Reading this book is what got me started wondering when I'd see some new strips. The Boondocks are an awesome stealth weapon; McGruder consistently skewers politics and pop culture in three panels more deftly than a host of polibloggers do in thousands of words. "Public Enemy" is only 1/3 the size of its predecessor "A Right To Be Hostile," which is a shame, because it's where he'd finally found his voice.

Another fine collection of an improving strip. Huey and Riley Freeman are young black boys who have been sent to live in the suburbs with their Grandad, a stern, often clueless and never maudlin retiree. Huey is intelligent, angry at today's political foofaraw, non-jovial, ironic, cynical, and someday will either be a senator or a Black Panther. Younger brother Riley is a wanna-be thug who will die young, probably knows that and is okay with it. The strips are smart, clever, funny, and require a familiarity with culture (white and black) that sometimes goes beyond mine. I'm also becoming enamored with Huey's friend (probably his only one) Caesar, and I'm glad to see Jazmine return. I wish, probably fruitlessly, that McGruder would allow some kind of affection to flow from Huey to Jazmine. The strip could use a little softening or humanizing, but McGruder probably holds it as a matter of pride not to do so. Perhaps he's right. ( )

The funniest and most hard hitting comic I've seen. Aaron McGruder has a lot to say about race, class and culture in America today. ( )