Candorville: Thank God for Culture Clash

Candorville #1

by Darrin Bell

An insightful comic strip filled with edgy dialogue and thoroughly modern situations, Thank God for Culture Clash by Darrin Bell is made for today's world. It fearlessly covers bigotry, poverty, homelessness, biracialism, personal responsibility, and more while never losing sight of the humor behind these weighty issues. The strip targets the socially conscious by tackling tough issues with irony, satire, and humor. Thank God for Culture Clash celebrates diversity by poking a little fun at it.

Genres: Humor, Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Darrin Bell is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist and comic strip creator known for the syndicated comic strips Candorville and Rudy Park. He is a syndicated editorial cartoonist with King Features Syndicate. (His editorial cartoons were formerly syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group.)
Bell is the first African-American to have two comic strips syndicated nationally. He is also a storyboard artist. Bell engages in issues such as civil rights, pop culture, family, science fiction, scriptural wisdom, and nihilist philosophy, while often casting his characters in roles that are traditionally denied them.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cultural criticism is HARD to do. Insightful cultural criticism with a dash of humor is even harder to pull off. In 'Candorville' Darrin Bell introduces three characters, Lemont, a brilliant but financially struggling Black writer who's dedicated to living and loving the life of the mind; Susan, a Latina woman battling the incessant racialized sexism of corporate America; and Clyde, Lemont's friend who initially comes off as a caricature of a low-income Black man from the 'hood but is given layers of complexity throughout the strip. As readers encounter the everyday with these characters, Bell weaves in humor about the life of writers, small quirks of personal characteristics, sociocultural observations, and political analysis. There are parts of the collection where Bell's humor falls flat and fails to deliver, but on the whole, Bell does a wonderful job of using the comic strip to parse timely, complicated issues.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, poignant, and insightful cartoons from an innovative writer / illustrator.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still relevant

The strips about flu season were slot on, for sure. I keep hoping the New Yorker will come through soon.

[Printable Tire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aw nuts, I finished this! Now what dated thing am I going to read in the crapper?

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

my new favorite comic strip. if these strips weren't bound in a book i'd have several up on the refigerator.

[Ross Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated (post 9/12 & Saddam jokes) but still good.