About The Strip
University of Maryland, College Park, the strip moved from 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, the
comic strip was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicate and made its national debut on April 19, 1999. A popular
and controversial strip, The Boondocks deals with African American culture and American politics as seen through the
eyes of its protagonist, 10-year-old black radical Huey Freeman.
10-year-old black radical Huey Freeman.
McGruder sold the television and film rights for the strip to Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Boondocks animated TV
series premiered on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming November 6, 2005.
The strip debuted in The Diamondback under editor Jayson Blair on December 3, 1996, paying McGruder $30 per strip
— $17 more than other cartoonists. McGruder ended the strip's run in The Diamondback on March 18, 1997, two weeks
after the strip was omitted due to a technical error and a Diamondback staffer printed the word "OOPS" in its place
without an explanation. He pulled the strip after the paper refused to run an apology.[1] (Upon the revelation of news
article fabrications by Blair in 2004, by then a reporter for The New York Times, McGruder's comic strip joined others in
lampooning Blair.)
In Fall 2003, Boston, Massachusetts-based artist Jennifer Seng assumed art duties from McGruder. 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." Carl Jones succeeded Seng as illustratrator in late 2004. In the introduction to the collection Public Enemy #2,
McGruder wrote, "I had hired an artist to help me on some of the art duties. People think I stopped drawing the strip, but
that's never been the case. To this day there has never been a single Boondocks strip that I did not personally touch — I
still obsess over the details of Huey, Riley, Caesar and Granddad. I still go over every panel. I still care what it looks like,
and I always will."
On February 28, 2006, McGruder announced that his strip would go on a six-month hiatus, starting March 27, 2006, with
new installments resuming in October. Repeats of earlier strips were offered by Universal Press Syndicate in the interim.
The Boondocks was syndicated to over 300 clients at its peak, but more than half substituted different features rather
than publish reruns during the hiatus. On September 25, 2006, Universal Press Syndicate president Lee Salem
announced that the comic would not return, saying, "Although Aaron McGruder has made no statement about retiring or
resuming The Boondocks for print newspapers ... newspapers should not count on it coming back in the foreseeable
future." He added that Universal would welcome McGruder back if he chose to return. Greg Melvin, McGruder's editor at
the syndicate, met with him in an unsuccessful attempt to talk the cartoonist into returning. After the strip was cancelled,
reruns continued to be carried by some newspapers through November 26, 2006.
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 (in Maryland, as seen from the area
code stated in the March 16, 2000 strip). The title word "boondocks" alludes to the isolation from primarily African-
American urban life that the characters feel, and permits McGruder some philosophical distance. Huey is a politically
perceptive 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. For
example, he is at least as hard on Vivica Fox and Cuba Gooding, Jr at times as he is on the Bush administration. 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 both 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 W.E.B. DuBois and Uncle Tom) and
his white wife Sarah, who are both lawyers. Their young daughter Jazmine is very insecure about her ethnic identity and
is often the subject of Huey's antipathy for being 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. Because of its controversy, many newspaper publishers either relegate the strip to the op-ed section
of the paper.
University of Maryland, College Park, the strip moved from 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, the
comic strip was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicate and made its national debut on April 19, 1999. A popular
and controversial strip, The Boondocks deals with African American culture and American politics as seen through the
eyes of its protagonist, 10-year-old black radical Huey Freeman.
10-year-old black radical Huey Freeman.
McGruder sold the television and film rights for the strip to Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Boondocks animated TV
series premiered on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming November 6, 2005.
The strip debuted in The Diamondback under editor Jayson Blair on December 3, 1996, paying McGruder $30 per strip
— $17 more than other cartoonists. McGruder ended the strip's run in The Diamondback on March 18, 1997, two weeks
after the strip was omitted due to a technical error and a Diamondback staffer printed the word "OOPS" in its place
without an explanation. He pulled the strip after the paper refused to run an apology.[1] (Upon the revelation of news
article fabrications by Blair in 2004, by then a reporter for The New York Times, McGruder's comic strip joined others in
lampooning Blair.)
In Fall 2003, Boston, Massachusetts-based artist Jennifer Seng assumed art duties from McGruder. 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." Carl Jones succeeded Seng as illustratrator in late 2004. In the introduction to the collection Public Enemy #2,
McGruder wrote, "I had hired an artist to help me on some of the art duties. People think I stopped drawing the strip, but
that's never been the case. To this day there has never been a single Boondocks strip that I did not personally touch — I
still obsess over the details of Huey, Riley, Caesar and Granddad. I still go over every panel. I still care what it looks like,
and I always will."
On February 28, 2006, McGruder announced that his strip would go on a six-month hiatus, starting March 27, 2006, with
new installments resuming in October. Repeats of earlier strips were offered by Universal Press Syndicate in the interim.
The Boondocks was syndicated to over 300 clients at its peak, but more than half substituted different features rather
than publish reruns during the hiatus. On September 25, 2006, Universal Press Syndicate president Lee Salem
announced that the comic would not return, saying, "Although Aaron McGruder has made no statement about retiring or
resuming The Boondocks for print newspapers ... newspapers should not count on it coming back in the foreseeable
future." He added that Universal would welcome McGruder back if he chose to return. Greg Melvin, McGruder's editor at
the syndicate, met with him in an unsuccessful attempt to talk the cartoonist into returning. After the strip was cancelled,
reruns continued to be carried by some newspapers through November 26, 2006.
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 (in Maryland, as seen from the area
code stated in the March 16, 2000 strip). The title word "boondocks" alludes to the isolation from primarily African-
American urban life that the characters feel, and permits McGruder some philosophical distance. Huey is a politically
perceptive 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. For
example, he is at least as hard on Vivica Fox and Cuba Gooding, Jr at times as he is on the Bush administration. 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 both 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 W.E.B. DuBois and Uncle Tom) and
his white wife Sarah, who are both lawyers. Their young daughter Jazmine is very insecure about her ethnic identity and
is often the subject of Huey's antipathy for being 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. Because of its controversy, many newspaper publishers either relegate the strip to the op-ed section
of the paper.
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