Aaron McGruder has brass balls.

October 17, 2001 2:45 PM

Aaron McGruder has brass balls. I know that the Boondocks strip has been mentioned elsewhere in the course of another thread somewhere, however this is the strongest statement in a commercial format I've seen to date. Or maybe I need to get out more.
posted by ethmar (22 comments total)

unfortunately, I suspect most just won't get it.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 3:26 PM on October 17, 2001

I get it, and boy was it daring. Man, how does he do it, totally exposed, no one to dive in between him and a sharp pencil!

I smell a Fox special--World's Scariest Desk Moments Involving One Person And Satire Aimed At No One In Particular. Chilling!
posted by NortonDC at 4:02 PM on October 17, 2001

Thanks, Ethmar. I just added Boondocks to my must-read list.
posted by realjanetkagan at 4:58 PM on October 17, 2001

Nicely done.
I tend to think the Boondocks is just a tad overrated, but this is the best use of three panels I've seen in a very long time.
posted by dong_resin at 5:10 PM on October 17, 2001

LOL Sweet.
posted by rushmc at 5:48 PM on October 17, 2001

aaron mcgruder is my hero.
posted by atom128 at 6:34 PM on October 17, 2001

Boondocks is one of the most subtlely subversive things going right now. I can't believe they haven't shipped Macgruder off to the editorial page ghetto like they did to Trudeau and Doonsebury . Today's strip in particular was a great blessing as I rode the bus to work. I love a little revolution with my coffee.
posted by Ty Webb at 6:45 PM on October 17, 2001

I really didn't like the Boondocks when it first ran. But over time it grew on me and I began to "get it". Especially the strips he ran during Black History Month. Brilliant.
posted by ethmar at 6:57 PM on October 17, 2001

I've read every one of his post 9/11 strips, and they all have the simplistic reflexive scorn of a college newspaper cartoonist. Recycling the $43 million Taliban assistance line doesn't strike me as withering scorn or penetrating insight.

I read the strip mostly for the old man's Dorothy Dandridge reveries, which are priceless.
posted by lileks at 8:08 PM on October 17, 2001

they actually had a sifl-n-olly reference two sundays ago, on boondocks... it was crazy cool because who ever alludes to sifl-n-olly?!
posted by lotsofno at 8:15 PM on October 17, 2001

Macgruder makes regular references to sifl-n-olly, though they're sometimes more subtle.

I laughed out loud when I read today's strip. He was attempting (and succeeding) in dealing with the 9/11 tragedy with honesty and outrage and humor instead of pulling a knee-jerk flag wave. In return, a number of papers pulled his strip. Macgruder hit back. I don't blame him. I'm an even bigger fan of The Boondocks than I was before.
posted by sjarvis at 8:31 PM on October 17, 2001

I'll give him some credit for touching the subject at all, but lileks is right: He's just being a generic reactionary, and doing it rather hamhandedly at that. Plus he's making the strip about himself in this case.

Did you get the name of the girl in the spooky car?
posted by aaron at 9:36 PM on October 17, 2001

Next day, same joke.
posted by aaron at 9:37 PM on October 17, 2001

The ultimate irony is that you can actually buy the strip, for just $55 plus $8.25 shipping...
posted by harrycaul at 11:00 PM on October 17, 2001

I've been a monthlong fan, ever since he ran this one. Pure genius.
posted by MarkO at 11:06 PM on October 17, 2001

Alright... I don't get it. Our nation's sudden urge to buy overpriced flags? Wartime commercialism? American arrogance? What?
posted by hobbes at 11:30 PM on October 17, 2001

Cheap knee-jerk patriotism and outright jingoism, Hobbes.
We're soaking in it.
posted by Hima Otsubusu at 1:03 AM on October 18, 2001

Er... the FBI can't find me through Metafilter can they? Oh crap...
posted by Hima Otsubusu at 1:05 AM on October 18, 2001

Aaron McGruder has brass balls.

Doo dah, doo dah.

(Sorry - fark.com has got me doing this, and I can't stop!)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:46 AM on October 18, 2001

Dammit! If there's any reactionary knee-jerking going on around here, it should be the of the flag waving, patriotic kind.
posted by DaRiLo at 2:03 AM on October 18, 2001

meh. he's alright. nothing special...
posted by celmatic at 2:29 AM on October 18, 2001

Next day, same joke

Not quite. This time the punch line is that one of the things they hate us for is "free speech".

Boondocks it the closest thing we've had to Bloom County since Outland.

I thought this one was pretty funny.

And here's a few more favorites.
posted by straight at 7:55 AM on October 18, 2001