From a 1996 drawing to the 2022 comic: the path of Radius, as told by its author
A teenage drawing, a first handmade attempt, an action figure store and a trademark registration: the path Radius took before becoming a comic.
Radius reached readers in July 2022. But according to Tiago de Moraes das Chagas, the character already had a long road behind it. This post gathers what the author tells about that path, from the first drawing to the launch.
1996, a school in Marília
Tiago says Radius came to life in 1996, in Marília (São Paulo state), as a drawing he made while still a teenager, during high school at the Professor Antônio Reginato state school. Contact with superhero comics, especially through school friends, sparked the wish to create a character of his own.
Rafael Mantovani Ribeiro played an important part in that beginning. After Tiago conceived Radius, Rafael went on to draw the character, and the two started producing the first adventures in a fully handmade way. The project ended up shelved for lack of resources, technical knowledge and structure.
Black, yellow and a symbol on the chest
The 1996 Radius already carried a representation of the radioactive trefoil on his chest, and black and yellow became core elements of the visual identity. According to the author, this comes from a childhood memory tied to the radioactive accident in Goiânia, in 1987, a story the blog told in the post about Cesium-137 and the childhood memory behind the Radius symbol.
Over time, Tiago realized the character needed an identity of his own, without simply using the international radioactivity symbol. That is what led to the creation of original symbols and to the development of the Radius brand.
The author's references
In his formative years, Tiago acknowledges Mauricio de Sousa, Charles M. Schulz, Marvel, DC Comics, Image Comics and Stan Lee as creative references. According to him, they helped shape his view of storytelling, characters, humanity, symbolism, creative independence and universe building.
Extoys mascot and registered trademark
Even away from comics, Radius resurfaced at different moments. He was once the mascot of Extoys, a business Tiago created to sell action figures. During that period, the author deepened his contact with superhero culture, collecting, design, advertising and entrepreneurship.
The name also gained formal protection. On October 13, 2010, the application to register the Radius trademark was filed, and it was granted by INPI on January 29, 2013.
- 1996
- First drawing of Radius, in Marília
- 2010
- Application to register the Radius trademark, on October 13
- 2013
- Registration granted by INPI, on January 29
- 2020
- The project is resumed during the pandemic
- 2022
- Launch of Radius, in July
2020, the return
In 2020, during the pandemic, Tiago went back to old files, drawings and ideas. Radius, dormant for 24 years, was developed again, now as a professional comics project. To bring the comic to the public, the author founded Mustache Comics, and Volume 1 was launched on July 2, 2022, at an event at UNIMAR, in Marília, as recorded in the timeline of the Radius Universe.
Pituco, Tiago's real dog, was later incorporated into the fictional universe.
Marília on the superhero map
Marília is part of the project's identity. For the author, Radius is the first superhero created in Marília and a way of placing a city from the interior of São Paulo state in an imagination dominated by big metropolises. In the fiction, this shows in the setting: the story takes place in Marília Metropolitana, a futuristic version of the city, in the year 3121.
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