Hoping The Brilliant Boondocks Returns

I am reading A Right to Be Hostile by Aaron McGruder, the creator of the Boondocks. He is one of the most searing writers of his generation, bar none. The comic 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. It is supposedly Maryland.

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.

The comic strip is simultaneously hilarious, thought provoking and challenges the reader with stereotypes and never lets anyone off the hook. I cannot put the compilation down often reading strips out loud to my partner.

I also read Birth of a Nation by McGruder and two other authors (Reginald Hudlin and Kyle Baker) which is a play on the 2000 election and takes place in East St. Louis. After the disenfranchisement of the voters there the city secedes from the union.

The Boondocks has suspended any new publications, however and this is tremendously sad. He adds a wisdom, grit and intelligence to comics not seen in generations as well as adding to the popular culture something truly unique. However, there are several compilations one can enjoy. If you never read the Boondocks you are doing yourself a disservice by not running to obtain any of the compilations or other books. McGruder was said to be sick of the strip. Well, I am sick of not having it. Here is hoping he comes back or writes again - anything. I have never viewed the series, cartoons are just not my cup of tea.