Down South Hits Another Milestone

Posted: February 15, 2009

OXFORD, MS - "Down South," the cartoon that chronicles the quirky misadventures of northerners Gordon and Maude vacationing in the Deep South, celebrated its one-year anniversary of publication on the World Wide Web this week.

"We're just tickled to have Mr. Enzweiler's talent as part of our magazine and part of the southern experience," said Jon Rawl, Y'all Magazine's publisher. "It's a testament to its durability and humor and to the fact that the South is so much in the forefront of people's thoughts and emotions."

The cartoon, first published in June 2007, revolves around the offbeat experiences of two unassuming northern tourists, Gordon and Maude, as they tour the South. Along the way, they encounter offbeat characters, like the pesky redneck Bubba Snopes, the snobby Coldfield family, the paranoid cows Bernice and Gladys, and the kudzu vines named Norml and Flo, who are engaged in vulgar, rampant, excessive consumerism. Animals appear regularly, often with human characteristics.

"The internet readership grew about four hundred percent a month since it went online last February," said Keith Sisson, Y'all's associate publisher and the marketing director for the comic strip. "The way things are going, it's going to continue to grow."

Sisson said a new website is in the making that will offer readers more entertainment and features, including an online store where folks can buy Down South merchandise.

The Down South comic strip grew out of Enzweiler's own experiences while traveling through the South over the years.

"The South to me is one of the most unique places on Earth," said Enzweiler, who has traveled all over the world. "On the surface, the strip is about the South. But underneath, it's about all of us as Americans and the different ways we view one another."

Enzweiler, who is both a journalist and an artist by profession, was working for Y'all Magazine in 2003 when he came up with the idea to do a cartoon about the South. Eventually, his editors published the cartoon on a trial basis in the June 2007 issue.

"We thought it would do well," commented Rawl, "but we didn't expect it to do this well this quickly."

Y'all Magazine was created by Jon Rawl and Keith Sisson and is a bi-monthly magazine with national circulation. The publication, headquartered in Oxford, Miss, was named by Folio Magazine in the top 30 magazine launches of 2003, and the magazine has been featured in the Washington Times, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and many other national publications.

News Contact: Keith Sisson, Yall Magazine, P.O. Box 1217, Oxford, MS 38655 (662) 238-1928