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Nationally syndicated cartoonist is teaching a class at UT Dallas

Baldo appears in more than 200 newspapers across the U.S.

Image courtesy of Hector Cantu

For the first time, students at the University of Texas at Dallas can learn how to create a comic strip via a new Comics Workshop taught this semester by a Dallas-based syndicated cartoonist.

The class falls under the university's Creative Writing program, along with classes like Poetry and Screenwriting, and is being taught by Hector Cantu, co-creator of Baldo, the first comic strip to feature a Latino family.

Cantu is a former journalist who worked at both the Dallas Times Herald and the Dallas Morning News before creating Baldo with his partner, illustrator Carlos Castellanos, in 2000. The strip appears in more than 200 newspapers across the U.S.

He's been a regular guest speaker on college campuses such as Notre Dame, Purdue, Rutgers, Baylor, and University of Texas at Austin. Teaching a class was a logical next step.

Comic strips are unique from other forms of storytelling since they require words plus visuals, and the market and audience is very specific.

"There aren't too many nationally syndicated cartoonists, less than 200, so it's a rarity to have that title," Cantu says. "I've always loved talking about comics and the Baldo story and the creative process of how you go about writing comics."

Cantu and Castellanos blazed a trail when they created Baldo.

"When I looked at the comics pages 20 years ago, I didn't see any people like me that had my background or that I could relate to as a reader," Cantu says. "Baldo presented a different voice on the comics page."

His class will cover the fundamentals of comics and graphic storytelling, shaping a story, developing a plot and script, working with an artist, preparing a proposal, and tips on how to get published. He'll also cover graphic novels, which have become extremely popular in recent years.

"A lot of shows on Netflix and other streaming services right now are based on graphics novels," Cantu says. "Everybody is looking for the next unique idea, for what can be adapted into something on screen."

There've been gloomy predictions about the future and viability of newspapers but Cantu feels they will prevail — and they'll definitely always have comics.

"Blondie is always going to be there, Peanuts, Dennis The Menace — they're a daily anchor in people's lives," he says. "They stay essentially the same, and I think that's what people like about comics."

"It’'s a traditional part of the newspaper and will be around as long as newspapers are around," he says.

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Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."