Suburban Fairy Tales

I heard some sad news over the weekend that cartoonist Luisa Felix, creator of comic strip Candy Blondell, had passed away. Luisa was a big fan of my work and I was a big fan of hers.  Although I never met her in person, we had frequent email correspondence critiquing each other’s work and conversing about cartoons in general.  It’s a shame that she passed away before having a real chance to be recognized and I wanted to take some time to honor her memory.

Most of you probably never heard of Luisa’s comic, Candy Blondell.  It was a nostalgia web comic about the golden days of Hollywood.  The main character, Candy, was a waitress turned famous Hollywood actress.  The character of Candy was inspired by real actress Jean Harlow and cartoon character Betty Boop.  In fact, Candy Blondell was created specifically to be Betty Boop’s competition.

Luisa Felix drew the strip for many years, but was unable to do regular updates because of ongoing health issues.  Luisa’s work had a very classic 1930s style of art, which is very unique among the current crop of web comics available today.  Her stories were funny and creative and her characters were quirky and classical – Candy Blondell was a throwback to a more simpler time in comics.  It’s a shame Luisa wasn’t more successful because her talent is as good — if not better — than any professional comic strip that you can read in bookstores or in newspapers.

Luisa’s work is still available to read online and is definitely worth a look.

Click Here to see some Candy Blondell artwork and stories from 2010 and earlier on ComicSpace

Click Here to see more recent stories and artwork of Candy Blondell on GoComics

Click Here for an in depth article of Candy Blondell on Comic Creators United