Dallas Morning News columnist Mike Peters writes a column that reads like an obit for Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks.
Almost overnight, Mr. McGruder was a self-made social commentator, eager to shake our easy assumptions about race.
“I don’t write The Boondocks for black people,” he told me in 2003. “Black people already get it. I’m trying to make white people see and think about black people.”
He did.
Neat.
Just so we’re clear, this Mike Peters is not related to the “Mother Goose and Grimm” cartoonist…right?
Neat.
Just so we’re clear, this Mike Peters is not related to the “Mother Goose and Grimm” cartoonist…right?
Right. I try to make that distinction when I post. Look for keywords like “Dallas Morning columnist” vs “Mother Goose and Grimm creator.”
Right. I try to make that distinction when I post. Look for keywords like “Dallas Morning columnist” vs “Mother Goose and Grimm creator.”
Aaron McGruder’s sobatical raises an interesting reflection. Most comic strips seem to come back after an author’s haitus on a downward slide, even if that author’s absence is not voluntary.
Witness Berkley Breathed’s long absence after breaking his back and enduring a long recovery. Looking back at Bloom County one can definately see a difference in priority pre-absence and post-absence in Breathed’s work.
Also one can see the same occurrence with Gary Larson’s Farside panel. Much of Larson’s work was a shadow of it’s former self after lengthy sobatical.
McGruder’s situation differs only slightly from these, as he has a hit TV show based off his strip. I see the show spinning off in a fresher direction gaining more of an audience while his strip wanes in much the same way other strips have when their authors take a long powder.
Aaron McGruder’s sobatical raises an interesting reflection. Most comic strips seem to come back after an author’s haitus on a downward slide, even if that author’s absence is not voluntary.
Witness Berkley Breathed’s long absence after breaking his back and enduring a long recovery. Looking back at Bloom County one can definately see a difference in priority pre-absence and post-absence in Breathed’s work.
Also one can see the same occurrence with Gary Larson’s Farside panel. Much of Larson’s work was a shadow of it’s former self after lengthy sobatical.
McGruder’s situation differs only slightly from these, as he has a hit TV show based off his strip. I see the show spinning off in a fresher direction gaining more of an audience while his strip wanes in much the same way other strips have when their authors take a long powder.