'Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan is the devil, and the gov't is lying about 9-11'

And so begins the first episode of the first cartoon I've seen since the Simpsons that I actually want to watch on a regular basis - The Boondocks. It's based on Aaron McGruder's daily comic strip of the same name.

Now, admittedly, as in most pop culture things, I am quite out of the loop. I'm the kind of guy who doesn't know who's in the Super Bowl until the day after it happens. Not having a TV, I didn't catch this when it debuted back in November on the Cartoon Network. Due to the wonders of the 'internets', I was able to finally see it. I read the strip every day, so I was looking forward to this.

'The Boondocks' is about a two Afro-American (yeah, I said Afro-American, real old school in a 70's black-power kinda way, got a problem wit dat?) kids,Huey and Riley, and their grandad, who move out to the mostly-white suburbs. Grandad's a bit nutty. He kind of half-assedly participated in the civil rights movement of the 60's, when he showed up to a protest in a raincoat, in anticipation of being hosed, and always seems to get himself into all sorts of awkward situations. Riley is an eight year old, heavily influenced by gangsta rap and its culture, and finally, Huey, an Afrocentric youth into samurai flicks, conspiracy theories and a contempt for the behavior of many of his race. He's basically a 10-year old black radical. A host of other interesting characters fill out the show, such as the self-hating Uncle Ruckus, a crazy old black guy who thinks blacks were better off under slavery, and Jazmine Dubois, a naive and somewhat paranoid mulatto girl who hid in her room for two years after the 9-11 attacks.

Several things stood out in the series for me. First, it's visually striking. It is very much done in the style of Japanese manga/anime, something I've never been too fond of. What makes it work for me is the juxtaposition of the manga with the scenery of suburban black life and a killer jazz and hip-hop soundtrack. Makes for an interesting combination, and I don't feel like I'm watching some bad nonsensical Japanese cartoon, such as Battle of the Planets.

The next thing is it is so friggin' political, and right on the money. The constant criticism of black culture, from a black perspective is at first, a bit unsettling. If it were white people talking this way, it would no doubt be construed as racist. But, as a white viewer, it offers a peek into those things that you might have thought yourself, not in any kind of racist way, but never had the balls to say out loud. I mean it more as a cultural observer, so please don't ask me where my hood is.

I've only seen 4 episodes, so I haven't caught the full spectrum of topics it goes after, but I like it. It's raised a bit of controversy, because of its gratuitious use of the 'N-word'. McGruder defended the use of the word because he said it added sincerity, and the word is quite common in the conversation of Afro-Americans. And its take on other cultural aspects, such as Republicanism, hip-hop culture, civil rights, black unity, racism and such, are also a treat. There seems to be a lot of moments during the course of the show where I find myself going, "Yesssssss, he' s telling it like it is!'

The cartoon was originally pitched to be part of the Fox network's lineup, but to get it on regular network TV would have toned it down too much, and taken away what made it worth watching to begin with. It can be very crude, no doubt about it, but if you can handle South Park, it's nothing you couldn't deal with. Although not as current as the comic strip, due to the amount of time it takes to get an episode produced, it captures the spirit of the comic quite well, both in tone and visuals. It's not always laugh-out-loud-ha-ha funny like the Simpsons or South Park at their best, there's a lot of inside jokes and subtleties. Any leftie who's not of the hypersensitive/ultra PC variety will find plenty of substance here, as well as a lot to laugh about. You can check out the official site here. It's on Sunday nights at 11PM on the Cartoon Network's 'Adult Swim' lineup. Enjoy. I did.