Lalo Alcaraz

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.[2] Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic strips.[3]

Lalo Alcaraz
Alcaraz
Alcaraz at WonderCon 2016
BornEduar Lopez Alcaraz[1]
(1964-04-19) April 19, 1964
San Diego, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)cartoonist
Notable works
La Cucaracha
laloalcaraz.com

Alcaraz was born in 1964 in San Diego, California, and grew up on the U.S.–Mexico border, giving him a dual outlook on life (not "Mexican" enough for his relatives, not "American" enough for some in the U.S.).[4] He attended San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "With Distinction" in Art and Environmental Design in 1987. In 1991, Alcaraz earned his master's degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.[5]

A leading figure in the Chicano movement,[6][7][8] Alcaraz formerly contributed political cartoons for LA Weekly from 1992 to 2010. He co-hosts a radio show on KPFK called the "Pocho Hour of Power".[9][10] Alcaraz is also the "Jefe-in-Chief" of POCHO.COM, a website specializing in "Ñews y Satire."[11]

Career

In addition to the daily strip, Alcaraz has published four books. Alcaraz is also an active speaker on the college circuit.[12][13][14] He is represented by The Agency Group in Los Angeles.[15]

Alcaraz taught as a faculty member at Otis College of Art & Design.[16] He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Latin American and Latinx literature, philosophy, and arts journal Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures.[17]

Alcaraz was consulting producer and writer on the animated show Bordertown (created by Family Guy show runner Mark Hentemann and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane), which ran one 13-episode season on Fox. It featured the first animated Mexican-American or even Latino family on primetime American television. He also served along with Gustavo Arellano as producer on comedian Al Madrigal's TV special for Fusion, Half Like Me. In 2015, Pixar hired Alcaraz to consult on Coco.[18] (See "§ Dia De Los Muertos controversy" below.) He is also a TV animation producer and consultant on The Casagrandes on Nickelodeon. Alcaraz is also a performer, voicing an angry mariachi in Coco, and has portrayed a Mexican bounty hunter named "Royce Vargas" in the 2017 Bill Plympton/Jim Lujan animated feature film Revengeance.

Activism

In response to the Walt Disney corporation's attempt to trademark Dia de Los Muertos for the Pixar film set in Mexico, Coco, Alcaraz helped lead a social activist campaign which eventually led to Disney's abandoning the idea.[19] In particular, Alcaraz's "Muerto Mouse" (itself an offshoot of his early "Migra Mouse") criticized the Disney campaign with the byline "It's coming to trademark your cultura."[20][21]

He is the creator of "Daniel D. Portado", a satirical Hispanic character who in 1994 formed the faux group "Hispanics For Wilson" which called on Mexican immigrants to return south—"reverse immigration"—as a response to the controversial Proposition 187.[22] In 2012, Daniel D. Portado returned to the headlines as a result of Mitt Romney's call, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, on undocumented immigrants to exercise "self-deportation."[23]

He contributed a work of art to the 2008 Obama campaign called "Viva Obama".[24] He worked with The Lincoln Project during the campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election.[25]

Awards

Alcaraz has received five Southern California Journalism Awards for Best Cartoon in Weekly Papers, and numerous other awards and honors, including "The Latino Spirit Award" from the California Legislature and the Office of the Lt. Governor, honors from the Los Angeles City Council, The California Chicano News Media Association, the UC Berkeley Chicano Latino Alumni Association, the United Farm Workers of America, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and The Rockefeller Foundation.[26]

Pulitzer Prize Finalist

In 2019 and 2020, Alcaraz was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.[27]

Herblock Prize

On April 26, 2022, he was awarded the annual Herblock Prize presented by the Herb Block Foundation to honor excellence in editorial cartooning.[28][29]

Works
  • Alcaraz, Lalo (2004). La Cucaracha. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-0740746598.
  • Alcaraz, Lalo (2004). Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration. Akashic Books. ISBN 978-0971920620.
  • Stavans, Ilan (2000). Latino USA: A Cartoon History. Illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465082216.
  • Stavans, Ilan (2014). A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the United States. Illustrated by Lalo Alcaraz. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465036691.
  • "Fuertes with the 2010 Census" (PDF). Maldef.

References
  1. "Eduar Lopez Alcaraz".
  2. "Bio". Lalo Alcaraz. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. Seth Wolf (October 12, 2004). "San Francisco Bay Guardian Arts and Entertainment". San Francisco Bay Guardian.
  4. "La Cucaracha Comic Strip". Gocomics.com. November 25, 2002.
  5. "Lalo Alcaraz". Universal Uclick. Andrews McMeel Publishing. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  6. Lou Delgado. "Splinters: Lalo Alcaraz: Chicano Political Cartoonist". Splinters. Retrieved November 5, 2005.
  7. Wegner, Kyle David (June 2006). "2". Children of Aztlán: Mexican American popular culture and the post-Chicano aesthetic (PhD). State University of New York at Buffalo. p. 71 – via ProQuest.
  8. "Creative Responders: Latino Art in Action Re-Affirming and Transforming the Future". Los Angeles Regional Workshop. National Association of latino Arts and Cultures. November 14, 2008. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011.
  9. "Lalo Alcaraz On Arizona's New Anti-immigration Legislation". KPFK-TV. World News. May 10, 2010. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015.
  10. "Pocho Hour of Power". KPFK.
  11. "Our management and editorial honchos". Pocho. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  12. "Lalo Alcaraz Named Keynote Speaker at Luminaria Award Dinner". News. The University of New Mexico. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  13. "Leadership conference shows many paths to successful careers". El Hispanic News. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  14. "Xicano Latino Heritage Month". César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education. CSU Pomona. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011.
  15. "Lalo Alcaraz". SPEAKING CLIENT. The Agency Group. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  16. "Faculty Bios > Lalo Alcaraz". Otis College of Art and Design. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  17. "Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures on JSTOR". www.jstor.org. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
  18. Nevarez, Griselda (August 21, 2015). "Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz to Work On Pixar's Day of the Dead Film 'Coco'". NBC News. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  19. Lalo Alcaraz (May 7, 2013). "Walt Disney, Inc. wants to trademark 'Dia de los Muertos'". Pocho.com. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  20. Arellano, Gustavo (May 8, 2013). "Lalo Alcaraz Creates Amazing "Muerto Mouse" Cartoon in Response to Disney "Dia de los Muertos" Fiasco". Blogs. OC Weekly. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  21. Renteria, Ramon (May 12, 2013). "Ramon Renteria: 'Muerto Mouse' seeks cash, not cheese". El Paso Times. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  22. Kumar, Ankali (March 28, 1996). "Chicano cartoonist entertains students". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  23. "Daniel D. Portado: The Original Self-Deportationist". News Taco. February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  24. Severns, Jeff (September 18, 2009). "Viva Obama Artist Gets the Academic Treatment". Utne Reader. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  25. Guadalupe, Patricia (October 5, 2020). "Latino cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz on mission to defeat Trump in November". NBC News. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  26. "Local Hero: Lalo Alcaraz". Hispanic Heritage Month - Local Heroes. KCET. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  27. "Finalist: Lalo Alcaraz, freelancer". The Pulitzer Prizes.
  28. Cavna, Michael (April 26, 2021). "Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz wants to expose our nation's inhumanity". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  29. "Herblock Prize & Lecture". The Herb Block Foundation. Retrieved May 7, 2021.

Further reading
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