Kudzu (comic strip)

Kudzu was a daily comic strip by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette about rural Southerners. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, the strip ran from 1981 to 2007.

The title came from the kudzu vine which was introduced to the Southern United States (and initially encouraged) as a soil erosion control plant, but soon became an out-of-control invasive species.

The daily strip was launched on a Monday, June 15, 1981. At its peak, it was syndicated in 300 newspapers. Marlette's 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.

The cast included Kudzu Dubose, Nasal T. Lardbottom, Rev. Will B. Dunn, Ida Mae Wombat, Veranda Tadsworth and NASCAR Dad. Comics historian Don Markstein described the strip's characters:

Will B. Dunn (the name is a play on the phrase "thy will be done", spoken by Jesus Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane), 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. Following Campbell's Death in 2013, Marlette's son, Andy, honored Campbell with a final comic strip featuring Will B. Dunn, holding the Holy Bible at Campbell's grave.

CBS aired a pilot for a Kudzu sitcom on August 13, 1983, but ended up airing as a TV special instead. A musical based on the strip was produced in Washington, D. C. in 1998.

Marlette was killed in a car accident on July 10, 2007, in Marshall County, Mississippi.Kudzu is no longer in syndication; the last daily was published on August 4, 2007. The Sunday strips ran until August 26, 2007.

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