Ronaldinho shoots into comic book

WORLD footballer of the year Ronaldinho has become the second Brazil star to be immortalised on the pages of a comic book.

The smiling assassin, who won his second FIFA player of the year award earlier this month, was in Rio yesterday to help launch Ronaldinho Gaucho, a character blessed with the silky skills of the real-life superstar.

Brazil legend Pele is the only other footballer to have been given such superstar status in a comic called Pelezinho, or little Pele.

Ronaldinho's character is drawn with the same bucktoothed grin the player flashes every time he scores, and looks every brushstroke the same, with flowing black locks held back in a characteristic Alice band.

The character even wears a golden "R" pendant around his neck, just like the real thing.

The comic was developed by Mauricio de Souza, a renowned local artist who draws Monica And Her Gang, a top-selling comic book series in Brazil, and who also created the Pele comics.

"We got the idea (for Ronaldinho Gaucho) when we were watching a game on television. Then we went to the stadium to see his razzle-dazzle play," de Souza said.

Ronaldinho said he was honoured by the comic.

Australia will have the chance to play against the comic book hero when Ronaldinho dons the Brazil strip for his side's Group F fixture against the Socceroos on June 18 in Munich, Germany.