Digital Press Kit: Candorville

ABOUT THE CREATOR

Darrin Bell was born in south-central Los Angeles in 1975. His parents, both teachers, soon moved to East Los Angeles. At a young age, he remembers going along with his mother while she attended classes at Cal State Los Angeles. Darrin would sit in a corner with some art supplies, quietly drawing.

During most of his school years, a time when urban school districts were being desegregated, he was bused to schools as much as two hours away. “We were always minorities in every neighborhood we lived in, which I think opened my eyes a bit more to the rest of the world,” he says. “I’ve always had friends who were different from me, so I have a lot of respect for diversity.

Bell lives in Sacramento with his wife and three children.

Launched in September 2003, Candorville features young black and Latino characters living in the inner city. Using the vehicle of humor, Candorville presents social and political commentary as well as the stories of its protagonists.

MAIN CHARACTERS

LEMONT BROWN

Lemont Brown is the strip’s main character. Lemont Brown is an aspiring writer who, to date, has not yet sold anything to The New Yorker. His father left when he was very young, and his mother raisedhim by herself. He can usually get a date but his relationships never last very long, perhaps because he is semi-subconciously in love with his childhood friend Susan. He has wonderful toddler son Lionel, whose mother, unfortunately, is a vampire. A talented young black writer, Lemont began regularly submitting articles to The New Yorker, and was regularly rejected in humiliating fashion. During this period Lemont worked for minimum wage at Pigville Pork Burgers. Constant prodding from his best friend Susan led him to create his own blog, which eventually led to his employment by a newspaper. Lemont is thoughtful, responsible, and clever, and he cares about both the worldand his small circle of friends, whom he has known all his life. He is the consummate nerd, cannot dance, and is obsessed with science fiction. He is often seen self-referentially reading the book Thank God for Culture Clash, which is a collection of Candorville cartoons.

SUSAN GARCIA

Susan Garcia is Lemont’s best friend. Susan is very smart and very ambitious. Her parents are Mexican immigrants who worked hard to put her through school. Susan does have a tendency to be wrapped up in her own problems, but she is sensitive enough to Lemont to always know what he leaves unsaid. An upwardly-mobile Latina who works as a top executive at an advertising agency, Susan is ambitious, straightforward, and maybe a little too wrapped up in herself.

CLYDE DOGG

Clyde Dogg (also known as C-Dog) is Lemont’s foil. Clyde (that’s CDog to you, *%#@%$!) is the epitome of a young, street-wise thug. Uneducated, unscrupulous, always looking for a fast buck (better check your wallet), he is serious (well, semi-serious) only about his rapping career. He may be hardcore, but he is all heart with his mother (that’s C-Bear to her). Like Lemont, Clyde grew up in a broken home. Unlike Lemont, Clyde is irresponsible and lazy, and he blames everyone else for his own shortcomings. He seems to purposely validate every stereotype about black men, for which Lemont regularly scolds him. He seems stupid at times, but other times it seems as though his “stupidity” is an act he puts on just to thumb his nose to the world.