I love Boondocks. MacGruder is a terrific artist, very detailed…except for one thing.
He never does backgrounds. The characters are always either against a blank wall, or on a hillside in front of a generic horizon. Some might say—he might say—that complex backgrounds would distract from the dialogue, but I still notice the lack.
Still, Huey “Conspiracy Brother” Freeman rules!
Favorite Sunday strip:
Jasmine (mixed-race girl with big ponytail) I know you’ve been depressed, so I got you a card.
Huey: Aw, than-- [opens card to see sickeningly sweet white boy and girl holding hands; Jasmine falls on the ground laughing] You REALLY shouldn’t have.
grins The Boondocks is an awesome strip, and is in my opinion right up there with Foxtrot as one of the best ever. My favorite:
[Riley (Little Brother) is staring dejectedly at a toy lightsaber. Enter Cindy (Little White Girl who thinks at times that she is black]
Cindy: Hey Riley, what’s the matter?
Riley: That punk store worker won’t let me return this lightsaber.
Cindy: Why, what’s the matter with it?
[WHACK!]
Riley: [looking down at the ground] See! You’re still alive! It’s worthless!
[nitpick]I don’t get the impression that Cindy thinks she is black. What she thinks is that she understands everything about A-A culture, based on what she sees on TV.[/nitpick]
Unless you’re talking about the aforementioned Jasmine. She’s mixed race (A-A dad, Caucasian mom). They think she’s white. She’s trying to find her voice, her place in society as “the one red flower in a bed of green leaves”. Huey says, “Give it up, Jaz: you’re black.”