The super-hero of
Belo Horizonte, a city at
Minas Gerais, right in the middle of
Brazil. Celton was created by a local artist called
Lacarmelio Araujo. Since the 80s Lacarmelio artisanally writes, draws and sells the comic book in the streets of Belo Horizonte. It is easy to spot him, using a yellow suit and a huge sign that says "
Metropolis has
Superman;
Gotham City has
Batman; Belo Horizonte has Celton!".
Celton stories are trivially simple, and the art is primitivist. The hero is a car mechanic who acquired super strength after being hit by radiation from a meteor. Most of the stories are about the problems of being poor in a big city; Celton fights from corrupt politicians to characters from the local urban folklore, like La Llorona.
In the last decade, Celton and Lacarmelio became "cult". Teenagers consider him an indie hero, who pursues, without any support, his dream of producing a comic book. The simple language, manichaeist conflicts and the constant references to city locations, bus lines, and use of local slang give to the comic book an unsurpassed cozy-kitsch style.
Lacarmelio can't write good arguments, nor draw anything remotely adequate (most of the landscape is composed by digital pictures treated with Photoshop in order to seem like they were drawn by hand). However, many of us get used to it, and answer with a smile and a R$ 2 bill when he appears selling the current edition at the traffic light.
Celton is not Superman, but he's a trustable good friend. I think it's enough.