El Pasoan Valeria Contreras was interested in comics, cartoons and animation from a very early age.

“I didn’t know how to animate, but I knew how to draw, and my mother pushed me to pursue that interest,” said Contreras, who created Valcon Comics in 2010.

Valcon Comics is a local, independent company that publishes the monthly educational comic series, El Cartoon. Inside the pages of El Cartoon, she and other local artists and storytellers have created a fun and colorful world for kids that not only entertains, but teaches valuable lessons about health, the environment and other topics. Read more here.