Baldo is an American comic strip written by Hector Cantú and illustrated by Carlos Castellanos. It was launched on April 17, 2000.
Characters
Primary
Baldomero "Baldo" Bermudez is the titular character. A Latino teenager, his primary interests are cars and girls. He is also obsessed with being cool, and is in the middle of an ongoing process to build his own low rider. He has a job at Auto Y Rod, an auto supply shop, and according to comic strips in January 2007 and August 2011, he is 15 years old.
Graciela "Gracie" Bermudez is Baldo's annoying younger sister. She is an ardent admirer of Frida Kahlo, and frequently attempts to be an activist. She is remarkably intelligent and enjoys reading, although she is a constant annoyance to her older brother. In a May 2009 strip that quotes from the Wikipedia article, Gracie declared that she wrote that article for Wikipedia in Cinco de Mayo.
Sergio "Papi" Bermudez, a widower, is the patriarch of the family, the father of Baldo and Gracie, and the owner of a small business. He is often seen by his children as being dorky, although they love him all the same.
Tia Carmen is Baldo and Gracie's ditzy great-aunt. An older woman and very devout in her religious beliefs, Carmen has a vast knowledge and love of ancient world customs, foods, and herbal remedies. An April Fools' Day gag strip in 2007 depicted her as being detained by the Department of Homeland Security, and a two-week series around the same time drawn in a photo-realistic style told of her as coming to live with the Bermudezes after Sergio's wife Rosa was killed in a drunk driving accident.
Cruz is Baldo's best friend. In 2017, it was explained that Cruz is a "dreamer," an immigrant brought to the United States as a child. Arguably similar to Hector from Zits, Cruz is often seen accompanying Baldo in the quest for coolness.
Secondary
Nora is Gracie's Afro-Cuban best friend and confidant. She is as bright and intelligent as Gracie.
Beatriz is a young woman, formerly a co-worker at Auto Y Rod. She made a first appearance on the March 5th, 2007. Baldo liked her on a first sight, but later in the strip she told him that she has a boyfriend, although she has since broken up with him. Her appearances have become more common. On the June 17th, 2010 comic, it is revealed that her last name is Ortiz. In the strip published on Friday, August 1, 2014, she was laid off from her job.
Rayna is Cruz's girlfriend. She has a congenitally compromised immune system and can't leave her home, attending classes and dates by means of a telepresence robot.
Ralphie is a friend of Baldo's who owns a low rider with an advanced sound system. He infrequently appears in the strip.
El Cucuy is the Bermudez family's boogeyman, and is somewhat akin to the snorklewacker from Bloom County. He was forced into retirement after Baldo and Gracie stopped fearing him.
Joey was a semi-recurring white teenager and one of Baldo's former co-workers at Auto Y Rod. He had a poor work ethic and his ignorance of the Spanish language and Latino culture. Even with his bad work ethic, Joey was promoted to assistant manager, which frustrated Baldo even more, until Joey then gets fired due to his continuing dull work, and Baldo becomes the new assistant manager.
Estella Dank is Baldo's current girlfriend. She first appeared on August 23, 2011.
Britney Denise "Smiley" Rogers is Baldo's white ex-girlfriend. She was originally introduced in 2001 as Baldo's new next door neighbor, somewhat plain and tomboyish, with an interest in Latino culture, and was Baldo's girlfriend from 2003 to 2006. Shortly after the breakup, Smiley underwent a sudden makeover, joined a popular girls' clique, and started going by her middle name.
Sylvia Sanchez was considered the "prettiest girl in school" by Baldo, and the object of his eye from the earlier strips. She removed from the strip in 2003, shortly before Baldo and Smiley began dating.
Billy is an antagonistic, subtly bigoted white teen who spoke his prejudice against Latinos by accusing them of discriminating against him. Consequently he is disturbed by the emergence of Latino oriented businesses. He is generally a caricature of those who express their bigotry with arguments of reverse discrimination. During a march for immigration rights, he is seen as a counter-demonstrator telling a reporter about the dangers of illegal immigrants.
Smiley's brother is the Rogers equivalent of Gracie. For a brief time, he was Gracie's "boyfriend", but that relationship has since been dissolved.
Mr. Harold was the Gang Activity Monitor at Baldo's school. He had a "tough guy" image, and falsely accused Baldo of being in a gang after mistaking a game of Paper Rock Scissors for gang signals.
Rosa Bermudez was Baldo and Gracie's mother, and Sergio's wife. Though she has never been seen or heard in the strip, it has been revealed that she had died in a car accident when Baldo was 10 years old. The April 3, 2007 strip—part of a sequence atypically drawn in a realistic style—stated that a car driven by an inebriated motorist collided with Rosa's minivan when she drove Baldo and Gracie from a soccer game. The collision killed Rosa instantly and bruised Gracie. Baldo's soccer ball apparently saved his life in the accident. The April 4, 2007 strip shows Rosa's face, drawn realistically, in a framed photo; other strips show her, again in photos, in cartoon form.
Gregorio who was introduced on the March 26, 2007 comic, is the one who Tia Carmen has been talking to about Rosa's accident and why she had come to live with Baldo and Family. They met at the tomato section of a store.
Roberto is Tia Carmen's departed husband. Sometimes his spirit visits Tia for a short time.
Cartoon collections
As of 2008, only two collections of the strip have been published in book form.
