Necro-Americans?

I often spoke in jest about an invisible ethnic group at the Collegium Excellens if the conversation turned to agrarian issues in our history. I used the term, Agro-Americans, for my imaginary ethnic group. They are notable for their gimme caps, insulated vests, large belt buckles, and a disk-shaped bulge in a hip pocket of their dungarees. Agro-Americans drive pickups and listen to music that laments the death of a favorite dog or that "My best friend ran away with my wife and I wish him already." Their necks have a ruddy tint. Now, thanks to Darrin Bell, the blogosphere and its niche elements are skewered. I now have another group to observe: Necro-Americans. If this is (fair & balanced) satire, so be it.

[x Candorville]

Click on image to enlarge

Lemont Brown is an over-educated aspiring writer who’s working as a fry-cook at Pigville Pork Burgers, but only because it’s a welcoming waystation on the way toward his final destination: writing the next Great American Novel, Lemont is the product of a broken home who refused to be broken. Instead, he’s just mildly bent.

When he’s not catching the sun-rise over the Candorville skyline with his best friends, he can be found on a park bench furiously scribbling his latest story, or at his computer furiously typing his latest blog entry, or on a rooftop furiously bemoaning his most recent bout of writer’s block. Or, he may be at a bus stop, mining every chance encounter for story material, or wondering whether that guy across the street is his long-lost Dad, or just the Feds keeping an eye on the "disloyal" again. Lemont’s got a heart of gold and a strong moral compass, but sometimes he forgets to stop writing about life and start living it.

[Darrin Bell is an American cartoonist who writes and illustrates "Candorville" (collected in Another Stereotype Bites the Dust), in addition to illustrating the comic strip "Rudy Park."

Bell, who is Black and Jewish, was born in Los Angeles, California. He started drawing when he was 3. He's been published in the Daily Californian at US-Berkeley since 1993, during his freshman year in college, and in major papers across the country. He is the first African American to have two strips syndicated nationally. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a BA in Political Science in 1999.

He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife, actor Laura Bustamante.]

Copyright © 2008 Darrin Bell

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