Friday Foster: The Sunday Strips out now in Spanish, English edition available in July

Friday Foster: The Sunday Strips by writer Jim Lawrence and artist Jordi Longaron, published in Spain as Friday Foster Tapa dura by Norma Editorial, is available now, and the cover of the English language edition from American publisher Ablaze, is now revealed, out in July.

Friday Foster, published between January 1970 until 1974, was the first mainstream syndicated comic strip in the US to feature a Black woman in the lead role.

As we previously reported, Portland-based Ablaze Publishing is publishing an English language collection of the ground-breaking 1970s US Sunday newspaper strip, co-created by James Bond newspaper strip writer Jim Lawrence and Spanish artist Jorge Longarón, with art also by Gray Morrow. But Barcelona-based Norma Editorial is the first to publish the collection, in Spanish, available now.

Friday Foster art by Jim Lawrence Jordi Longaron, from the Spanish edition , Friday Foster Tapa dura
Friday Foster art by Jim Lawrence Jordi Longaron, from the Spanish edition , Friday Foster Tapa dura

The Friday Foster Tapa dura book is a project edited by Javier Mesón and David Moreu for Norma Editorial, the result of two years of work, created with input and supervision from Longarón before he died in 2019.

Jordi’s son, Marc Longaron, has been sharing examples of art from the strip online, revealing some of the incredible work his father put into the strip, to the delight of the strip’s fans, including artist David Roach.

Friday Foster art by Jordi Longaron via Marc Longaron. “There’s a fabulous sense of depth here with a clever use of shadows, contrasting patterns and negative space, to say nothing of body language,” notes artist and author David Roach of this example. “It’s a sort of T-shaped construction which you rarely see in comics, and in his sketches Longaron was constantly trying out interesting new compositions, often playing with shapes and overlapping figures. Each one was inspired!”

The collection features the Friday Foster Sunday strips, plus exclusive interviews and previously unreleased material from Longarón’s archives.

The strip was also published daily, but locating examples is likely to be a long and time-consuming project , so let’s hope sales of the Sunday collection are strong enough to prompt such an endeavour!

Friday Foster original art by Jordi Longaron
Friday Foster by Jim Lawrence Jordi Longaron, from the Ablaze edition
Friday Foster original art by Jordi Longaron
Detail of Friday Foster original art by Jordi Longaron

FRIDAY FOSTER SUNDAYS – SPANISH EDITION

The Spanish language cover of the much-anticipated Friday Foster Sundays collection. With thanks to Javier Mesón

Friday Foster Tapa dura | Published by Norma Editorial on 28th May 2021 | 256 Pages | ISBN 978-8467945591 | Read a preview in Descubre

El regreso de un clásico de culto de la exploitation Bienvenidos al mundo de Friday Foster, la intrépida Fotógrafa del barrio neoyorquino de Harlem que revolucionó las tiras de prensa estadounidenses a principios de los años 70. Aventura, romance, intriga y mucho glamur.

Order the Norma Editorial edition of Friday Foster from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Norma Editorial is online at normaeditorial.com – newsletter available

Order the Norma Editorial edition of Friday Foster from Amazon.es

Norma Editorial is one of Spain’s leading publishers in the field of comics, graphic and illustrated books. With a catalogue that includes some of the world’s most prominent authors, the Barcelona-based company, which owns its own bookshops chain, operates in a multitude of fields, always related to the Ninth Art: publishing, distribution, representation of authors and graphic services.

If this collection is a success in both Spanish and English, as hoped, then it may yet pave the way for collections of the Friday Foster dailies, although with some 1300 rare episodes to locate, scan and restore, that would be a major project.

• Read Javier Mesón’s latest blog about the Friday Foster project (in Spanish)

FRIDAY FOSTER SUNDAYS – ENGLISH EDITION

Friday Foster | Published by Ablaze Publishing on 20th July 2021| 304 Pages | ISBN 978-1950912063

The Friday Foster comic strip is the story ofa former nightclub “camera bunny” turned photographer’s assistant turned fashion model. With an innate inclination to help others and a natural beauty that makes her a magnet for men, Friday often finds herself in some very sticky situations and world class adventures.

The book will also include a significant bonus section including multiple interviews, an expanded sketchbook section, artwork, photos, essays, articles, behind-the-scenes info, and more

• Order the Ablaze edition of Friday Foster from AmazonUK (available from 20th July 2021 (Affiliate Link)

• Read our original article on the Friday Foster Norma Editorial edition

• Read our article on the Ablaze Publishing Friday Foster collection

• Ablaze Publishing is online at ablazepublishing.com

FURTHER READING…

• Read our tribute to artist Jorge Longarón

• Read a 2018 interview with Jorge Longarón, in Spanish, about his approach to Friday Foster and reaction to the strip here on VISUAL

With thanks to Marc Longaron, Javier Mesón and David Roach



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