Friday Foster
Friday Foster is an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence and later continued by Jorge Longarón. It ran from January 18, 1970 to February 17, 1974[1] and was notable for featuring one of the first African-American women as the title character in a comic strip.[2] Jackie Ormes's Torchy Brown predated it, although it saw a more limited release in the Afro-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier.
| Friday Foster | |
|---|---|
 Friday Foster, the title character of the comic strip | |
| Author(s) | Jim Lawrence Jorge Longarón |
| Current status/schedule | Concluded daily & Sunday strip |
| Launch date | January 18, 1970 |
| End date | February 17, 1974 |
| Syndicate(s) | Chicago Tribune Syndicate |
| Publisher(s) | Dell Comics |
| Genre(s) | Soap opera |
History
After two years of development, the strip was illustrated by Spanish cartoonist Jorge Longarón and syndicated by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. The strip 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:
Starting out as an assistant to high-fashion photographer Shawn North, Friday after learning the ropes, eventually moved in front of the camera to become a world traveling supermodel leaving her troubled life in Harlem behind her. Early on, Lawrence's story lines had a harder edge showing the contrast of Friday's family with her street-wise brother trying to accept her newfound success in the world of magazine publishing. But soon its episodes changed focus to showcase more soap-opera thrills of romance and travel for the gorgeous African-American. Hong Kong, Paris, London, and even Africa were all shown with equal flair from the detailed artistic masterpieces produced by Longarón from his home in Barcelona.[3]
Artist Frank Springer did a small amount uncredited work on the strip, recalling in the mid-2000s, "I knew the writer, who lived here in New Jersey, ... [and] I 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."[4]
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.
Further reading
- The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters from Comic Book History by Hope Nicholson, Quirk Books (2017)
See also
References
- Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 163. ISBN 9780472117567.
- Friday Foster at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016.
- Karlen, Dave (June 19, 2009). "Buried Treasure: Lawrence & Longaron's Friday Foster". DaveKarlen Original Art Blog. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
- Springer in Best, Daniel (January 10, 2008). "Looking Back with Frank Springer". 20th Century Danny Boy. Archived from the original on May 24, 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-17.