D.O.A.?
We knew that Boondocks cartoonist Aaron McGruder was taking a planned, 6-month leave-of-absence from the daily strip beginning last March. But we didn't know he would go all Dave Chappelle on us and disappear from sight altogether. Universal Press Syndicate has officially announced that they have no idea when McGruder will return to write the popular comic strip, if ever, and have not been successful in getting McGruder to name even a provisional date.
The first strips would have been due by mid-September to make the newspapers' October deadlines, but the strips were a no-show at that time. Universal nevertheless held out hope for McGruder's return at least up until last week, given the cartoonist's reputation for performing well under intense deadline pressure. The clock, however, seems to have run out as Universal president Lee Salem announced that newspaper editors should throw in the towel, stop calling him, and officially consider Boondocks dead on arrival. Newspapers may continue to run reruns of the strip for free until the last Saturday in November. Salem issued a very carefully-worded statement in which he called McGruder a "brilliant cartoonist" and stated that the current flap does not spell the end of their relationship with McGruder. We have no idea if McGruder agrees with that or not.
Boondocks launched in 1999 in 160 newspapers and has since courted controversy both in print and on television. The strip's syndication had grown to over 300 newspapers, though only about one-third of those outlets continued to carry reruns during the hiatus.
None of this affects the Boondocks cartoon on The Cartoon Network, which has just picked up the show for a new season, upping its order from 15 to 25 episodes. And we presume McGruder is returning their calls.