I'm stunned. I just got the news that Doug Marlette, the creator of Kudzu was killed in a car wreck yesterday while on his way to help out with a high school production of a musical based on his cartoon strip.
Marlette's cartoons were brilliant. They were warm with humor and affection for human life and they were seasoned with his genious satire. The affable "Reverend Will B. Dunn" tried his best to show us the higher road, but didn't always pull it off too well - an accurate depiction of the church.
I've been a fan of the cartoon for ages, and about two years ago my dad gave me an autographed copy of his novel The Bridge. That novel meant a great deal to me, not just because it was a gift from my dad, but because I identified deeply with the character's chase for family history. I particularly liked the way Marlette painted the South in his cartoons and his books. It was pointed and sometimes painful, but it was also true and beautiful at the same time.
My favorite strip was a Sunday edition where Rev. Will B. Dunn (allegedly based on Will Campbell and James Dunn) was preaching and naming the names of God according to the great theologians:
Mysterium Tremendum
"Unmoved Mover"
"Ground of all Being"
and then his closing line, "But you say it Yahweh, and I'll say it mine."
May God rest your satirical soul, Doug. You said it your way.
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