Every Episode of ‘The Boondocks,’ Ranked
Twenty-five years ago, Aaron McGruder introduced the world to the Freemans, and nothing would ever be the same
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The Boondocks started out as a fallback plan.
Before creating the comic strip, Aaron McGruder was a semi-aimless University of Maryland student who didn’t expect to graduate; instead, he wanted to be a comic book artist for Marvel. After realizing that his drawing skills weren’t up to par and that he’d lose his scholarship if he didn’t return to school, he’d loaded up on so many Afro American Studies courses that it was an obvious discipline to declare as his major. From there, he began to cultivate his defining work, one guided in part by his curriculum.
The Boondocks debuted on Hitlist.com on Feb. 8, 1996 before appearing in McGruder’s college newspaper, The Diamondback, later that same year. It eventually ran in The Source, too. The strip focused on the exploits of two elementary schoolers — a Black militant named Huey and his gangsta rap automaton little brother, Riley — and their grandfather, former Civil Rights era activist Robert Jebediah Freeman (affectionately known as Granddad). The three moved…
