The U.S. Constitution—it’s a topic rife with clichés: stars and stripes, bald eagles, white-wigged Founding Fathers signing parchment. All the better reason for going to award-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette and his hellfire-and-brimstone jester, the Reverend Will B. Dunn, for this month’s cover art.
No stranger to those who read his nationally syndicated comic strip, “Kudzu,” Marlette, 37, has had his work appear in such diverse publications as Time, Newsweek, The Christian Century, Der Spiegel, Rolling Stone, textbooks, and encyclopedias. His new book, There’s No Business Like Soul Business (Peachtree), showcases “the Reverend” as poet, prophet, and preacher.
Marlette, now with The Atlanta Constitution, is the first editorial cartoonist to be awarded a prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University; was selected by Esquire magazine as one of the outstanding men under 40 who are changing America; and last year received the Wilbur Award from the National Religious Public Relations Council for the positive image of religion “Kudzu” promotes in the media.
But with all these kudos have come more than a few kicks. Indeed, for some, the “positive image” portrayed by Kudzu’s man of the cloth is not positive enough. His lampoon of television ministers, for instance, resulted in the banning of “Kudzu” in Tulsa.
“The Old Testament prophets lampooned people when they got out of line,” Marlette told CT. “I’m working from a similar tradition.”
In other words, Marlette would have us learn to laugh at ourselves. Which is what he does on this month’s cover.
HAROLD SMITH, Managing Editor
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution, Howard Chandler Christy, artist; courtesy architect of the Capitol. “Kudzu” cartoon by Marlette, © 1976 Tribune Media Services, Inc.; all rights reserved.
