#PFAD5: The most famous footballer on Earth.

Perhaps the most successful sports figure of the 20th century, Pelé passed away on December 29th, 2022.

It should come as no surprise that, during my five decades as a professional soccer artist, I’ve drawn Pelé many times.

But to mark the anniversary of his passing, at the age of 82 on December 29th, 2022, rather than just show my artwork, I thought I’d share a look at some of the other ways that the Brazil legend has been depicted in illustration.

Pelé was a regular in all the comics I read as a kid growing up in Britain in the 1960s. Many of these can be found these days on sites like eBay, where they now change hands for many pounds instead of the few pennies they originally cost.

Those prices pale in comparison to a couple of signed issues of the Mexican comic “Chanoc” that I spotted online, where the asking price for each is a staggeringUS $2,498.89!

In his native Brazil, Pelé’s childhood was the focus of the long-running comic “Pelezinho,” created by Mauricio de Sousa in 1976.

Books about Pelé have been printed in practically every language on Earth. Here are just a few variant covers of the graphic novel “Pelé: The King of Soccer” by the French creators Eddy Simon and Vincent Brascaglia:

Pelé has appeared on countless trading cards. many of which featured illustrations rather than photographs:

Numerous countries have featured the soccer superstar on special postage stamps:

Surfing Substack recently, I came across an interesting piece on Ashley Mason’s “Keeping Up” that looked at Pele’s acting career. I was particularly struck by the poster for the 1979 movie “A Marcha,” which features a really nice illustration:

By the time he led Brazil to World Cup glory in 1970, Pelé had already earned a King’s ransom in sponsorships and endorsements. He went on to earn many millions more, lending his name and image to everything from Visa and Volkswagen, Puma and Pepsi, to Subway sandwiches, sandals made from recycled tires and even Viagra! My favorite ad featuring Pelé came following his move to the New York Cosmos in 1975, where he single-handedly put soccer on the map in the States. It appeared in comic books and was an ad for Tang, the drink mix made famous when it was adopted by NASA for Gemini astronauts: