Comic distortion

THE automatic weapon African American junior militant Huey Freeman is aiming at the wealthy white banker visiting his grandfather is just a toy. But there’s nothing playful about the hidden Huey’s steely eye or the message being delivered by the sniper scope’s blood-red laser focused on the unsuspecting target’s head.

Ten-year-old Huey and his gangsta-wannabe younger brother Riley are trying to fight the powers that be in the suburbs. But the “enemy” -- white folks -- think Huey’s black rage is adorable, their surroundings are exasperatingly vanilla. Meanwhile, the boys’ grandfather is having “relations” with a scantily clad gold-digging hooker who delights in annihilating Riley in PlayStation combat.

In this idyllic setting then, the kids are not all right. Which is perfectly all right with their creator, cartoonist and provocateur Aaron McGruder.

After several years of development, which included rejections, revisions and a creative divorce, McGruder is poised for the two-dimensional realization of his longtime dream. His hip-hop flavored, politically charged newspaper strip “The Boondocks” becomes animated on Sunday at 11 p.m. as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming.

The half-hour series is a stylized version of the controversial strip syndicated in about 300 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. The comic, with its sharp-edged riffs on politics and popular culture, has become one of the country’s most popular syndicated strips, even though some nervous editors have pulled installments they said crossed the line in language and in attacks on the Bush administration.

Like the strip, “The Boondocks” centers on the two brothers from Chicago who reluctantly move to the suburbs with their gruff grandfather. Regina King (“Ray”) is the voice of both Huey and Riley, and John Witherspoon (“Friday”) is “Granddad” Robert Jebediah Freeman. Other characters include Uncle Ruckus, an African American associate of Granddad who dislikes black people.

Relaxing in his darkened Culver City office decorated with “Star Wars” artifacts, McGruder is characteristically low-key but noticeably upbeat about his creation finally seeing the light of late night. He is thrilled at the show’s Korean-drawn anime aesthetic, and believes that the TV show takes the strip to fresher, funnier heights.

He seems just as pleased about the eye-catching promotional billboards around the city featuring the unsmiling Huey and Riley -- an indication of the promotional push Adult Swim is giving to the show in its effort to capture the 18- to 34-year-old audience that have made hits out of not-ready-for-prime-time fare such as “Chappelle’s Show,” “The Daily Show” and “South Park.”

“They’re a miracle,” says McGruder of the billboards. “However, all of this is just like what I thought it would be. There’s been 10 years of buildup for this, thinking what it would be like when the moment arrived. This is as good as it gets for me.”

But as the premiere approaches, so is a brewing storm.

Even before the first episode hits living rooms, “The Boondocks” has become the latest in a series of urban-themed comedies to draw fire for what community advocates say is racially offensive humor. Critics are taking issue with the show’s liberal use of the N-word, which is said more than 15 times in the pilot episode, and they are planning to take action. Although the word is a staple in the hip-hop culture and rap songs, they charge that it is historically painful and degrading to African Americans, particularly when used in a humorous context.

Concerns may erupt over future installments. One episode, “The Return of the King” in which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. comes out of a 32-year coma and rethinks his “turn the other cheek” philosophy. Producers removed references to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in another episode following her death last week.

The forces behind the show are braced for the opposition. In fact, Turner Broadcasting-owned Adult Swim and Sony Pictures Television are counting on “The Boondocks” to be a hot button. (The series is rated TV-MA, for mature audiences only).

Proclaiming “The Boondocks” as the most expensive series in its four-year history, Adult Swim is positioning the series as the crown jewel of its adult-oriented block, spending an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 an episode and flooding the country’s top 10 television markets with an intense promotional campaign utilizing 130 billboards, numerous bus placards and posters at bus shelters and subways. There’s even “The Boondocks” coffee sleeves.

Mike Lazzo, senior vice president of Adult Swim, said, “ ‘The Boondocks’ is a show that you’re not going to see anywhere else right now. It’s in keeping with what we want to do, to find provocative voices and giving them a show.”

His inner Huey

NETWORK executives see “The Boondocks” as the key to establishing Adult Swim as a high-profile brand in the cable universe. But they are banking on a passionate activist with no previous TV experience.

McGruder has been fiercely protective of his franchise, resisting previous offers for merchandising. He says he is being allowed to do the TV series with little interference from higher-ups. He is taking on the demands of being a show runner while keeping his day job; McGruder is still writing the daily “The Boondocks” strip with the help of an illustrator.

Unlike his angry protagonist, McGruder does smile. But despite his outward calm, McGruder has not been shy about letting his inner Huey come out swinging. He has bragged about calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a “murderer” to her face. He feels his demanding nature has paid off with the look of the show and its humor. But he is more uncertain about how the series will be received by viewers, particularly fans of “The Boondocks” who delight in its ripped-from-the-headlines commentaries and swipes at popular culture. Because of the months-long process of animation, the series cannot contain the same topical humor.

“I have never had a close relationship with fans. I have to protect the work so I don’t get distracted,” says McGruder. “People who like the strip will have their preconceived notions, and they will have to overcome that. The show will have the same point of view, and the same style of humor. I anticipate a wide range of opinions.”

Ironically, one dissenting opinion has already come from one of McGruder’s friends, Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope in Los Angeles. Saying he has the support of the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders, the activist has already planned a community forum the day following the show’s premiere to protest the use of the N-word by several of the show’s characters.

“I can’t support anyone using the N-word,” Ali said in a recent interview. “In Aaron’s case, there can be no exception. It represents a horrible part of our past, a painful reminder of slavery. When black people were lynched, that often was the last word they heard as they hung at the end of a rope.”

Bill Cosby, who has been waging a nationwide crusade in the last few years to address what he believes is disrespect by some poorer blacks of opportunities available because of the civil rights movement, maintains that shows such as “The Boondocks” perpetuate negative images of blacks outside of the country. “These things travel across both ponds,” he told The Times in a recent interview. “We can sit and laugh at them here, but they also play in Asia, Africa, London, Scotland. This is the image people get of us.”

Other African American themed comedies in recent years have ignited angry reactions. “Barbershop” sparked a firestorm when Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson accused that 2002 film of making fun of Parks and King. Several leaders blasted the animated “The PJs,” in 1999 for making light of life in an urban housing project. And UPN’s short-lived 1998 series, “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” a Civil War-era series about a black Englishman who becomes a butler and advisor to President Lincoln, drew the wrath of several African American groups claiming it attempted to mine humor from slavery, even though the fictional title character was depicted as the most intelligent member of the Lincoln administration.

McGruder is aware of the latest controversy: “I’m not being cavalier about this. I’ve known Najee for many years, and I definitely give him respect. But I look at this, and I know that everybody has to do their job. Their job is not to condone the use of that word, and my job is to do a funny show about black people on late night cable. After Dave Chappelle and ‘Chappelle’s Show’, I thought the whole discussion about that word had been put to bed. The show is what it is.”

He added, “Doing this strip for six years have prepared me for this. There are those who are going to be wondering with this show, ‘Has he gone soft?’ It’s a no-win. Nothing I can do will be correct for everybody.”

One scholar says the controversy may blow over once viewers sample the series. “I wouldn’t want to stifle what the creators are trying to communicate, as long as they stay true to the spirit of the time and place,” said Darnell Hunt, director of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. “The show should be accorded space to make its point, and might have to use language that others may not embrace.”

“The Boondocks” series was first developed last year for Fox and was shopped to MTV when the broadcast network passed. McGruder calls the earlier version less funny and edgy than the current show. When Cartoon Network and Adult Swim agreed to the series, McGruder said he spent much of the summer of 2004 writing and collaborating with his staff to develop stories and concepts.

Though “The Boondocks” is almost entirely McGruder’s vision, veteran filmmaker Reginald Hudlin (“House Party,” “Boomerang”) is also listed as an executive producer. The two were close friends and worked on several projects, including the Fox pilot. But they split last year before the publication of their graphic novel, “Birth of a Nation.” Hudlin was named this year as entertainment president of Black Entertainment Television, a frequent target of “The Boondocks” strip.

Neither will discuss the details behind the breakup. But McGruder said of Hudlin’s role in “The Boondocks”: “We are contractually obligated to have his name on the show. He hasn’t worked on it, and I haven’t talked to him in a year.”

Responded Hudlin: “I have worked with Aaron since before he graduated from college, and we’ve been developing ‘The Boondocks’ as a property for five years. It’s not unusual in Hollywood for people to have creative differences or for someone to want to assume complete control of a property. But I think the show will be a big success.”