Rating: 
Summary: Aaron McGruder - a prime example of talent wasted
Review: I used to like reading "The Boondocks" back when it first came out, and it featured more characters than just Huey and Caesar. It's no longer funny, and it's now just a way for the author to take whatever subject is biting his butt at the time and beat it into the ground (Bush is a bad president; Emimen is white and more successful than he is; the War in Iraq is wrong; BET is evil; most of the songs on the radio suck; OK, OK, we get it Aaron!!!) Buy the first volume instead, it will remind you when "The Boondocks" was still cutting-edge and relevant.
Rating: 
Summary: Free Jolly Jenkins!
Review: I was happily surprised to see this in a bookstore -- I didn't even know it was out there. Guess nobody at Andrews McMeel is exactly breakin' their backs promoting this. Anyway, if 'Peanuts' owned the '50s and '60s, 'Doonesbury' owned the '70s, and 'Bloom County,' 'The Far Side' and 'Calvin & Hobbes' owned the '80s, who owned the '90s? There was a long, LONG dry spell before Aaron McGruder came along in 1999. He may yet own the new decade as well. What comic strip that originated in the '90s has been this consistently funny and relevant and biting? 'Dilbert'? It has its moments but mainly appeals to guys like Scott Adams. 'Fox Trot'? Thanks, but I prefer a strip that slams 'Star Wars' to a strip that has devoted entire weeks to 'Star Wars' homages. 'The Boondocks' has managed to offend both white and black people, which means it's doing something right. The nice thing is that it also manages to entertain both white and black people -- at least those who get the joke, who find humor in the goofiness specific to white people and the goofiness specific to black people. This isn't a get-whitey strip -- McGruder has a bit of fun at the expense of his protagonists, the ever-righteous Huey and his gangsta-wannabe brother Riley. Yet he also lets each of them have moments of clarity and insight. Even at his most ruthless, there's very little mean-spiritedness in McGruder's satire -- he's one of those satirists who has a kind of affection for the stupidities he's skewering, because he knows life wouldn't be as funny without them. (Perfect example: his ongoing digs at B.E.T.) In all, this book is the beginning of what's shaping up to be a great career. Jump on board now.
Rating:
Summary: I KNOW WHO OTIS REDDING IS
Review: I was lucky enough to run across this strip early on in it's existence (mid '99). I was about ready to give up on the daily comics as it'd become pretty much a bland wasteland of tired, generic space filler in the absence of Calvin & Hobbes. What a breath of fresh air McGruder has turned out to be. This is an excellent first collection of his groundbreaking daily strips. On his dedication page, he mentions Breathed, Schultz, Trudeau, and Watterson. In the future, I can see him being mentioned in the same breath. Now if only he would make the animated Kwanzaa special that he has Tom DuBois lamenting that Sparky will never get to. By the way Aaron, we always called it "BPT" not "CPT" (page 115).
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes, you just gotta tell it like it is...
Review: I've been reading Boondocks for the past few months, even going so far as to look for it online when I forget to grab a newspaper. It is by far the most intelligent, witty and even occasionally, deep comic strip in production today. After only the first few reads, I was an instant fan and actually anticipating, rather than dreading, the first book to be released by McGruder. His humor has the capacity to go beyond race and politics and touch at the very core of what social satire is all about, intelligent commentary...... So if you do turn to the strips in your paper looking for sad little cheese-puff humor, drawn and written from a sheltered perspective, stay away from the Boondocks, because it, my fellow reader, is a strip written for people with vision and conscience. Hey Huey, It's Revolution Time!
Rating:
Summary: Boondocks
Review: I've known of Aaron McGruder's comic strip for a while but never actually got around to reading it (longtime fans will forgive me, I hope). Well, I got my hands on this collection and after catching up with everyone else I have to say that I have a new flag to wave. In fact, I'm kind of jealous. Boondocks is exactly the comic strip I would have created had I actually sat down and done it. Topics such as Hip-Hop, racial identity, stereotyping and poitics are all dealt with in an intellegent and non-condecending manner that's fresh in this age of stiffling political correctness. It's refreshing to see hip-hop treated with the respect it deserves by someone who clearly loves the culture. The discussions about race and politics are honest and thought- provoking. Plus, like the best Calvin and Hobbes strips, Boondocks is just downright funny. I have to admit that I had no idea that Mr. McGruder's strip had caused such an uproar. After reading the book I hit up the website and was treated to a very telling display of all the hate mail and negativity that has been spewed by numerous people. It's not surprising. One thing that I've come to realize is that a lot of people have a very low tolerance and understanding of social satire. That's why people don't "get" movies like "Fight Club" and bad mouth the current Spike Lee Joint "Bamboozled". And since Boondocks is social satire at its finest it will be doomed to misunderstanding and attack by people who don't "get it" and read more into it than they should. Populated by characters like Huey Freeman, a conspiricy theorizing revolutionary and Reily, his foul-mouthed, bling-blinging little brother, Boondocks is not your typical Sunday paper comic strip. My favorite moment from the book involves Huey answering the phone and being presented with "exciting news" about new long distance service. Huey responds that he has exciting news too. . . "De La Soul is releasing a triple LP this year and The Roots are finally coming out with their long-awaited live album." Well, I have exciting news too. . . The Boondocks strips are now collected in their first book. Pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: Fans will of course like it
Review: If you're a fan of the comic strip, then of course you'll think this is great. And if you're not a fan of the strip, then of course you won't like it. I'm neither black nor into hip-hop, although I AM a minority and into pop culture (albeit a different style). However, TO ME, this strip is caustic and perpetuates the racial stereotypes it tries to break. In addition, McGruder lately isn't drawing each panel in his strips. He draws one or two, then does a copy-and-paste for the other panels (maybe flipping the original image, or enlargening it, or whatever). The man can't even take the time to hand-draw each panel EVEN THOUGH THAT'S HIS JOB...a comic strip artist. How cheap. Lastly, McGruder is a hypocrite. His strip's hero is anti-capitalism yet McGruder himself is jumping all over a Boondocks capitalist empire (animated shows, merchandising, books, etc). What would Huey have to say about him? Hm.... I predict Boondocks fans are gonna get all riled up and insult me (since that's what they've done in the past). That's cool. Like I said, if you love the strip, there's no reason not to get the book. Otherwise, you won't. Simple as that.
Rating:
Summary: Genius
Review: It is a crying shame that in my hometown, this strip was banned just weeks after appearing in the paper. Since then I go to whatever lengths neccessary to obtain it. I salute Mr. McGruder for making such a brilliant and hilarious strip, and greedily look forward to reading more.
Rating:
Summary: Of course, not!! They Keep Pulling The Strip!!
Review: Just recently, my local newspaper discontinued it's run of The Boondocks.I quickly responded with the discontinuation of my subscription. I do subscribe to it by email and lately, Aaron has had me rolling with his recent commentary (through his characters) on the Kobe Bryant incident. That alone could be enough material for another book. Good luck, Aaron. Show'em what you got.
Rating: 
Summary: You can almost hear the beats while reading it...
Review: Like a few of the reviewers here i was totally unaware of the Boondocks until i got this collection and delved into it.
Having said that, it was somewhat difficult to get into the mindset of this comic, primarily because of its idiosyncratic humour and because its characters have more depth compared to other comic strips in circulation. But once this was achieved, the Boondocks revealed itself for what it really is: an intelligent satire and critique from the black perspective, a perspective critically missing in this field which has been, for decades now, dominated by white artists.
The main characters are 2 black kids who move in with their grandpa in an uptown neighborhood from their former ghetto domains. Moving neighborhoods though proves a task as the 2 kids do not forget their old ways, and thus the issue of racial identity is addressed. Inevitably, hiphop enters the picture and countless references to contemporary black culture cleverly intergrated into the strip.
If the Boondocks do have something which is questionable is whether it always maintains a constancy in its level of humour. I'd say that it doesn't, at least not in this collection, and that's something i kept noticing while going through it. The compensation for this is of course more than adequate becuase as I said above this comic strip is a tough well disguised critique and commentary on racial issues, racial cliches and stereotypes, issues many people would either not touch or remain hopelessly clueless about.
Well drawn with a very distinctive style at times, the Boondocks is a much needed addition in the realm of social commentary comics (if this term ever applied as most comics aim at that, but few achieve it)...
Rating:
Summary: The smartest and most creative strip out!
Review: Please don't sleep on this book, you'll wind up regretting it soon afterwards. Aaron McGruder is an intelligent, creative, and extremely skilled writer/cartoonist, and the life he creates (or re-creates) with The Boondocks hits the reality nail on the head, and keeps you laughing hysterically at the same time. Get this book.
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