Hector David Cantú (born September 16, 1961)Texas Births, 1926–1995
Hector David Cantú, Birth Date: 1961-09-16
/ref> is an American writer, editor, and

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

creator, best known for the Latino-American strip '' Baldo''.

Biography

Early life and career

Cantú created his first cartoon at age 12 for a community newspaper in

Crystal City, Texas Crystal City is a city in and the county seat of Zavala County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,354 as of the 2020 census. It was settled as a farming and ranching community and was a major railroad stop being from San Antonio. Spin ...

, owned by his brother, inspired by

Mad magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

cartoonists

Sergio Aragonés Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born 6 September 1937 in Sant Mateu, Castellón, Spain) is a Spanish-Mexican-American cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book ''Groo t ...

and

Antonio Prohías Antonio Prohías (January 17, 1921 – February 24, 1998) was a Cuban-American cartoonist. He was the creator of the satirical comic strip '' Spy vs. Spy'', which he illustrated for '' Mad'' magazine from 1961 to 1987. Biography In 1946, Proh� ...

.Ashraf, Arooj, . "Baldo: Comic strip entertains and educates, combating racial stereotypes"
'' La Prensa'' (Ohio & Michigan), October 2008 He attended Skyline High School in Dallas, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He studied

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, where he was an assistant managing editor at ''

The Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and is among th ...

''. He later worked as a reporter and editor at the ''San Antonio Light,'' the ''Dallas Times Herald,'' and ''The Dallas Morning News.'' He was

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edi ...

of ''Hispanic Business'' magazine in Santa Barbara,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He has written freelance for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Magazine'', ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', and ''

D Magazine ''D Magazine'' is a monthly magazine covering Dallas–Fort Worth. It is headquartered in Downtown Dallas. ''D Magazine'' covers a range of topics including politics, business, food, fashion and lifestyle in the city of Dallas. The first issue ...

''. Cantú is among the 21 Latino comic book and comic strip authors and artists featured in comic historian

Frederick Luis Aldama Frederick Luis Aldama is an American author, editor, and academic. He is the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab at the University of Texas, Austin. At UT Austin is also affiliate ...

's 2009 book ''Your Brain on Latino Comics''.

''Baldo''

In 1998, Cantú and artist Carlos CastellanosBaldoComics.com: "Los Creators"
/ref> teamed to create the

'' Baldo'', about a 15-year-old Latino-American teenager, Baldomero Bermudez, nickname Baldo, living with his 8-year-old sister Gracie; their father, Sergio; and their aunt, Tia Carmen.

Universal Press Syndicate Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, was an independent press syndicate. It distributed lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and other content. Popular columns include Dear Abby, Ann Coulter, Roger ...

(now Andrews McMeel Syndication) contracted for the strip, and in April 2000 it launched in newspapers, which number nearly 200 as of late 2008. It ranked among Universal Press Syndicate's 5 most successful launches. Cantú in 2007 said he and Castellanos were prompted to create ''Baldo'' Two ''Baldo'' compilation books, ''The Lower You Ride, The Cooler You Are'' and ''Night Of The Bilingual Telemarketers'', have been published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC. The Spanish-language

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

optioned the strip for an

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

Later career

As of 2007, Cantú is editor and publisher of ''The Intelligent Collector'' magazine at

Heritage Auctions Heritage Auctions is an American multi-national auction house based in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1976, Heritage is an auctioneer of numismatic collections, comics, fine art, books, luxury accessories, real estate, and memorabilia from film, mus ...

. He is co-editor of the book ''Collectible Movie Posters'' published by

Whitman Publishing Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In about 1915, Western began printing and binding a line of juvenile books for the Hamm ...

. He is founding chair of Texas Cartoonists, a regional chapter of the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

References

External links

"Labor of Laughter,"
The (Eugene, OR) Register-Guard, March 31, 2018
"For Comic Strip Authors In The Trump Era, 'No Art Should Live In A Vacuum'"
National Public Radio, January 21, 2018

WashingtonPost.com ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

Webchat, July 12, 2002
"'Baldo' Creators Draw Attention to National Literacy Day"

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

, June 18, 2004
Hooten, Jeffery D. "'Baldo' writer addresses his work at Texas Union"
''

'' (

), September 12, 2007; updated January 9, 2009
Astor, Dave. "'Baldo' Strip Includes What 'The War' Series Mostly Omits"
''

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the news media industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry," with offices in Hendersonville, ...

'', September 24, 2007, via DefendTheHonor.org
Pounder, Lori. "Creating 'Baldo': Comic strip author Hector Cantú spoke at Summit Middle School Friday"
'' Summit Daily News'' (

Summit County, Colorado Summit County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 31,055. The county seat and largest town is Breckenridge, Colorado, Breckenridge. Summit County comprises the ...

), January 18, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cantu, Hector American comics writers Writers from Texas 1961 births Living people People from Weslaco, Texas