Where to start in the Radius universe: a quick guide
Marília, year 3121. A dictator, a city made of holograms and a resistance that refuses to trade freedom for technology. Here is how to get into the story.
If you just got here, this is the best place to begin. Radius is a Brazilian science fiction comic series created in Marília, in the countryside of São Paulo state, by Tiago de Moraes das Chagas and published by Mustache Comics. The story takes place in the same city, only in the year 3121, and blends dystopia, social commentary and Brazilian culture.
This blog exists to follow that universe up close. Every three days, a different subject: characters, territories, the comics, Pituco, behind the scenes and what has been showing up in the press.
The setting in a few lines
After a pandemic that lasted about 20 years and a nuclear war that devastated the planet's forests, civilization reorganized itself in an uncontrolled way. A thousand years later comes Marília Metropolitana, a megacity born from the union of 62 municipalities.
The one in charge is the dictator Major Pimã, backed by his army, the Tomorrow Troops. The city offers color and shape through hologram technology, but demands total submission in return. In the series, that has a name: the "new era of digital slavery".
Outside the city limits lies Aruanda, the sacred land of the Tapanhumas, hukeira fighters who do not accept that deal. That is where the resistance comes from.
The saga in three volumes
The first major arc of Radius is complete and was published between 2022 and 2024. All three volumes are available on Amazon.
- Volume 1: where it all begins. An unrecognizable Marília and the rise of Radius, the hero who raises the flag of the resistance. It has 36 full-color pages.
- Volume 2: Radius and the Tapanhumas face the invasion led by Major Pimã and the Tomorrow Troops. This is where Pituco stands out as an unexpected protagonist. It has 40 pages.
- Volume 3: the decisive battle and the end of the first arc, with the arrival of new allies, the Confronters. It has 44 pages.
Who is who
The cast is large, but a few names will keep showing up here:
- Radius: a hukeira master transformed by the R.A.D.I.U.S. project, able to emit blasts of energy.
- Pituco: the anthropomorphic dog of the resistance, sarcastic, loyal and gifted with a nose that rarely fails.
- Ci-Jaci and Mestre: the creators of hukeira, the martial art that merges capoeira and huka-huka.
- Peregrino: the speed hero, always one step ahead of the Tomorrow Troops.
- Major Pimã and Plural: the skull-masked dictator and his bodyguard, a creature born at the Quark Labs.
The Radius Universe Archive gathers the files of thirteen characters and the two territories in conflict.
Beyond the saga
The universe did not stop at the third volume. Pituco got a comic of his own, Pituco Nº 1: Aurora Esmeralda, and the true story of the dog who inspired the character became the book Quatro Patas, a história de Pituco, with 184 pages. Today he also leads the Pituco Universe, a team of 15 heroes.
What comes next
A new post every three days. Coming up: hukeira, the story of Pituco, the two territories at war and the villains of the regime. Welcome to 3121. Welcome to the era of Radius.
