Watch out, Malibu Barbie
AS Southern California natives, Super Rad Toys founders Jonathan Cathey and Sid Richlin wanted someone to design a collectible figure that, to them, captured their hometown. “In our scene you get a lot of representation of New York,” said Cathey, illustrating his point, perhaps, with his Ramones T-shirt. “There wasn’t something representative of Los Angeles.”
To remedy that, there was really only one go-to guy: “The fabric of L.A. is intertwined with Cartoon.”
That’s Mister Cartoon to you (real name: Mark Mercado). The artist -- whose counterculture design empire extends from tattoos (he’s inked the likes of Eminem and Busta Rhymes), album art, cars, Nike shoes, a T-Mobile Sidekick, gallery shows around the world -- has created what can be described only as the very antithesis of that old-school icon of pert plastic perfection, the Malibu Barbie.
Meet the Lost Angel -- Super Rad Toys’ new superstar -- a bald, goateed, tattooed and shirtless Latino with angel wings and a load of accessories: two pairs of Nikes, a “diamond” chain, a tiny tagged boombox and a Sidekick that flips open to say “New Message.” Eat your heart out, GI Joe.
“Real personal, this is how we dress [the doll],” Cartoon said. He’s seated in an office adjacent to where he and his business partner, Estevan Oriol, keep their obsession: a collection of restored Chevys. “This is us, our day-to-day stuff. It’s so much different than doing an abstract fantasy character.”
Apparently, reality is a good thing. To date, of the 1,300 Lost Angels produced, 900 have sold out through online presales, with the final 400 being held for a signing/street party Sunday at Meltdown Comics. “The party is in the afternoon because Cartoon is a family man,” said Cathey, who is expecting 500 to 1,500 people -- many of them kids.
For Cartoon, 37, the desire to design a figure goes back to his childhood. “I owned a Steve Austin ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ doll with the flip-around face. My most favorite of all was the Evel Knievel doll,” he recalls. “I can remember the ones I couldn’t afford and my friends having every one of them.”
Dolls are not just for kids anymore, of course. Figures by artists such as Frank Kozik and Dalek are hot adult collectibles. And the work of street artists has filtered into the design of sneakers, cellphones and more. Does Cartoon worry that commercial exposure will stifle the gritty authenticity of the next generation of street artists? “As long as there’s drugs, poverty, child abuse, as long as all that stuff exists, which I think will never go away, right, you’ll always have those raw artists.”
He also isn’t bothered by people who think the look of his 15-inch creation (which sells for a not-so-kid-friendly $130) promotes gang violence. Anyone who thinks that probably doesn’t get Cartoon’s world. “I look at this guy and see someone who owns a home, drives a Mercedes, pushes a stroller at the Beverly Center with his Coffee Bean cup in his hand,” said Cartoon, who has three kids and another on the way. “The guy is a big old square.”
So is Lost Angel perhaps ... Cartoon? “He doesn’t use drugs, he doesn’t drink,” said the artist. “He helps kids, does outreaches. The whole reason he’s able to help kids is they think he looks cool. That’s my life, what I just told you.”
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Mister Cartoon
What: Signing of the Lost Angel figure by Mister Cartoon, with special guests
Where: Meltdown Comics, 7522 Sunset Blvd., L.A.
When: 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday (signing, 5 to 7 p.m.)
Info: (323) 851-7223
