According to Universal Press Syndicate, Aaron McGruder’s critically-acclaimed comic strip, The Boondocks, won’t return to newspapers for the forseeable future, having received no word from McGruder on its return. McGruder had be on a six-month sabbatical from the strip, which began in March of this year. McGruder had also been working to bring his creation to television as an animated series, which premiered on Cartoon Network last November.

“It was obvious that Aaron would not be able to meet his original six-month target of returning ‘The Boondocks’ to newspapers,” stated Universal President, Lee Salem. “His Sunday strips needed to be in by mid-September to meet newspapers’ deadlines of publishing ‘The Boondocks’ by the end of October. We had to consider the newspapers currently running ‘The Boondocks’ reruns and expecting its return. It was unfair to keep them guessing any longer.” Salem further stated that there are no plans to bump up the release of the Nate Creekmore comic strip, Maintaining, which is still scheduled for a January 2007 release.