The newest syndicated comic strip is introduced by its creator in his hometown paper.
Andy Marlette, the editorial cartoonist for The Pensacola News Journal, will debut the new comic strip Shrimp & Grits Monday, May 31, 2021. Today he is allotted space in the News Journal to tell readers about the comic and the feature’s characters.
From Andy’s preface to his new effort:
Well, you dear, sweet-hearted, highly-intelligent and unbelievably good-looking readers, I’d like to humbly introduce you to “Shrimp & Grits”, an all new nationally syndicated comic strip (drawn by yours truly) that officially launches this week. And if we can all agree to leave the tiki torches and pitchforks in the garage for just a minute, I think you’ll like the cast of characters once you get to know them.
There’s 7-year-old Shrimp Dubose, whose pursuit of spiritual enlightenment through fishing is being forever interrupted by the internet-driven insanity of modern living. Like a ball of tangled monofilament, Shrimp sees the intrusion of technology into nature as the tragic downfall of humanity and more generally, the most annoying aspect of day-to-day survival.
And the most common agent of that annoyance is her reluctantly adopted pet, a Facebook-addicted alligator named Grits. Whether it’s flirtations with online dating or a website scheme to sell online toilet paper in advance of the next pandemic, Grits is proof that not even the swamp is safe from the invisible tentacles of trending tweets, viral videos and internet advertising.
Shrimp and Grits are the stars, but there is a support group of family, friends, and animals,
and the environment surrounding them.
Along the way, you’ll meet the whole Dubose family (Floridian cousins to the famous North Carolinian Duboses who were immortalized in the panels of my uncle Doug Marlette’s classic Southern comic strip, Kudzu).
…
It’s all set in the fictional town of Pensaloco — an old-school Florida fishing village that’s stuck somewhere between the old-timey pines of the Panhandle and the bedazzled bikinis of South Beach.
Read Andy’s introduction from The News Journal.
Tomorrow Shrimp & Grits debuts in newspapers …
Shrimp & Grits is syndicated by Creators.com and it officially launches Monday here at the Pensacola News Journal, Northwest Florida Daily News and Panama City News Herald.
… and on the internet at Creators Syndicate, and, if past performance is any indication of future action, Arcamax will carry the strip from the get-go while GoComics will carry it sooner than later.
© Creators Syndicate/Andy Marlette
Good luck, Andy!
I wonder what the total number of launch newspapers is. Seems like a tough market to debut a new comic; especially one that has a regional feel to it. Can’t imagine a newspaper in California sees a need for a comic like this unless they love the humor.