Lawrence Welz, better known as Larry Welz, is an American cartoonist, who created Cherry Poptart. He was an early contributor to the underground comix movement in the San Francisco area during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, his work was published in Yellow Dog, a comics tabloid published by the Print Mint in Berkeley, California. A partial list of additional comic books from the era featuring his work includes San Francisco Comic Book, Captain Guts, Funnybook, Bakersfield Kountry Komics and American Flyer Funnies. Evolving out of early prototype stories in Funnybook and Bakersfield Kountry Komics, Welz created Cherry in the early 1980s. Cherry quickly became his most successful and well-known comic book series, with 22 issues and a variety of collections, posters, stickers and tattoos. Welz has collaborated with a variety of other well-known artists and authors on comic books and other projects over the years, including Mark Bod�, Neil Gaiman, and Larry Todd. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Welz and his wife Sharon moved to Roswell, New Mexico, and then to Albuquerque, where he continues his involvement in both comics and commercial artwork. 

1948 in Bakersfield