NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA– The entirety of modern music, smoked breakfast meats and chocolate chip cookies; all were gifts from the United States of America to the world. Additionally, in the 1930’s comic books grew out of American newspaper comic strips and over the years, the world has fallen in admiration/obsession with comic book superheroes. With their capes and superhuman qualities, they have pummeled, lasered, and flown their way into the modern heart of society.
In New Orleans, Anthony Figaro is an multi-talented artist that has done everything from working on city maps to working for Lucasfilm, Upperdeck and Marvel. When he’s not drawing, you can catch Anthony at Heroes Corner Comics at 5928, W. Metairie.
Figaro has been a comic book artist for over 20 years, but his artistic skills date back even further, to when he was a child, watching 80’s cartoons. He finds a similarity to the Saturday morning story-lines children read and watch and the folklore of cultures past. “These are our Hercules stories. These are our Jason and the Argonauts. These are our Odysseus. This is our Odyssey,” says Figaro. “As kids you read these things and these characters represent higher goals, higher values and what’s best about man.”
By this definition, Anthony Figaro is among the few in life who have a profession, that is essentially is being the divine creators of heroes. Their brush strokes and pens draw hope into the minds of children.
These days, Figaro is very busy. In 2005, he worked on a comic book called Justice City Chronicles. He also worked on a book entitled the Chronicles of Count Carlos.
With the mystique of seafood, jazz, above-ground cemeteries and northern Caribbean culture, New Orleans is unique. For Figaro, his beloved New Orleans is an ideal setting for villains, redemption and conflict in terms of drawing characters. As such, he has been coming up with a comic book entitled “God’s Hand.” “God’s Hand,” is a collection of characters from New Orleans’ past. Jean Lafitte and Madame Marie Laveau among others, form a super team that combat the evils of an entity threatening to cover the city in darkness.
At the top of this article, there is a video link, which illustrates the idea of “God’s Hand.” Visual-Graphic Manager Shane Bouvier helped to animate Anthony’s drawings.
To help Anthony bring his New Orleans-inspired storybook to life, you can head over to his website by clicking here and scrolling down to donate. Next month, on his website there will be an official launch for a crowd-funding for “God’s Hand.”