Line #103 ComicStrip/Candorville


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/712f1db0_7530_40ff_9d1c_d1e579f0a636.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:L-R: Clyde, Susan, and Lemont]]
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4	Welcome to [[http://candorville.com Candorville]], and let Lemont Brown be your guide! He's the senior White House correspondent at a local newspaper and the only White House correspondent, and for that matter, the only reporter the paper can still afford. His only friends are Clyde "C-Dog" Dogg, a [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters sweet-hearted gang type]] of dubious intelligence, and Susan Garcia, an upwardly mobile advertising executive who's a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter. Lemont is filing unsuccessfully for child custody from ClingyJealousGirl Roxanne, drowning in a sea of credit-card debt, and staying cheerful, and trying to rise to the top.
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6	The strip has been running since 1993, and is planned to continue till midcentury. The style is comparable to ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'', but with the personal parts more character-driven and the political parts [[{{Anvilicious}} even less subtle]].
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8	In 2009, it had its first OutOfGenreExperience in darkly comedic UrbanFantasy. Rather than committing fully to the new genre, however, it keeps switching back and forth between more realistic and more fantastical content, with results closer to a webcomic than to standard newspaper comics.
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10	-----
11	!!This strip contains examples of:
12	* AffablyEvil: La Llorona, and occasionally [[spoiler:Roxanne]].
13	* AfterlifeExpress: Lemont sometimes dreams that he converses with a recently deceased celebrity, usually on a train from Earth to outer space. For instance, he spoke with Steve Jobs in 2011, and with shooting victim Trayvon Martin in April of 2012.
14	* AgainstMyReligion: Roxanne claims to follow an Aztec religion that bans the examination of DNA--ruling out a paternity test to determine whether Lionel is really Lemont's son.
15	* AllJustADream: Lemont has come to the conclusion that the UnresolvedSexualTension between him and Susan and her [[OperationJealousy relationship]] with her very unqualified assistant drove him to hallucinate the incident with Saxon.
16	* AncientConspiracy: According to a drunkard in Mexico, "La Llorona, El Chupacabra, and Bigfoot have invaded Juarez. They're stealing men's souls and turning the now-empty husks into vicious killers. They're footsoldiers for an ancient... [[TheUnreveal pass the salt]]." In the next strip, Lemont ''met'' La Llorona, so it can be assumed this wasn't just the alcohol talking.
17	* AppealToObscurity: [[SpecialGuest Stephen King]] argues that Creator/CharlesDickens's fictional portrayal of slum life taught more people more about the slums than [mumble]'s factual reporting. Lemont, unable to hear him, asks "Who?" King responds "Exactly," and both wind up confused.
18	* AxCrazy: How Saxon seems to Lemont the first time they're alone together. Zigzagged-[[spoiler:he's revealed to be ProperlyParanoid, then it turns out he's even more paranoid than he needs to be, then it turns out he's a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire and is trying to protect Lemont.]]
19	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Parodied. [[spoiler:The many historical figures Roxanne manipulated included George Washington Carver. "She has a thing for peanuts."]]
20	* BlackAndNerdy: A rare main character example. It's worth noting that Lemont never breaks the trope; he simply fleshes it out.
21	* BlackRepublican: A StrawmanPolitical who often starts ranting about the evils of liberalism when waiting for the bus with Lemont.
22	* BlandNameProduct: There are brands like Concast Cable (not Comcast) and Feudalbanc Massacard (not [=MasterCard=]). The strip for [[http://www.gocomics.com/candorville/2013/11/03#.Unqjwi3sFhE November 3, 2013]], used a sports team called the Candorville Rednecks to reference the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy Washington Redskins name controversy]] without using the real team's brand.
23	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Roxanne sometimes seems like a case of BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad, and engages in RootingForTheEmpire almost any time she watches a film with a villain, but there's always some qualifier behind it. That said, [[EvenEvilHasStandards even characters who've commited murder tend to think she's scum]].
24	* BringMyBrownPants: Loafer. To be fair, he's been chained to a wall next to the skeleton of one of his friends, and his captor just ''growled'' at him.
25	* CheerfulChild: Lionel is usually in high spirits, in contrast to his gloomy father.
26	* CoatFullOfContraband: One of Clyde's money-making methods.
27	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Look for two characters, in the last panel, going, "What?" "What?" at each other.
28	** In [[http://candorville.com/2007/06/19/kevorkian/ this strip]], Lemont can't think of a topic to write an article about, then mentions that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian Dr. Kevorkian]] just got released from prison. Susan assumes he's going to try to kill himself, and says he takes WritersBlock too hard.
29	** In particular, Lemont thinks about his reputation solely in terms of how he's thought of on startrektalk.com. He's less angry about being called the reincarnation of Hitler than about someone's saying that his favorite captain was Janeway.
30	* ComplimentBackfire: The result of the above AppealToObscurity. King argues that Lemont's fictional interview with a ghost showed, better than any nonfiction could, the destruction Hurricane Katrina caused. Lemont doesn't know how to tell him [[WeirdnessMagnet it wasn't fictional]].
31	* CosmicRetcon: Lemont argues that "the Great Author" made the universe six thousand years ago, but decided to add several billion years of backstory.
32	* CouldntFindATissue: One strip has Clyde, who has become NouveauRiche, blowing his nose on a bunch of dollar bills (or possibly ''hundred''-dollar bills).
33	* CreditCardPlot: This has been going on and getting worse for Lemont over the course of the strip. At this point, he's borrowing money with one card and using it to pay off the next in an endless cycle.
34	* DarkAndTroubledPast: When Doctor Noodle is kidnapped, he mistakes it for a dream in which he's finally punished for the crimes he still feels guilty for.
35	* DecoyDamsel: Pity poor Artemis Kenchu. [[spoiler:A few centuries ago, he rescued Roxanne from a group of vampires, then discovered they were trying to kill her because [[EvenEvilHasStandards she was even more evil than they were]]. Apparently, he spent the rest of his (un)natural life as her servant.]]
36	* DespairEventHorizon: Part of the reason for Clyde's irresponsibility is that he's long since crossed it.
37	--> '''Clyde:''' C-Dog don't never dream 'cause dreamin' just make real life worse, Big L. Let's say I dream I can stand on a corner or walk across the street without some cop bothering me. Then when I wake up, no matter where I go, [[PoliceBrutality there some cop lookin' out his car window at me, just waiting for a reason to "put me in my place."]] If I don't dream the world can be better, then I ain't never disappointed.\
38	'''Lemont:''' I know what you mean. [[DeadpanSnarker Last night, I dreamed you weren't so depressing.]]
39	* DreamLand: In the future of the setting, scientists will prove that this is a real place. It also allows for TimeTravel, but changing the past [[YouCantFightFate never seems to work]].
40	* DumbassHasAPoint: Clyde isn't the brightest guy in the world, but he occasionally makes salient points on systemic racism and other issues, most notably his discussion about the MagicalNegro trope and his tangent on PoliceBrutality.
41	* EitherOrProphecy: Parodied. [[spoiler:If a vampiress can produce a {{Dhampyr}}, which Roxanne managed to do thanks to modern fertilization techniques, she'll lose all the standard weaknesses and the need for blood while retaining all the assets. It's prophesied that she'll someday rule over mankind--unless she gives into her still-existing ''[[HorrorHunger desire]]'' for blood, in which case she'll be returned to normal having gained nothing. "[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And her APR would shoot up to 29.97%.]]"]]
42	* FangsAreEvil: The nastier the monster, the bigger the fangs. Characters with a GameFace have their fangs grow and shrink depending on how intimidating they want to be (as does Susan's pet wolf, although [[spoiler:at this point, it's all but confirmed that the dog is a shapeshifted Roxanne.]])
43	* TheFarmerAndTheViper: Susan adopted a stray wolf, [[spoiler:possibly while under mind control.]] So far, it hasn't done anything to her, but there's been some ugly foreshadowing, and one highly unnerving dream that [[OrWasItADream might not have really been a dream]].
44	* ForInconveniencePressOne: What happens when Lemont attempts to call his health insurance company.
45	* FunnyAnsweringMachine: Lemont's answering machine always identifies the caller, usually "Mom" or "creditor." To the latter, he tends to mention his lack of funds. To the former, he's painfully self-effacing and apologetic for not living up to her expectations.
46	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Lemont is on a RidiculouslyLongPhoneHold with his bank, the half-finished building seen through the window behind him is finished, extended again, destroyed by an AlienInvasion, and replaced by a futuristic city.
47	* GenreBusting
48	* GiveMeASign: Reverend Wilfred sometimes asks for this when he's about to do something awful, and it's ''[[RunningGag always]]'' responded to with a blackout. This turns into a plot point when he's deciding whether or not to reveal that the local voting machines have been rigged to elect a corrupt candidate--the machines are of a type that wipes its memory in the event of a blackout, and only Clyde used a paper ballot, voting for a snide rap star.
49	* GranolaGirl: Roxanne has aspects of this GoneHorriblyWrong--for instance, she views eating meat as immoral, but thinks wearing fur is a way of preserving an animal's beauty forever.
50	* GratuitousSpanish: Susan, mostly when irritated.
51	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Susan. It's eventually lampshaded when she attempts to [[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe take home]] a hungry wolf.
52	* IAmBigBoned: Lemont [[http://candorville.com/2008/04/12/jiggle/ claims]] this is the case for him. Clyde is not convinced.
53	-->'''Clyde:''' Bones don't jiggle, Big L.
54	* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Roxanne apparently did this to Loafer, complete with ketchup.]] [[FridgeLogic Don't think about how that can be done by a character who can't drink blood]].
55	* InnocentInnuendo: "I accidentally tweeted a picture of my [[TheMerch junk]]."
56	* InTheBlood: Lemont is trying to prove this wrong--his father abandoned him, so he'll be a father to his own child, even if it makes him miserable. [[spoiler:It'll be interesting to see how this applies to the child itself, which is presumably a {{Dhampyr}} like Saxon.]]
57	* ItsAllAboutMe: Everyone does this from time to time, particularly Roxanne and Susan.
58	* JawDrop:
59	** [[http://candorville.com/2010/10/08/something-good-5/ More like a jaw unroll, actually]].
60	** Seen again when [[http://candorville.com/2011/10/28/trials-end-5/ the judge delivers the verdict at Lemont's custody trial]].
61	* LaboriousLaziness: Clyde uses his degree in biomechanical analysis to find the optimal position to use as little energy as possible.
62	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Filbert is a barely disguised TakeThat to the titular character of ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''.
63	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: [[http://www.candorville.com/2010/11/16/fallow-me-on-twitter-2 In a]] [[YouBastard dark fashion.]]
64	* LoveMartyr: Clyde neglects and ignores his girlfriend to the point where he's ''literally unable to perceive her existence'' except when she's complimenting him, but she is still sticking by him and seems certain that their relationship just needs a bit of work.
65	* LoveTriangle: Susan loves Lemont; Lemont loves his college crush Sasha. Sasha may or may not still have feelings for Lemont, but feels very bad about accidentally causing this unrequited love triangle that broke up her friendship with Susan. Further complicating things is that Sasha is married with children and she's described her husband as abusive.
66	* MagicalRealism: The strip began closer to this than to a straight-up SliceOfLife--for instance, Lemont had occasional interviews with the talking corpse of a slain terrorist, which were integrated into the continuity.
67	* TheMasochismTango: Susan tends to get into these relationships.
68	* MeaningfulName: Generally negative, like Susan's ex-boyfriend Phil Anders and her assistant Dick Fink. There's also Lemont's lawyer, Loafer Meek.
69	* MoodWhiplash: Every once in a while, this strip gets completely serious.
70	-->-- ''I interviewed the ghost of a Hurricane Katrina victim. [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness Maybe I imagined it]]. I don't know. But could you blame me? I watched an American city drown. I watched mostly black bodies floating across my TV. I watched as some people shot black refugees rather than help them. If you can watch that and not go crazy, you're not human.''
71	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: [[http://candorville.com/2007/02/21/book-2/ An unfortunate result of communicating through grunting noises.]]
72	* NerdHoard: [[BlackAndNerdy Lemont]] tells Susan that he's ruined his reputation by accidentally tweeting his "[[InnocentInnuendo junk]]" for all the Internet to see. The "junk" he refers to is his collection of sci-fi knickknacks.
73	* NoSenseOfDirection: Artemis Kenchu managed to wind up somewhere snowbound while trying to get to New Orleans. Saxon apparently shares this trait, although it hasn't come up in the plot.
74	* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: Subverted, with a strong reminder that Lemont is in fact black.
75	* NotInFrontOfTheParrot:
76	-->-- ''Sqwawk! Big L! [[ScaryBlackMan This big]] [[SymbolSwearing #@$%]] sho' look dumb widdat bird on he shoulder. Sqwawk!''
77	* ObfuscatingStupidity: There are some indications that Clyde acts stupid because that's how black people are expected to be.
78	* ObliviousToLove: College-age Lemont thought that Susan's best friend was "just being friendly" during all those hours of laying in each other's beds with their arms around each other; there's also the fact that she named her teddy bear "Lemont Jr" (he thought she was making fun of him) Present-Lemont [[LampshadeHanging can't believe he was that stupid.]] There's also the fact that a whole bunch of girls would hang out by his desk every day.
79	* OldMediaAreEvil: Initially, the "Mainstream Media" was anthropomorphized as a loudmouth who always told the truth, but whose most [[MediaScaremongering unnerving or sensationalistic statements]] were [[PaintingTheMedium represented in larger letters]]. He was later replaced by an intelligent TV, which retained the same personality and speech patterns. On the other hand...
80	** NewMediaAreEvil: "The Internet" was once anthropomorphized as a tinfoil-hat-wearing paranoiac.
81	* TheOneThatGotAway: Surprisingly for Lemont, not Susan but her best friend in college, Sasha. Using dream TimeTravel, Present!Lemont tried to get College!Lemont to ask her out during one of their "friendly" snuggle sessions, but College!Lemont choked. Lemont's "farewell" to the relationship they never had seems awfully sincere for a mere comic character...
82	* OperationJealousy: Susan's attraction to her assistant is just a ploy to get Lemont jealous.
83	** It appears to have [[LoveMakesYouCrazy backfired]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy spectacularly]].
84	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: [[While Cajun in origin, they're half Japanese Vampire and half {{Dracula}}. Their most interesting traits are {{Animorphism}} (wolf form confirmed, bat suspected), CompellingVoice, and several levels of GameFace, ranging from CuteLittleFangs to LooksLikeOrlok. They're known to burn in sunlight, and to be sufficiently vulnerable to garlic that they can't enter a field of it (though Saxon lacks both of those weaknesses.)]]
85	** NotUsingTheZWord: "Copyright issues. Lawyers would get involved."
86	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Lemont's psychologist is the recipient of the Candorville Psychologists who Work on Gilman Street Between Third and Fourth Avenues Association award.
87	* PointyHairedBoss: Susan's. He never appreciates her and might even reward her ''male secretary'' by mistake due to him (the secretary) being a total weasel who is blatantly after Susan's job.
88	* PreApprovedSermon: Applied to faith-based initiatives, with Reverend Wilfred forced to give pro-Republican sermons in return for payouts. (Again, this is not a very subtle strip.)
89	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: When Lemont accompanied Osama bin Laden to the afterlife, he gave him a "The Reason You Failed" speech, saying that while bin Laden did indeed hurt America, the act did no good for his own people.
90	* RecursiveCanon: Lemont sometimes reads collections of ''Candorville''.
91	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Standard for characters with a GameFace, though [[spoiler:Saxon]], who isn't evil, has MilkyWhiteEyes instead.
92	* RedPillBluePill: Parodied--Lemont prefers chewable pills anyways.
93	* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Not a traitor to friends, but to an ideal. [[spoiler:Loafer's loyalty to his clients is one of his highest virtues. Captured by Roxanne, in order to be freed he "betrays" Lemont (his wording) by calling him and convincing him to give up his custody battle against Roxanne. Roxanne then points out to him that he himself called her evil and untrustworthy.]] [[KilledOffForReal It appears his final words were "D'oh!"]]
94	* RidiculouslyLongPhoneHold: [[https://candorville.com/2007/06/24/fraggo/ Lemont is on hold]] with Wells Fraggo Bank for long enough that he grows a beard, it turns white, he dies and turns into a skeleton, then the skeleton crumbles to dust (while [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the building seen through the window is finished, extended again, destroyed by aliens, and replaced by a futuristic city]]). [[RagnarokProofing His hat, house, table, and phone are still fine, and the phone still works.]]
95	* RightHandVersusLeftHand: Common in the political segments.
96	* RunningGag: It's not recycled material or copied art, it's a running gag!
97	* SarcasmBlind: A recurrent problem for Lemont, especially when talking to Susan.
98	* ScaryBlackMan: Clyde tries to be one of these, but he really can't pull it off, especially given his tendency to PokeThePoodle.
99	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Presumably the reason why the judge in Lemont and Roxanne's custody case is Roxanne's mother. [[spoiler: No one ever said Roxanne's mom ''likes'' her.]]
100	* ShoutOut: Lots, mostly from Lemont's love of Sci-Fi (he's frequently seen in a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' T-shirt, for instance).
101	** Clyde also offers "C-Dog's incredibly bad advice" from a booth similar to [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Lucy's "Psychiatric Advice" booth]].
102	* ShutUpHannibal: Lemont versus the ghost of Bin Laden. "How does it feel to die irrelevant?"
103	* SinisterSurveillance: The NSA is watching Lemont as a possible traitor, and they even spy on his dreams. The agent watching Lemont isn't all that concerned about him, though, and has tried to befriend him, much to Lemont's disgust. (Incidentally, the agent hasn't shown up since Bush Jr. left office.)
104	* TheSlacker: Clyde's an unusually well-trained one, using his degree in biomechanical analysis to find the optimal position to use as little energy as possible.
105	* [[SpeechImpediment Thpeech Impediment]] ([[spoiler: possibly FangThpeak?]]): Lemont's son Lionel has an annoyingly cutesy lisp.
106	* StereotypeReactionGag: Told that he looked like that guy running for president, Lemont responded that he looked nothing like Obama. As it turned out, he and [=McCain=] "are both really old".
107	* StrawmanPolitical: There are three of them, and they all get lampshaded. Notably, the arch-conservative is a BlackRepublican.
108	* SunglassesAtNight: Clyde is ''never'' seen without sunglasses.
109	* TakeThat: In response to Scott Adams's controversial statements, the strip featured "Filbert" (an obvious and barely-disguised {{Expy}} of ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}) and depicted him as an out-and-out racist.
110	* TalkingToTheDead: Played for bleak laughs when, as a result of the above spoilers, Loafer addresses the skeleton of one of his process servers. He asks "Can you forgive me?" and (since he's a lawyer) takes the skeleton's silence as a "Yes."
111	* ThoseTwoGuys: Two bums named Rosencrantz and Tyrone offer commentary on society, often with one of them using faulty logic to justify something like eating the other guy's lunch.
112	* TimeyWimeyBall: Lemont has interacted with his past self (who he berates for waiting every Christmas for his/their DisappearedDad who will never return) and his future self. Additionally, Lemont's future self meets Clyde at Susan's place to warn him that, due to Susan's phone not working, she won't get Lemont's call to rescue him in Mexico where he'll unleash a SealedEvilInACan that will cause the universal health bill to not pass, inadvertently killing millions without insurance including someone who would have ''[[AppliedPhlebotinum cured death]]''. [[spoiler: It's then revealed that Susan's phone doesn't work because Clyde stole it while waiting for Future!Lemont.]]
113	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Actually, there is one, a fellow named Doctor Noodle, but all he does is listen and ask questions, never giving answers to the questions posed to him. When his notepad is viewable, it's marked only with doodles.
114	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Saxon's explanation of who Roxanne really is. Lemont thinks he's just crazy--[[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope until]] [[RealAfterAll Saxon shows him]] his GameFace.]] Later on, Lemont's experiences are themselves subjected to this, since he's [[WeirdnessMagnet the only one who sees the strip's weirder events]]. [[spoiler:Triple subverted, unless Loafer is also insane.]]
115	** [[http://candorville.com/2010/10/12/sasha-mitchell-is-back-2 The entire cycle of real-not real-real, condensed into four panels]].
116	* UnresolvedSexualTension: Lemont's clearly in love with Susan, but he's afraid to make his move, both because of his issues with Roxanne, and because he's GenreSavvy enough to know about ShippingBedDeath.
117	* TheVoice: Lemont's mother is represented by a phone even when testifying in court.
118	* WhamLine: All of the above spoilers, and the strip's entire GenreShift, revolve around two lines from Saxon: "[[spoiler:The vampire, Roxanne, is not my lover. She's my mother.]]" Of course, this was rather helped by [[spoiler:Saxon's suddenly gaining MilkyWhiteEyes and fangs.]]
119	** [[spoiler: The judge admitting that while Lemont hangs out with bad company, her daughter is the ''epitome'' of bad company, thus awarding Lemont custody of Lionel.]]
120	* WriteWhoYouKnow: Parodied in-universe. Lemont wrote a story about his own UnresolvedSexualTension with Susan, but when she noticed and asked about it, he told her that "all my stories are completely fictional." Clyde appeared and informed Lemont that he'd read, and found hilarious, Lemont's story about a guy named Clive who's too stupid to realize when other people are talking about him.
121	** A later strip reveals that Lemont's newspaper column is often LifeEmbellished, and that his AuthorAvatar and his version of Susan are the FanPreferredCouple.
122	-->-- ''I don't get that. Why do readers automatically assume two characters should end up together just 'cause they're compatible in every way, immensely attracted to each other, and feel complete when the other one is around?''
123	* WrongGenreSavvy: Lemont gets most of his knowledge of fiction from ''Franchise/StarTrek'', so this is bound to happen at times.
124	* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Lemont will frequently interrupt strangers' conversations to correct their grammar, much to their displeasure, or miss the point of something entirely because of one misused word. A flashback shows that he's done this since childhood, ignoring AnAesop because of his mom's poor grammar. Currently he's got enough foresight to NOT correct his college crush's grammar, but not the judge overseeing his custody case (he thinks knowing law lingo is endearing).
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Context ComicStrip / Candorville