Friday Foster

''Friday Foster'' is an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Jorge Longarón. It ran from January 18, 1970, to February 17, 1974 and was notable for featuring one of the first African-American women as the title character in a comic strip. Jackie Ormes' ''Torchy Brown'' predated it, although it saw a more limited release in the Afro-American newspaper ''Pittsburgh Courier''.

History

Jim Lawrence had been the writer of the London ''Daily Express'' comic strip, James Bond, when he became interested in creating a comic about a black character. Spanish cartoonist Jorge Longarón was chosen as the illustrator, and the strip was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The comic focused on the glamorous life of its title character, a former fashion model who became an assistant to a top fashion photographer, as described by comics historian Dave Karlen:

A 1970 issue of '' Jet'' reported on the debut of Friday Foster. The magazine stated that writer Lawrence lived in Summit, New Jersey and illustrator Longarón lived in Spain.Journalism - Black Career Girl Comic Strip Debuts in Cleveland, ''Jet'', page 19, February 12, 1970 Lawrence, a veteran of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War had specifically sought a Spanish illustrator for the strip, at least in part because at the time Spanish illustrators were much cheaper than comparably skilled American illustrators. The two communicated via postal mail and telephone calls.

Because of the slow speed of the mail, Longarón mailed his drawings three weeks before they were scheduled to appear. Still, the drawings sometimes did not arrive on time, and artist Frank Springer did a small amount of uncredited work on the strip, recalling in the mid-2000s, "I knew the writer, who lived here in New Jersey, ... ndI got a call a couple of times from Lawrence who said they hadn't gotten the material through from Spain" and asked Springer to fill in. "I guess over the years I did two Sunday pages, maybe three."Springer in

Longarón, from Barcelona, had never been in New York until he made a brief trip there to sign the contract to do the comic. Even then, he never actually set foot in Harlem, though he did pass through it taking photos from a taxi for future reference. He drew the comic using a technique he had already established, with a sharpened pencil dipped in ink. He worked in part from photographs. He based Friday's general appearance on a particular African American model from ''Playboy'', but also used his own mother and aunt (both artists themselves) as models.

Dell Comics published a single issue of a ''Friday Foster'' comic book (October 1972), written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Jack Sparling.

In 1975, ''Friday Foster'' was adapted into a blaxploitation feature film of the same name, starring Pam Grier.

In September 2019, the Friday Foster character appeared in a ''Dick Tracy'' story drawn by Andrew Pepoy.

The comic was the subject of a temporary exhibit "Longaron i Friday Foster. L'heroïna inesperada" which ran from 20 March 2024 through 24 June 2024 at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Further reading

* ''The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters from Comic Book History'' by Hope Nicholson, Quirk Books (2017)

See also

* ''Friday Foster (film)''

References

{{Tribune Content Agency comics

Foster, Friday
American comic strips
Drama comics
Adventure comics
1970 comics debuts
1974 comics endings
Comics about women
Foster, Friday
American comics adapted into films
Foster, Friday
Foster, Friday
Foster, Friday
Foster, Friday
Comic strips formerly syndicated by Tribune Content Agency