In cities with large black populations it’s not unusual to see images of black people on billboards, so it’s not the color of Huey and Riley Freeman’s skin that makes them stand out. What distinguishes the stars of the new Boondocks TV cartoon from their brethren in other ads are their expressions. The familiar smiles that populate ads for cognac, cigarettes, and morning-radio DJs are missing. In their place are dire scowls and cartoon eyes as big as Bambi’s, but filled with the hate the Disney deer must have felt for its mother’s murderers. The anger exuding from these illustrations may be fresh when viewed over a viaduct, but for readers of the funny pages it’s been a fixture for years. Since 1999 The Boondocks has been a profoundly important, often hilarious, frequently controversial comic strip. It is also one of the biggest disappointments in the medium’s history.
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McGruder developed The Boondocks in his college newspaper only two years prior to its syndication, and it showed. Early strips have the amateurish feel of a campus comic. Their miscues range from slightly sloppy (Riley refers to the trains on Chicago’s south side as subways rather than els), to technically annoying (the tails of the word balloons frequently point toward characters’ elbows or abdomens rather than their mouths), to formally unsound.
Fortunately for the artist, he would not have to deal with the problem for long. Generally, cartoonists strive to create interesting supporting characters (Peppermint Patty, Mr. Dithers, Cathy’s mom) and develop an array of stock situations to riff on (Lucy holding a football, Dagwood making a sandwich, Cathy shopping). McGruder followed suit, introducing teachers, neighbors, even a love interest, and putting the Freeman boys in various scenarios.
Unlike most of Cartoon Network’s other Adult Swim (late night) offerings, which pride themselves on their shoddiness and thrift (recycling stock Hanna-Barbera footage on Space Ghost, forgoing animation for stills on Tom Goes to the Mayor), The Boondocks is a relatively expensive-looking show. The visual design is far more sophisticated than the strip’s, the animation is good, and the voices are provided by familiar actors (perhaps too familiar in the case of John Witherspoon, who’s played characters like Granddad in countless black sitcoms and movies over the past 15 years).
If Aaron McGruder discontinues his strip, which seems possible if the show is a hit, it would be the most disappointing action of his cartooning career. And when that day comes, though I’ll never match the profoundly bitter faces he’s plastered on buses in Brooklyn and on abandoned west-side buildings in Chicago and above LA freeways, I’ll be wearing a huge frown.
