Kudzu (comic strip)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kudzu is a comic strip by Doug Marlette about rural Southerners. Its main characters are Kudzu Dubose, Nasal T. Lardbottom, Rev. Will B. Dunn, Ida Mae Wombat, Veranda Tadsworth, and Nascar Dad, among others.
At its peak, it was syndicated in three hundred newspapers[1] At one point, his flippant treatment of depression—a character reads a magazine called Modern Depression which features "Suicide notes to the editor"—drew criticism from advocates for the mentally ill.[1]
A musical based on the strip was produced in Washington D. C. in 1998.[2]
Preacher Will B. Dunn, often considered to be the main character in the strip, is modeled, at least in clothing and appearance, on Will Campbell, a preacher, director of religious life at the University of Mississippi, civil rights activist (the only white man in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and author of several books.[3][4]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b Winerip, Michael (1993): "What's Humor To One Brings Pain to Another". The New York Times, June 6, 1993, p. 37. (Syndicated in 300 newspapers; criticized by the National Stigma Clearing House, an advocacy organization for the mentally ill)
- ^ Rick Bragg (1998-06-18). In 'Kudzu,' the South Faces Itself. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
- ^ Black, Patti Carr, Marion Barnwell (2002). Touring Literary Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-368-X. p. 114-5; [1]
- ^ Cyndi Soter (2000-10-19). Editorial cartoonist and "Kudzu" creator Doug Marlette to speak at UNC-CH. University of North Carolina. Retrieved on 2006-06-15.: Will B. Dunn patterned on Will D. Campbell
