Comics, Censorship, and "The Boondocks"
Oct. 1st, 2003 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnomiSo, yesterday I read the comics page as published by The Boston Globe, and they ran this strip (I'm using the Washington Post feed because the Globe doesn't have The Boondocks as one of its on-line comics). This, however, was a strip that originally ran in 1999 and did not fit the current story line going on in Boondocks. Suspicious (as the Globe has, in the past, run filler strips (without notifying readers) when they felt the day's strip was too offensive), I checked uclick.com, which is the on-line provider of Boondocks strips. They ran this strip. Not that I found it at all offensive, but heck, I don't make editorial decisions at the Globe.
Today, same story. Again a filler strip in the Globe (and on the Washington Post's website). But one difference - no "real" strip on the uclick site. It's possible that uclick just hasn't updated yet. But I'm suspicious, because McGruder (who draws Boondocks) has said in the past that his humor has been seen as offensive by many, and he's been dropped by some newspapers after strips containing particularly biting commentaries that the newspapers felt were anti-American.
So...I'm waiting to see if uclick does actually come up with today's "real" strip. And to see if the Globe ombudsman has anything to say on the subject of censoring the comics (she commented once before when a Doonesbury cartoon was pulled due to questionable content).
Today, same story. Again a filler strip in the Globe (and on the Washington Post's website). But one difference - no "real" strip on the uclick site. It's possible that uclick just hasn't updated yet. But I'm suspicious, because McGruder (who draws Boondocks) has said in the past that his humor has been seen as offensive by many, and he's been dropped by some newspapers after strips containing particularly biting commentaries that the newspapers felt were anti-American.
So...I'm waiting to see if uclick does actually come up with today's "real" strip. And to see if the Globe ombudsman has anything to say on the subject of censoring the comics (she commented once before when a Doonesbury cartoon was pulled due to questionable content).
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Date: 2003-10-01 07:52 am (UTC)Personally, I find "Boondocks" to be hit and miss, funny sometimes, strident just to be strident other times, and dopey when it focuses on pop culture. Being that so few strips even try to be political these days, "Boondocks" serves an important role, but it's no Doonesbury or Bloom County, and probably never will be.
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Date: 2003-10-01 07:57 am (UTC)That's what I thought, too. Especially compared to the Flaggee and Ribbon strips of late 2001/early 2002 (that's the series that got him dropped from a number of papers).
And I agree that he's hit-or-miss, but sometimes, when he's really on, I love the strip. I figure it's worth reading most mornings.
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Date: 2003-10-01 08:04 am (UTC)There goes another shred of innocence and naivete...
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Date: 2003-10-01 08:36 am (UTC)But, yeah, if the syndicate itself is censoring for what seems to me to be a tame strip, I will not be a happy camper at all.
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Date: 2003-10-01 09:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-01 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-01 12:52 pm (UTC)Why does it not surprise me that you like "The Boondocks"? :-)