'Mortimer the Lazy Bird' (2022).
Marco A. Cortez is a Brazilian comic artist whose work has spanned different genres, from children's and youth-oriented comics to horror and suspense stories, as well as commissioned comics for companies and institutional publications. In his home country, he has contributed to the celebrity comic strip 'Senninha e sua Turma' (1994-1998), 'Sítio do Picapau Amarelo' (2006-2008) and Aventuras Disney (2022- ), as well as several educational children's magazines. For a more adult audience, he has done contributions to horror and genre comics such as Mestres do Terror, Calafrio and the 2026 'Sombras' anthology. Internationally, Marco Cortez has been co-author of 'Mortimer the Lazy Bird' (2022), published by Scout Comics in the USA.
Early life and career
Marco Antonio Cortez was born in 1966 in the Brazilian city of São Paulo. In in 1987, he graduated in Fine Arts from the Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo with a full teaching degree in Visual Arts. Later, in 2000, he completed a university extension course in education at the Universidade de Guarulhos. Cortez began his professional career in 1981 as an office boy. In 1985, he started working in art at an advertising agency, remaining in that field until 1990, when he decided to move into the animation market.
His early artistic studies were strongly shaped by the work and teachings of Burne Hogarth, John Buscema, Frank Frazetta and Preston Blair. Over the years, he has drawn further inspiration from artists he admires, which includes Brazilian creators such as Arthur Garcia, Watson Portela, Mozart Couto, Jayme Cortez and Flávio Colin. Among international artists, he is particularly influenced by Bruce Timm, Shane Glines, Moebius, Philippe Druillet and Giorgio Cavazzano.
Cover illustrations for 'Senninho'.
Illustration/animation
As an illustrator and storyboard artist, Cortez participated in the production of short and feature-length animated films. Through the HGN Produções studios of Haroldo Guimarães, he has worked on Disney TV series like 'Gummi Bears' and 'Aladdin'. In addition, he has developed storyboards for live-action TV commercials, created sets for advertising animations and collaborated on animation projects for Sketch Filmes. Cortez also contributed to the 2001 feature film 'O Grilo Feliz' by Start Anima. In 1998, he founded his own studio, producing comic books, illustrations and character designs for the publishing, advertising and corporate markets. His commercial jobs have included promotional art and a comic booklet for Buben popsicles, and 'Strawberry Shortcake' artwork for American Greetings.
Zé Carioca - 'Corrida do Ouro em Minas Gerais!' (Zé Carioca Conta A História do Brasil #1, 2023). © Disney.
Children's comics
In the early 1990s, Cortez worked with César Sandoval on the 'A Turma do Arrepio' ("The Creepy Gang") comic books at Editora Globo, starring a kids gang of horror characters. Between 1993 and 1998, he was the official illustrator and art coordinator of the Ayrton Senna Institute, working on the development of the 'Senninha e sua Turma' universe. A celebrity comic starring a juvenile version of Formula One driver Ayrton Senna, this project has included an 80-issue comic book series published by Editora Abril (1994-1998). Cortez's other commercial children's comic work has included Editora Globo's 2006-2008 comic book series 'Sítio do Picapau Amarelo', based on the novel and TV series with characters created by Monteiro Lobato. In 2022, he did his first Disney art for Culturama Editora, starring the Zé Carioca character.
For the U.S. market, Cortez has worked with writer Brendan Dennen on the comic book 'Mortimer the Lazy Bird' (Scout Comics, 2022), about a bird who becomes best friends with what is supposed to be his enemy, the talkative worm Lucius.
Comic pages for 'Turma do Planeta Azul' and 'Takinha e Sua Turma'.
Educational comics
Several of the children's comic projects of Cortez have been institutional. In 2004, the artist developed the characters and comics of the 'Takinha e Sua Turma' comic book, commissioned by the Takaoka Empreendimentos construction company of engineer Yojiro Takaoka. Distributed freely every three months to schools and residential areas in São Paulo, the comic book raises awareness among children on relevant everyday issues in a playful and constructive way, for instance caring for nature and respect among people.
Comic art for Nosso Amiguinho.
For the publishing house CPB (Casa Publicadora Brasileira), Cortez has been a regular artist for Nosso Amiguinho magazine, a long-running educational children's monthly belonging to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its characters were originally created in 1972 by editor Ivan Schimidt and the illustrator Heber Pintos, but fully revamped in 2017. For the non-profit organization Fundação Mokiti Okada, Cortez restyed the characters of their educational magazine Turma do Planeta Azul, which is focused on environmental and sustainability themes.
Among his other educational comic projects have been the free booklets of the Integrar Arte e Vida project, promoting cultural and sporting activities among children, and the 'Turminha do Condomínio' comic books by Atlas Schindler, teaching children about safety when using elevators and escalators. For Bayer, he provided the artwork of the Revista Pingo booklets, which playfully provided information about diseases transmitted from animals to humans and the health of pets.
'Bilhetes' (2017).
Graphic contributions
In 2017, Cortez contributed to the independently released collective graphic novel 'Bilhetes'. Scripted by Paolo Borges, the interactive book starts off with six tickets with mysterious messages, after which six comic stories kick off. Each ticket belongs to one of the stories, but it is up to the reader's interpretation to find out which ticket corresponds to which story. The other participating artists were Jean Diaz, Augusto Minighitti, Laudo Ferreira, Julius Ohta and Marcel Marchi. The book receieved the 2018 Troféu Angelo Agostini for "Independent Release".
'Drácula 2500' (Mestres do Terror #72, February 2020).
In addition, Cortez has been one of the artists for the 'Histórias Passageiras' project by university professor Eduardo Dieb. Among 20 other artists, he visualized one of the chats Dieb overheard on his public transport commutes. After a successful publication online, these stories were collected in the comic book 'Histórias Passageiras' (Árvore Digital Editora, 2019). Cortez has also been a contributor to the Revista Japy project of comic artist Ede Galileu, collecting nine comic stories in different drawing styles but with an overall theme.
Since 2019, Cortez has contributed to several of the horror comic magazine series published by Ink & Blood Comics, including Calafrio and Mestres do Terror. In 2026, Cortez also appeared in the indie horror anthology 'Sombras'.
Self-portrait.