Fethry and his nephew Biquinho (B 810253)
Irineu Soares Rodrigues was an artist for the Brazilian production of Disney comics for Editora Abril from 1972 until 1990. He is mainly known for illustrating stories with 'Fethry Duck', as well as his superhero counterpart 'Morcego Vermelho' and his distant Tarzan-like relative 'Pena Das Selvas'. Irineu's brothers Moacir Rodrigues Soares and Verci Rodrigues de Mello were also artists of Disney comics. Since the 1990s the three brothers work on commercial assignments through their own studio MW Editora e Ilustrações.
Pena das Selvas (B 800004)
Irineu Soares Rodrigues was born in 1956 in Bilac, São Paulo. The Rodrigues family moved to Japurá in the state of Paraná when he was three years old. During his childhood, the three brothers avidly read the Disney comic books published by Editora Abril. Like his brother, he took a correspondence course in graphic design and commercial art from the Instituto Universal Brasileiro, but he was largely self-taught. The young artist was hired by Abril in 1972 through mediation of his brother Moacir, who had begun working there a couple of months earlier. The two brothers quickly established themselves as two of the leading artists of Brazilian Disney comics, and were joined by their younger brother Verci in 1978.
Morcego Vermelho (B 780006)
While his brother was mostly assigned to draw stories in the 'Mickey Mouse' universe, Irineu became a highly productive artist of stories with 'Donald Duck' and his family. Especially Donald's goofy nephew Fethry made frequent appearances in Irineu's stories, which were often written by Ivan Saidenberg, Júlio de Andrade or Gérson L. B. Teixeira. Irineu also drew stories with Fethy's little nephew Biquinho, which he created with writer Teixeira in 1981. Between 1976 and 1989 he furthmore drew many stories about Fethry's secret superhero activities as 'Morcego Vermelho' ('Red Bat'). He was also the first artist to draw Fethry's jungle hero look-a-like 'Pena das Selvas' (1978), which the offbeat Duck created for one of Uncle Scrooge's newspapers.
Os Adolescentes (B 870048)
Irineu Soares additionally provided the artwork for several stories starring the otherwise rather obscure character Hard Haid Moe, a hillbilly created by the Disney Studios for their story production for overseas licensees, but which gained remarkable popularity in the Brazilian comic books under the name Urtigão. Another prominent character in Brazilian Disney characters was the witch 'Mad Madam Mim' from the 1963 movie 'The Sword in the Stone', who was drawn many times by Soares as well. Also the late 1980s stories set in the 'Disney Teens' universe ('Os Adolescentes') were regularly drawn by Irineu Soares Rodrigues. The series starred Glittering Goldie's teenage granddaughter Dickie Duck (Pata Lee in Brazilian, originally created in Italy by Romano Scarpa as Paperetta Yè-Yè) and her highschool friends Parceiro, Aracuan, Olimpia and Netunia. He finally also drew nineteen stories with 'José Carioca', the parrot from Rio who was especially popular in Brazil (for the obvious reasons).
When Abril's Disney production slowed down around 1990, Irineu Soares' association with the publishing house ended. The artist worked for agencies before he joined his brothers in Moacir's production house MW Editora e Ilustrações in 1993. The team has since then focused on commercial illustration and design projects, including character design, logo design, animations and illustrations for educational and children's publications. His nephew Moacir Rodrigues Soares Junior (born in 1973) joined the company later on.
Beagle Boys on collectable cards as premium with chocolate bars