Once Upon a Saturday
Once Upon a Saturday is a Brazilian webcomic authored by graphic designer Carlos Ruas that deals with topics related to the Bible. The comics deal primarily with God's daily struggles, as well as those of his creations, Adam, Eve, and their son Cain (depicted as a voice emanating from a small blue stroller). God is often frustrated by his creations, as they don't always turn out as planned.
| Once Upon a Saturday | |
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| Author(s) | Carlos Ruas |
| Website | http://www.umsabadoqualquer.com/ |
The comic's name comes from the Bible's account that God worked creating the world and its inhabitants for six days, and rested on Saturday, the seventh day/the Sabbath.
Aside from the main characters, new characters and guests make their appearances as the series progresses, to include Freud, Nietzsche, Stephen Hawking, and other gods such as Zeus, Odin, and Ra.
The English website was discontinued in early 2019, and English comic strips of Once Upon a Saturday can be found on Tapastic, WebToons, Instagram, and Facebook under the title "God Behind the Scenes."
Main Characters
God – The most human God you'll ever meet. Just like you, he also suffers, cries, smiles, gets pissed off and floods everything, regrets, fights with his wife, comes back, screws everything up, fixes it... Through unusual bible interpretations, Ruas creates new versions of the facts that marked the holy world.
Adam – The favorite among men! If men were sexist back in the day, imagine the first one. Adam doesn't know how to deal with women; he hasn't had anyone to show him how, and consequently he is extremely sincere. If a woman asks “Do I look fat?” his answer will be “Yes”. He feels wronged by God for being forced to live 900 years with the same woman, which only increases his asshole-ness. Naive, fun, womanizer, sexist. Adam is always good for a laugh despite the feminist outcry.
Eve – The Lisa Simpson of our blog, always having to put up with two childish guys, God and Adam, who have very archaic views on women. They always misunderstand her, despite her being an intelligent and proper lady.
Cain – The psychopathic baby, even from the cradle Cain already shows his killer instincts. He and God don't get along; God simply can't stand the idea of having a psycho grandson. Cain, never hesitant in his cruelty, insists that he “takes after his grandfather.”
Lou (Lucifer) – Our charismatic little devil is not evil at all; in all actuality, it's humans who demonize him. Luci governs the infernal world, but that does not make him infernal. After all, someone would have to do the job anyway. He feels unjustly targeted as the excuse for all humankind's atrocities. He and God have had their disagreements, but now it's all in the past. All he wants is to live a peaceful life; that is of course, if humans let him.
Bar of the Gods
The Bar of the Gods is a bar where all the gods meet up to blow off steam, converse, and sometimes fight. The gods who frequent the bar are:
Zeus – God of ancient Greece, he lives to steal followers from God.
Ra – God of ancient Egypt, he has the head of a falcon and a human body.
Odin – Nordic god, he doesn't care about his public image and loves to drink and fight. He created humans out of wood, and is always arguing with God and the Mayan god about what material is best for creating humans.
Mayan god – he created humans out of corn, and just like Odin and God, he thinks his choice of material is better than all others.
Ganesha – Hindu god, with the head of an elephant and a human body.
Obatala – African god who loves the food offerings his followers give to him; originally appearing as a blackface character with red mouth, this god's appearance was redesigned in 2019 by Ruas to appear culturally accurate and respectful of the god's origins.
Google – New at the bar, this god of technology is making waves.
Shiva – The many-armed Hindu god, he's often depressed because he has lost so many followers. He works as a waiter at the bar.
Other characters
Carlos Ruas – Appears in many of his own comic strips, usually chatting with God or playing pranks on him.
Chico Xavier – Appears
Darwin – He lives to debate his theory of evolution with God.
Einstein – A great fan of God's work
Freud – God's psychoanalyst
Niemeyer – Brazilian architect who is always trying to improve God's projects.
Nietzsche – God's rival, he and God are always trying to off each other. Nietzsche hates women, soccer, beer, communism, and especially capitalism.
Platypus – The butt of many jokes in the animal kingdom, and even among the gods, the platypus is frustrated by his name and appearance.
Potatoists – Aliens who spread the word of the Great Mother Potato.
Raul Seixas – Brazilian recording artist, singer, and songwriter; God's friend
Socrates – Ancient Greek philosopher
Stephen Hawking – World-renowned theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author; also an atheist
Apostle Zacariah – Hard-lining preacher/evangelist.
Popularity
The Portuguese webcomic blog has over 40,000 daily visitors and almost 3 million followers on Facebook.
In 2012 Carlos Ruas was awarded the HQmix, the Oscar of Brazilian comics, in the category of web comics, and in Oct 2016 he was invited to be the resident artist drawing caricatures of participants in an episode of the Brazilian talk show Roda Viva (Round Table).
Carlos Ruas has published five books, four Once Upon A Saturday comic books in Portuguese, and one book titled “The Exodus” satirizing the biblical account of the Exodus.