OB Rag Recommends ‘La Cucaracha’ Artist for Next Editorial Cartoonist at the Union-Tribune

Now that Steven Breen is out at the Union-Tribune as its long-time editorial cartoonist, the local daily — recently purchased by a hedge fund — is in dire need of a local artist with the gravitas of taking on issues in a comic way.

So, stand aside!

The OB Rag hereby recommends local boy, Lalo Alvaraz — artist of the award-winning “La Cucaracha” daily cartoon series — for the U-T’s new editorial cartoonist!

He is local — went to Helix Charter High and San Diego State University — and he has won awards, particularly the Herb Block 2022 Prize Winner. Here’s a brief Wikipedia thing on him:

Lalo Alcaraz (born April 19, 1964) is an American cartoonist most known for being the author of the comic La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip. Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic strips.

Here’s today’s La Cucaracha (7/28/23):

and here’s more:

You know, the U-T owes it to Lalo. Why? Because for years, when his comic strip ran in the U-T’s Sunday edition, it was printed so small that often a viewer couldn’t read the cartoon’s text. Seriously. And compared with his strip in the LA Times (up to recently, owned by the same billionaire) it was definitely smaller – one could read the LAT’s version with ease. Why was this? A little prejudice perhaps?

Anyhow, bring Lalo back to town and make him the U-T’s Herb Block of the day.

Here’s more on Lalo:

Lalo Alcaraz is an award winning nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist and the creator of the syndicated daily comic strip, “La Cucaracha”, published nationwide since 2002. Lalo is winner of six Southern California Press Awards for Best Editorial Cartoon and was an editorial cartoonist for The LA Weekly from 1992-2010. Alcaraz now creates editorial cartoons for Andrews McMeel Syndication, Daily Kos, Pocho.com and various newspapers.  including Philadelphia’s Al Dia News.

An accomplished illustrator and Chicano artist, Alcaraz’s work has been featured in numerous museums, galleries and publications around the world and on broadcast television and documentaries. Lalo’s graphic novel and cartoon books include the New York Times bestseller A Most Imperfect Union; Latino USA: A Cartoon History, 15th Anniversary Edition; Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons On Immigration; and La Cucaracha.

Alcaraz is a writer, producer and cultural consultant for film, TV and animation, including projects at Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney, Fox and Xbox. He was Cultural Consultant on the Oscar-winning animated Pixar film “COCO.” Alcaraz is also Cultural Consultant, Consulting Producer and Writer on the animated series “The Casagrandes” for Nickelodeon Animation. He is a former illustration faculty member of Otis College of Fine Art & Design.

Alcaraz is active in using cartoons and animation to battle vaccine hesitancy and Covid misinformation in the Latino community with the organization CovidLatino.org and the California Department of Public Health. He is currently Virtual Artist In Residence for the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. He is a graduate of San Diego State University (BA in Art) and UC Berkeley (Master’s in Architecture).

Lalo was born to Mexican immigrant parents on the US/Mexico border in San Diego, California, lives in Los Angeles with his public schoolteacher wife and is about to have three kids in college.

See his work at https://laloalcaraz.com/