.
BONZZO© 2011 John Rivas. All Right Reserved.
