Homies A David Gonzales Retrospective Hardcover

Product Description

" Cruise on a trip through my memories of drawing lowriders & tees of creating Homies for the last thirty-five years A pictorial narrative of one artist following his dreams" Created by David Gonzales the Homies first appeared as an underground comic strip that debuted in Lowrider Magazine in 1978 a reflection of his friends & lifestyle At first a group of tightly knit Chicano buddies from East Los Angeles the Homies expanded their crew to over 300 characters from all different cultures genres & even species In an inner-city world plagued by poverty & oppression they formed a strong binding cultural support system that enabled them to overcome negativity & turn to laughter & good times as an antidote for reality Homies erupted as a mainstream sensation in 1994 when trend-savvy retailer Hot Topic offered Homies shirts for sale rapidly becoming popular with the youth market Following on the heels of a successful T-shirt run Homies was licensed for figurines in the vending machine toy industry where all sales records were broken with over 150 million figurines sold worldwide The licensing program soon spread to products such as action figures remote-control & die-cast cars notebooks posters plush Halloween masks video games music & more carried by specialty & mass retailers everywhere History of the Homies is a triumphant celebration of the turbulent times remarkable artistry & youthful street culture of a pop culture phenomenon including hundreds of pictures & a complete guide to Homies figurines