The Boondocks

The Boondocks is a daily comic strip written and originally drawn by Aaron McGruder. Created by McGruder in 1997 for The Diamondback, the student newspaper at the University of Maryland, College Park, the strip moved from the college pages and was printed in the monthly hip-hop magazine, The Source, in 1997. As it gained popularity, and a loyal following the comic strip was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicate in 1999 and made its national debut on April 19 of that year. A popular and highly controversial strip, The Boondocks deals with various issues involving African-American culture and American politics, as seen through the eyes of its main protagonist, a ten-year-old Black radical named Huey Freeman. In the fall of 2005, The Boondocks was adapted into an animated television series of the same name for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block.

History

The strip got its start as a result of The Diamondback's editor Jayson Blair (of New York Times source falsification infamy), who decided to pay McGruder $30 per strip, $17 more than the others at the time. Blair's help to the budding strip went unnoticed during the allegations against the latter of article fabrication, as McGruder joined others in lampooning Blair.

In the fall of 2003, McGruder passed art duties on to Boston-based artist Jennifer Seng. In an interview with The New Yorker, McGruder said, "If something had to give, it was going to be the art. I think I'm a better writer than artist." ^[1] Seng has since left and Carl Jones has illustrated the strip since late 2004.

McGruder has sold the television and film rights for The Boondocks to Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Boondocks animated series premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on November 6, 2005.

Description

The strip depicts Huey Freeman and his younger brother Riley, two black children who have been moved out of Chicago by their grandfather to live with him in the predominantly white suburb of Woodcrest (most likely in Maryland, as seen from the area code stated in the March 16, 2000 strip). Huey is a devotee of black radical ideas of the past few decades (as explained in the May 4, 1999 strip, Huey is in fact named after Black Panther Huey P. Newton) and is harshly critical of many aspects of modern Black culture. Riley, on the other hand, is enamored of gangsta rap culture and the "thug"/bling-bling lifestyle. Their grandfather is a firm disciplinarian who is offended by their values and ideas.

Huey's best friend is Michael Caesar, a dreadlocked aspiring MC who agrees with many of Huey's criticisms but serves as a positive counterpoint to Huey's typically pessimistic attitude by taking a humorous approach to issues. He is also a budding comedian, although most of his humor consists of trying to play the dozens on Huey, which always falls flat. The Freemans' neighbors are NAACP member Thomas Dubois (a reference both to WEB DuBois and Uncle Tom) and his White wife Sara, who are both lawyers. Their young daughter Jazmine is very insecure about her racial identity and is often the subject of Huey's antipathy for being, in his opinion, out of touch with her African ancestry.

The Boondocks is very political and occasionally subject to great controversy, usually sparked by the comments and behavior of its main character, Huey. The comic strip has been withheld by newspapers several times. In this aspect, it is similar to Doonesbury. In particular, the principal characters often discuss racial and American socio-economic class issues. Some attribute the disputes over the strip to a political correctness that discourages any discussion or recognition of racial distinctions. Because of its controversy, many newspaper publishers either relegate the strip to the op-ed section of the paper, pull more potentially controversial strips from being published, or do not publish the strip at all, tactics also similar to Doonesbury.

Main characters

• Huey Freeman - a ten-year-old boy who appears angry most of the time and sees himself as a revolutionary. He is clearly disturbed by the ignorance in modern-day black television and issues in politics. In the early days of the strip, he is mentioned to be named after Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers. He can be seen as a less upbeat Michael Evans.
• Riley Freeman - The opposite of his older brother, eight-year-old Riley praises the "thug life", and aspires to be the same as all the rappers and thugs he sees on television.
• Michael Caesar - Huey's classmate and best friend, and agrees with most of Huey's views of life. Unlike Huey, Caesar is more optimistic and cheerful, and is usually making jokes about whatever issue is at hand.
• Robert Freeman - Huey and Riley's retired "Granddad". Robert is known to overpanic and for occasionally being selfish and valuing his own peace and comfort over the needs of others, but does look out for the children's welfare. He is often shown to be an "old school" disciplinarian when dealing with the kids.
• Thomas and Sarah Dubois - an interracial couple in the neighborhood. They both work as lawyers. Tom is often seen talking with Huey about present events in politics.
• Jazmine Dubois - Thomas and Sarah's biracial daughter who seems to like Huey, despite the fact that he is occasionally cold towards her. Jazmine is often portrayed as naive, and is very optimistic in contrast to Huey's pessimism.
• Cindy McPhearson - a Caucasian girl in Huey's class who appears to be utterly clueless about racial issues and is a general airhead. She shows a fondness and curiosity for rap music (Snoop Dogg in particular).
• Uncle Ruckus - a mentally disturbed neighborhood handyman and acquaintance of the Freemans who plays the archetypal role of a Black man who dislikes his own race and constantly, but often illogically, praises Caucasians.

Minor characters

• Hiro Otomo. One of Huey's friends; a young Asian-American DJ. Hiro only appeared in the original Diamondback version of the strip.
• Psycho Star Wars Guy - a long-haired young man who stood in line for The Phantom Menace for months. Huey regularly visited him in line. Finding the movie disappointing, he thought he had nothing left to live for, until Huey convinced him to sue George Lucas, though Huey didn't actually mean for him to do so. Later, he ran into Lucas himself and decided to kick him in the rear, sparking a brief wave of publicity for both himself and Huey, who claimed responsibility for the attack.
• The school principal - an out of touch young man who prepared for the arrival of Huey and Riley by mistakenly renting several blaxploitation films thinking of them as representative of black culture. Somehow has access to FBI files of Huey.
• Mr. Petto - Huey and Caesar's teacher, who is as clueless about how to handle them as the principal is. Old-fashioned and not used to dealing with Blacks, he is intimidated by Huey's intellect. Has struggled trying to debate with Huey during class.

Published collections

• 2000: Because I Know You Don't Read the Newspaper
• 2001: Fresh for '01...You Suckas!
• 2002: A Right to Be Hostile (treasury)
• 2005: Public Enemy #2