#black animation

Joyous Kwanzaa, Everyone! ❤️🖤💚✨ I made this for Boston Compass Newspaper back in 2023 as a bit of a season finale to my comic strip series, The Adventures of Aaron and Beatrice! Somehow just getting around to posting it but better late than never lol. Habari Gani?!

Let's take a look at the main cast of The Three Tomes.

( ALT text on all bios)

(Focusing on Episode 2)

I think it premieres next month at the Annecy Film Festival

https://youtu.be/jpvIkfdO76M?si=ISL9njsk8iwAAolg

Let's discuss the elephant in the room, shall we?

And no, it's not about Jazmine. We'll get to her and her characterization, later. This is about certain viewers not taking the Boondocks for what it is, a show about Black culture in the early 2000s told through a Black male perspective, packaged inside two Black children like Huey and Riley. Why? Because out of Aaron McGruder's own mouth, he knew his audience would hate them and fully expected certain viewers to miss when the show started and stopped being satire. All because they wouldn't get it. Seriously, read about it, people. Click on the words. There are links.

You have black people in present day misunderstanding the show based on white people's perception of the show. That misunderstanding extends to McGruder himself, and to a much larger extent, the characters themselves. Huey does start getting extreme around Season Three, most likely to justify Caesar's pending appearance that we never got to see. At first glance Huey is stoic, always holding a book, and wise beyond his ten years. But if you're really paying attention, Huey Freeman is still a child. Whether he's arguing with Riley, staging a breakout with Jazmine, or going back and forth with Tom in the comics, Huey starts out in the show pretty much pretending to be a revolutionary and taking that side of himself too seriously. Huey Freeman's whole archetype represents the Black American right to be in a constant state of rage and serves as a self-insert for McGruder, rightfully questioning the culture through his own lens. Even though Huey is confident in what he says, he's not completely right or wrong. And that's what helps make the show, and even moreso the comics, hilarious. Whether it's him getting mad at the kids having fun during the school play or thinking prison guards at a high security prison would actually let him in instead of calling an ambulance, Huey is just as wayward as the other characters, if not more, from time to time. And all this, in addition to the reality of being black in Woodcrest, means to Huey's plans carry their own specific sets of issues. He struggles to connect to the very people he wants to educate. So yes, Huey's play gets done, but no one sees it. His ten-year-old mind takes his craft so seriously that he thought the parents would want to see a ten-year-old's play after he cut all their kids out. Even his plan to save Shabazz K. Milton gets blocked by Granddad, and before that, he's thrown off by not seeing something as simple as Jazmine being restricted to a specifc area code at her maturity level. And for all that, Huey's often called mean, cruel, or even an asshole.... but in the show, this really isn't true. Most of the the time, he's just being a kid. He's the same boy who outs a blanket over Granddad while he waits for Christal to come home, he hugs his brother to tell him he loves him when he thinks he's about to die. This is the same boy that rallies protestors to free Jazmine after she hurts his feelings, and cries on the hill when he can't save Shabazz from unjust execution.... Huey even starves himself to the point of exhaustion, not because he hates black people, but because he's terrified by the messaging he's seen his brother and Grandfather absorb. So to see people suggest otherwise, or to treat Huey as this almost omnipotent source of truth? It's telling. And honestly? It says a lot about you and your interpretation of black culture if you don't get him. It's easy (and fun) to imagine Huey growing into a stoic, "cold", Malcolm-X type figure because on some level, you know that's what he deserves, to live out what you can't wholeheartedly, or to dish out what you think you deserve. I've written that, envisioned it, but I'm also aware that's not Aaron's intent or Huey's truth. To hone in on only one aspect of this character is almost a diss to the work it took to create a very funny and nuanced male character. Aaron McGruder built Huey without diluting his unapologetic blackness or his Chicago roots while still keeping his youth and contradictions intact. And in doing so, he created a character that people see themselves in. Truly. So the next time you claim to have a profound take on Huey Freeman, (I'm looking at you, Reddit.com), ask yourself if you actually understand McGruder's intent. Hell, black culture in general. Because several things can be true at once. But a lot of ya'll are just wrong. -Miss Ace Thank You

Can I say that I really loved this couple, especially Nae? They are so wholesome and cheery! A very chill vibe compared to most indie protags.

I can't give away how the relationships end because I am being intentional With what I'm doing here. ...but all 3 of them do feel affection for each other.

So when I say a triangle I do mean a love triangle

CREATOR OF THE THREE TOMES BREANIMATOR???

Not only do I feel blessed by your presence, but also EXTREMELY so by the information you've provided me today