EVEN WHITE BOYS GET THE BLUES ...

EVEN WHITE BOYS GET THE BLUES by Doug Marlette (Times Books: $12.95; 186 pp . , paperback original). Ever since Jeff MacNelly began “Shoe” in 1977, political cartoonists have tried to do humorous comic strips, with decidedly uneven results. As this 10-year anniversary album proves, “Kudzu” ranks among Doug Marlette’s lesser achievements. The strip initially focused on Kudzu Dubose, a nerdy teen-ager who bore more than a passing resemblance to the artist. But even Marlette seems to have tired of Kudzu, and the shady preacher, Will B. Dunn, has taken over the strip. The lame gags lack the wit that earned Marlette a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, while the strips about a drippy Caucasian boy trying to act black, and a series about a Japanese conglomerate’s bid to purchase the flyspeck Southern town of Bypass seem tasteless at best.