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''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, the comic strip was picked up by the Universal Press Syndicate in 1999 and made its national debut on April 19 th 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 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 6th, 2005. In late February 2006 , McGruder announced that the strip would go on a six-month hiatus, starting March 27, 2006, with new installments resuming in October. Repeats of earlier strips will be offered by Universal Press Syndicate until then.2 According to Editor & Publisher, 2/3 of The Boondocks client list decided to substitute different features rather than run The Boondocks reruns. DESCRIPTION The strip depicts Huey Freeman and his younger brother Riley, two black children who have been moved out of th, 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 W.E.B. DuBois and Uncle Tom ) and his White wife Sara, who are both Lawyer s. 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 Newspaper s 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 ethnic and cultural 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''. "The Boondocks" is one of at least seven widely- Syndicated Comic Strips drawn by African-American Cartoonists , including Candorville , Curtis , Jump Start , Housebroken , Watch Your Head , Wee Pals , and Herb And Jamaal . It is one of nine politically-themed syndicated comics, including the Liberal Doonesbury , Candorville , Opus The Penguin , Rudy Park , and La Cucaracha , and the Conservative Prickly City , State Of The Union and Mallard Fillmore . MAIN CHARACTERS
MINOR CHARACTERS
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SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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