Kudzu (comic strip)

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Kudzu was a daily comic strip created by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette about rural Southerners. The strip's name comes from the vine which, though initially encouraged as a soil erosion control plant, soon became an out-of control pest plant.

Its main characters were Kudzu Dubose, ^[1] 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.^[2] At one point, his flippant treatment of depression—a character read a magazine called Modern Depression which featured "Suicide notes to the editor"—drew criticism from advocates for the mentally ill.^[2]

CBS aired a pilot for a Kudzu sitcom on August 13, 1983.

A musical based on the strip was produced in Washington D. C. in 1998.^[3]

Will B. Dunn (the name is a play on the phrase "thy will be done", spoken by Jesus Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane), often considered to be the main character in the strip, was modeled, at least in clothing and appearance, on Will D. 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.^[4]^[5]

The strip's creator, Doug Marlette, was killed in a car accident on July 10, 2007, in Marshall County, Mississippi.^[6] As a result, Kudzu is no longer in syndication; the last daily on August 4, repeat Sunday strips ran until August 26.

[edit] Notes and references

^ Kudzu Dubose, comicspages.com
^ ^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 2008-01-08.
^ 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 2008-01-08.: Will B. Dunn patterned on Will D. Campbell
^ Waggoner, Martha. "Cartoonist Doug Marlette killed in crash", Associated Press, 2007-07-10. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.