Baldo
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Baldo is an American comic strip written by Hector Cantú and illustrated by Carlos Castellanos. It was launched in April of 2000, and is widely billed as the first comic strip featuring Latino characters and themes to be marketed to a mainstream audience.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Primary
- Baldomero "Baldo" Bermudez is the title character. A Latino teenager, his primary interests are cars and girls. He is also obsessed with being cool, and is in the middle of an ongoing process to build his own lowrider. He has a job at a car repair store in town, and according to a January 2007 comic strip, he is 15 years old.
- Graciela "Gracie" Bermudez is Baldo's younger, Lisa Simpson-like sister. She is an ardent admirer of Frida Kahlo, and frequently attempts to be an activist. She is remarkably smart and enjoys reading, although (in true little sister form) she is a constant annoyance to her older brother.
- Sergio "Dad" Bermudez, a widower, is the patriarch of the family, the father of Baldo and Gracie, and the owner of a small business. He is often seen by his children as being dorky, although they love him all the same.
- Tia Carmen is Baldo and Gracie's dizzy great-aunt. An older woman, Carmen has a vast knowledge and love of old-world customs, foods, and herbal remedies.
- Cruz is Baldo's best friend. Arguably similar to Hector from Zits, Cruz is often seen accompanying Baldo in the quest for coolness.
- Britney Denise "Smiley" Rogers is Baldo's Anglo ex-girlfriend. She was originally introduced in 2001 as Baldo's new next door neighbor with an interest in Latino culture, and was Baldo's girlfriend from 2003 to 2006. Shortly after the breakup, Smiley underwent a sudden makeover and joined a popular girls' clique.
[edit] Secondary
- El Cucuy is the Bermudez family's boogeyman, and is somewhat akin to the snorklewacker from Bloom County. He was forced into retirement after Baldo and Gracie stopped fearing him.
- Billy is a semi-recurring Anglo teenager and one of Baldo's former co-workers from a summer job. He has a poor work ethic and is ignorant of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.
- Nora is Gracie's best friend and confidant. She seems to be as bright and intelligent as Gracie.
- Sylvia Sanchez was deemed the "prettiest girl in school" by Baldo, and the object of his eye from the early strips. She vanished from the strip in 2003, shortly before Baldo and Smiley began dating.
- Ralphie is a friend of Baldo's who owns a lowrider with an advanced sound system. He infrequently appears in the strip.
- Smiley's brother is the Rogers equivalent of Gracie. For a brief time, he was Gracie's "boyfriend", but that relationship has since been dissolved.
- Mr. Harold [1] was the Gang Activity Monitor at Baldo's school. He had a "tough guy" persona, and falsely accused Baldo of being in a gang after mistaking a game of Rock Paper Scissors for gang signals.
- Rosa Bermudez was Baldo and Gracie's mother, and Sergio's wife. Though she has never been seen or heard in the strip, it was revealed that she had died in a car accident when Baldo was ten years old. [2]
[edit] Notes
Although primarily a strip focused solely on light humor, Baldo has at times delved into political and social subjects relevant to the Hispanic community, such as lottery scams, the 2006 United States immigration reform protests, and greater involvement in improving one's community. This has resulted in both praise and criticism from readers, whose letters have been posted on Baldo's official website and then answered (sometimes sarcastically) by the strip's creators.
[edit] Cartoon collections
As of 2005, only two collections of the strip have been published in book form.
