All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present Book

Content: Fantastic, as always. But with The Boondocks, what else is there to expect?

Format: Eh. Not ideal for the way I like to read.

Even with books that encourage you to flip around and read sections out of order, my preference is to read books in order from cover to cover. And these days, I tend to only read comic strip anthologies on my breaks at work, in 15-minute increments. That way, I don't as easily lose my place.

All the Rage is broken up into three sections: a collection of strips, a collection of interviews and a collection of controversial strips, including some that have appeared in previous anthologies.

The strips, as I've stated, are excellent. For me, the humor still holds up, and the socio-political commentary is still eerily relevant to our current political climate. I was not politically engaged at the time when the strips were first being published, and though I still have a long way to go to understanding politics (both domestic and foreign), I'm at an age now where I can read these strips and understand what they "meant" in the broader cultural landscape, as well as the risks McGruder took in expanding what political cartoons (and the comics page in general) were capable of.

I love Aaron McGruder's point of view, and I find him insightful in both his strips and his interviews. But man, it was a SLOG reading through those interviews. They were interesting sure, but reading one after the other became incredibly tedious. I enjoyed the controversial strips that came after the interview section, but I wished the strips and the interviews were mixed together, so that we could see the comics on which the interviews were commenting, as well as breaking up the monotony a little.

I acknowledge, it's a petty complete. If I had different reading habits, I might have better enjoyed the interviews and the book overall. Nevertheless, the content is still thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking. I don't know if this collection in particular would change your opinion on The Boondocks, but if you like it, you'll like All the Rage.