Gordo creator Gus Arriola died Saturday following a lengthy bout with Parkinson’s disease.
He was born in Arizona in July 1917, but grew up in Los Angeles. Immediately
after high school, he spent a year working on Krazy Kat for Screen Gems,
then spent three years animating Tom and Jerry and Lonesome Stranger for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a "sketch man", before leaving to start his own comic strip. He created the character of 'Gordo' and sold it to United Features in 1941. This comic strip, set in the Mexican countyside, soon became very popular, and Gus Arriola continued to draw it even when he was drafted for service in 1942. He eventually retired from the comic in 1985.
Gordo was initially designed to be a Mexican version of Li'l Abner, with a highly caricatured style and a lazy overweight title character who spoke in heavily accented English and took naps under a tree wearing a sombrero. After his early strips were criticized for Hollywood-style cultural stereotypes, Arriola realized that his was the only periodical work in American mass media that depicted life in Mexico, and modified the strip to be more sympathetic.
You can buy his books: Gordo's Cat
, Accidental Ambassador Gordo: The Comic Strip Art of Gus Arriola
and Gordo's Critters
.
He was born in Arizona in July 1917, but grew up in Los Angeles. Immediately
after high school, he spent a year working on Krazy Kat for Screen Gems,
then spent three years animating Tom and Jerry and Lonesome Stranger for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a "sketch man", before leaving to start his own comic strip. He created the character of 'Gordo' and sold it to United Features in 1941. This comic strip, set in the Mexican countyside, soon became very popular, and Gus Arriola continued to draw it even when he was drafted for service in 1942. He eventually retired from the comic in 1985.Gordo was initially designed to be a Mexican version of Li'l Abner, with a highly caricatured style and a lazy overweight title character who spoke in heavily accented English and took naps under a tree wearing a sombrero. After his early strips were criticized for Hollywood-style cultural stereotypes, Arriola realized that his was the only periodical work in American mass media that depicted life in Mexico, and modified the strip to be more sympathetic.
You can buy his books: Gordo's Cat
, Accidental Ambassador Gordo: The Comic Strip Art of Gus Arriola and Gordo's Critters.
1 comment:
His comic strips characters were unforgettable.
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