Denise (Monica and Friends)

Denise is a character from the Brazilian comic book series Monica and Friends/Monica's Gang (Brazilian: Turma da Mônica.) She was originally introduced in 1989 as a random friend for Monica and Maggy. She was originally not a very important character, often appearing throughout the 90s with different designs and personalities, however, from the 2000s onwards she underwent a redesign created by the writer Emerson Abreu to the point of becoming one of the most well-known and relevant characters in the franchise.

Why She Sucks

 * 1) In the early years during the 90s she was practically a random and uninteresting character who existed only to be friends with Monica and Maggy, due to the lack of more female characters at the time, having no personality or charm.
 * 2) Before the 2000s Denise did not have a fixed look, often appearing in different clothes and hair in different colors to the point that Emerson Abreu made a joke about it in story "O Concurso das Denises!" (where Denise's redesign started) where it is revealed that Denise was a character played by several different actresses who often gave up the role.
 * 3) Since her redesign in 2000, the character has suffered from an extreme change in personality, first being presented as a gossip girl until being changed to a rude, narcissistic, selfish and inquisitive girl who often thinks she is superior and smarter than her friends, sometimes acting like a teenage girl and considering herself more mature than her friends.
 * 4) At times Denise proves to be rude even to her best friends Monica and Maggy, sometimes even taking advantage of their naivete and also proving to be a bad influence for them.
 * 5) Just like Sunny the character has remarkably stolen a lot of prominence and focus on most of the stories written by Emerson Abreu, to the point that there are times when she is placed with more spotlight than the real protagonists of the comic books as a forced attempt to be the fifth protagonist of the franchise besides Monica, Jimmy Five, Smudge and Maggy.
 * 6) Even after having won a practically fixed redesign by Emerson Abreu in "O Concurso das Denises!" Denise still has a strong inconsistency in her design, sometimes appearing in a pink dress (instead of the traditional purple), black skirt, shoes that vary between purple, red and black, hair that sometimes varies between light brown and dark brown, in addition to sometimes her fringe and pigtails are drawn in different ways depending on the story.
 * 7) She often makes excessive use of teenage slang in an attempt to look cooler, some of these slangs are dated or little known.
 * 8) The character is considered by many to be the main reason for the decline in the quality of the comic script since the 2000s, mainly in the comics published by Panini, which was where Denise coincidently started to receive more focus on the stories.
 * 9) Sometimes she acts as an antagonist to Monica and Maggy, often appearing as an accomplice to Carmen/Cindy Frou-Frou and helping her to bully other girls.
 * 10) In Monica Teen she is at her absolute worst: stealing spotlight in the stories written by Emerson Abreu, still being rude, selfish and antagonistic to her friends at times, and more recently being characterized as a feminist, sexist and hypocritical teen girl.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Her redesign by Emerson Abreu in 2000 is very good and unique, mainly because she started to have a fixed appearance.
 * 2) Depending on the story she can be a likable character, especially in the stories published during the 2000s (mainly those published by Globo).
 * 3) She was created for a good purpose since there were originally few female characters in Monica's Gang/Monica and Friends, with only Monica and Maggy having a great focus on the stories.
 * 4) She was the character that had the greatest evolution and development in the comics (even if it was not for the better).