Hey Baldo Nation: As lots of you know, we have a tradition here at Baldo of featuring special guest artists. You might remember when Richard Dominguez did a guest stint featuring his Gato Negro superhero a few years back. We’ve also worked with Lela Lee of Angry Little Girls and Javier Hernandez of El Muerto.

For Hispanic Heritage Month this year, we thought it would be cool to continue that tradition and share some comic-page space with other artists. Beginning on Sunday, Sept. 27, we have four guest artists doing four Baldo Sundays. We think it’s a great time to “share the spotlight” and we know you’ll enjoy these different takes on Baldo.

Our first guest artist is David “Lebo” LeBatard. We met David a few years   back at a     media seminar in Miami. We’ve admired his awesome art and it seemed like a natural fit for this. Our second guest is L.A.-based cartoonist Carlos Saldana, creator of the lovable little character named Burrito, who stars in his own comic books. Third up is Anthony Oropeza and Lorenzo Lizano, who are responsible for Amigoman: The Latin Avenger. David Alvarez pitches in for the fourth Sunday strip. David, of course, is responsible for the va-va-voom character known as Yenny, which you might have seen on GoComics.com.

We know readers will enjoy these artists and hopefully take some time to learn a little more about them and their great work.

QUESTION 1 – What made you want to turn “Baldo” over to these artists for a Sunday?

We’ve had guest artists going back several years. Richard Dominguez did a Gato Negro series for us. We worked with Lela Lee of Angry Little Girls a few years back and most recently we had an appearance by El Muerto by our friend Javier Hernandez. So this is an extension of that. We thought it would be cool to share some Sunday funnies space and put the spotlight on some cool artists. Hispanic Heritage Month seemed like the perfect time to do it.

QUESTION 2 – What is it about these particular artists caught your attention?

We met David LeBatard a few years ago when we were invited to be part of speakers panel addressing Hispanic Ad Agencies in Miami. We’ve admired his art and it seemed like a natural fit for this. Also, we’re featured in the new book “Your Brain on Latino Comics” by Frederick Aldama. When we had this guest-artist idea, we decided to contact other cartoonists in the book. Some were friends already, like David Alvarez, and others are new friends, like Anthony Oropeza, Lorenzo Lizano and Carlos Saldana.

QUESTION 3 – How did the process work? Did you have ideas in mind for the artists, or did you turn them loose?

We essentially just turned them loose, and that was a little scary at first. You never know what talented, creative people are going to turn in! We just reminded them that this is a family strip, and that we wanted either one or all Baldo characters in there. The choice was theirs. Of course they’re all pros, so they all did a remarkable job. LeBatard’s art is beautiful and really captures a the Baldo spirit. Saldana uses his Burrito character for a great take on Spanglish, and Oropeza and Lizano gave us a dramatic meeting between Amigoman and Baldo. Of course Alvarez graces Baldo with his beautiful Yenny. Wow! We know readers will enjoy these artists and hopefully learn a little more about them and their work.

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

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Tags: Angry Little Girls, baldo, Carlos Saldana, Cartoonists, Dave Alvarez, David Alvarez, David LeBatard, el muerto, Frederick Aldama, Gato Negro, Graces, Guest Artist, Guest Artists, Guest Stint, Hispanic Heritage Month, Lebatard, Lebo, Lela Lee, Lizano, Media Seminar, Natural Fit, Negro Series, Oropeza, Page Space, Perfect Time, Remarkable Job, Spanglish, Sunday Funnies, Va Va Voom, Work Question, Yenny

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