A lifelong dream has finally come true for a Sharon resident.

At the age of 52 and after years of pursuing his passion as a cartoonist, Bill Murray has become only the seventh African-American to sign a contract with an international newspaper syndicate.

"Jet News" will be distributed by DBR Media Inc. to more than 400 weekly newspapers around the world and there is a contract agreement to go daily. The comic strip is being launched Monday.

The character Archie Bumper is a news anchor that Murray describes as "the black Archie Bunker." He said the comic strip is a political satire that pokes fun at current newsmakers, including President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Rev. Al Sharpton and singer Dionne Warwick.

Murray's goal was to have a syndicated column. In addition to being one of the few African-Americans to be a syndicated cartoonist, it's also a big accomplishment to have beat out so many other artists, Murray said. He said syndicates get up to 1,000 submissions a month and usually pick a handful of artists to sign each year.

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