August 14, 2024
Jared McNett, The Sioux City Journal
In early August, Alvaro Galindo Jr., 12, had a chance to go to the Dakota-Thurston County Fair parade with his sister and some of their cousins. The soft-spoken middle-schooler could have gone and scooped up free treats or trinkets.
Instead, Galindo Jr. stayed home, imagined what the event might be like, and went to work to drawing.
"I didn’t go because I was doing a comic strip," he said. "And I’m like: Oh wait, what if I went to the parade and got so much candy it ripped and then all the little kids tackled me. So I just drew it."
Since he turned 10, Galindo Jr. has been drawing comic strips for the Spanish-language publication "Mundo Latino" which covers news in Omaha and South Sioux City and is distributed to a number of other Nebraska cities as well as Council Bluffs. At this point he's closing in on 100 published comics for Mundo Latino on topics such as Christmas, his sister antagonizing him and going on a camping trip.
Galindo Jr.'s path to being Siouxland's youngest (and possibly only) staff cartoonist already has a number of markers on it. At a younger age, he traced Pokémon cards to better familiarize himself with shapes and figures. He also took a liking to the works of Dav Pilkey who is best known for the children's graphic novels "Captain Underpants" and the spin-off series "Dog Man." The latter had Galindo Jr. thinking he could craft a comic book of his own.
A song he heard during class one day helped, too.
While in class, a teacher of Galindo Jr.'s put on music from "Peanuts," the comic strip and cartoon series which began more than 61 years before he was born.
"I'm like tapping my feet because of the beat. I liked it and then I searched the history and it was originally a comic and then I started reading it online and my mom bought me a book of some of the classics and gave me a whole bunch of inspiration ... When you read them, you know each character, their personalities and then it'll make it even more funny."
Rather than do a whole bunch of comic books which could take a lot of time, paper and ink, Galindo Jr. said he decided comic strips would be a good way to go. His mom, Cintia Pedroza, was impressed by what her son came up with and thought the strips could find a home at Mundo Latino which is run by a friend of Pedroza's.
Abril Garcia, the paper's publisher since it started in October 1999, said one of things she appreciates about Galindo Jr.'s work is that it's quite expressive.
"I know what he is feeling when I read his comics," she said. "Some of them are funny. Some of them make you think. Everything makes sense."
As a publisher, Garcia is also plenty appreciative of how good Galindo Jr. is about observing publication deadlines.
"Alvaro is really good at sending us every week a cartoon. He’s amazing. I would say he’s the most reliable volunteer I have," Garcia said. Pedroza echoed the sentiment. "If there’s a deadline coming and there’s something fun we could do, he would rather stay home and just finish it."
Galindo Jr. views it as a responsibility, like going to theater practice at New Stage Players or playing basketball and baseball.
"I have to take time for each one so I can have it done by Tuesday," Galindo Jr. said about making deadline.
His first comic strip for Mundo Latino came in April 2022 and was called, "The Gang's All Here." The subject matter, according to Pedroza, concerned doing chores and a conversation with Galindo Jr.'s sister Isabella. Before it hit newsstands, Galindo Jr. said he wasn't so much nervous about a wide audience seeing his work as he was excited. When his first anniversary with Mundo Latino came around, the outlet did a story about him.
From the beginning, family members have made appearances in the comics as have friends, stuffed animals and even Galindo Jr. himself. A majority of the characters wear hoodies because Galindo Jr. has an affinity for them. The work starts with boxes in pencil and then Galindo Jr. will go over everything with ink and erase stray pencil marks.
"When he was 10 he used to carry stuff with him and he would trace to make the face or the body. Now he’s really good at making it by himself," Pedroza said.
A recurring punchline of the comics cribbing from his own life is the phrase "Weird beef" which is influenced by "Peanuts" and is especially fitting at the end of a strip where characters are in some kind of conflict.
"So 'Peanuts' has 'good grief' and I'm like: Hmm, maybe I can make something different and then I rhymed it. Good grief, weird beef."
Outside of drawing for an assignment, Pedroza said her son does a whole lot of practicing. Sometimes he'll be drawing in the kitchen. Sometimes in the living room. Wherever he can sit, listen to random music ("Stitches" and "Uptown Funk" are two favorites) and draw. He's even taken to scribbling down stray thoughts and ideas on napkins when out to eat.
"His room is covered in papers that I don't know to throw away or not because they're just all over," Pedroza said.
Occasionally, even within the confines of his room, Galindo Jr. said his sister will try and distract him. Pedroza is quick to note Isabella will help with ideas, too.
More recently, Galindo Jr. has taken classes in Sioux Falls with visual artist Hector Curriel, who has published a graphic novel ("American Ace") about a World War II fighter pilot and illustrated a number of books.
"The classes he’s taken are not a lot about comics but we find that anything that is dealing with art would help him for the future," Pedroza said. "And you could see the evolution of his comics. When he first started they didn’t have a lot of characteristics or they were kind of flat. And what Hector taught him is to do different angles, more characteristics, more facial expressions."
With the published strips and comic books he's sold for $5 a piece (which Mundo Latino helped put out), Galindo Jr. said his school friends are well aware of his work.
"They're like, 'Cool,'" he said humbly before his mom chimed in. "He doesn’t like to show them off. So sometimes I’m like, 'Here, take them and show them to your teachers.' And they’re like, 'I didn’t know you could do that.' So he loves to do what he does but doesn’t want to show off."
Down the line, Galindo Jr. and his mother both said they could see him as professional artist.
"He wants to do comics for a living when he grows up," Pedroza said. "And he wants to be a … what did you say? An author and ..."
"Illustrator. Just make my own books," Galindo Jr. finished.
Watch Alvaro's interview by going to the Sioux City Journal website.