Candorville is a syndicated newspaper comic strip written and illustrated by Darrin Bell. Launched in September 2003 by The Washington Post Writers Group, 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. Publication history Candorville grew out of a comic strip called Lemont Brown, which appeared in the student newspaper of UC Berkeley, The Daily Californian, from 1993 to 2003. It still appears in the Daily Californian under its new title, and it is that newspaper's longest-running comic strip. Candorville appears in most of America's largest newspapers. It also runs in Spanish-language newspapers where it is translated by the author's wife, Laura Bustamante. Candorville and Bell's other strip, Rudy Park, exist in a shared universe. For a period in 2017, the strips were amalgamated while Bell was dealing with health and exhaustion issues. In June 2018, Bell ended Rudy Park, although characters from that strip will continue to appear in Candorville. (Candorville is syndicated in many more newspapers than was Rudy Park.) Because of its political content, Candorville, like Doonesbury, sometimes appears on a newspaper's editorial page rather than its comics page; like G.B. Trudeau's strip, Candorville has been accused of having a liberal slant, which has prevented the strip from being syndicated to some right-leaning newspapers. This is despite the fact that Candorville has lampooned liberal organizations like PETA, and liberal politicians like Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards, and Barack Obama. In late 2022 syndication of Candorville moved to King Features Syndicate as the Washington Post Writers Group wound down its comics line. Characters and story Main characters Lemont Brown is the strip's main character. 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 world and 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