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Urban Cartoonist Uses Satire to Highlight Societys Excesses

The success of Aaron McGruder's8217;s 's8220;The Boondocks's8221; has shown that there is a growing market for comic strips from the African American point of view. Manny Otiko, creator of the urban satire 's8220;Ghetto Fabulous,'s8221; says that he is often compared to McGruder.

   


's8220;When people look at my comic, they often say it's8217;s similar to 's8216;The Boondocks,'s8217; which I take as a compliment,'s8221; said Otiko, a Southern California resident.

   


Otiko's8217;s comic strip 's8220;Ghetto Fabulous's8221; is a satire of life in urban America and current events. Some of the issues he tackles include political corruption, the war in Iraq, materialism and violence in the rap world.

   


Otiko was recently featured in a nationwide Associated Press article which details how the humor of black Generation-Xers often clashes with the tastes of the Civil Rights generation.

   


's8220;Humor is very subjective. What some people find funny, others find offensive,'s8221; he said. 's8220;But I don's8217;t think that the job of a writer is to look at society through rose-tinted glasses. A writer is supposed to show the world, warts and all, and let the reader make his own decision.'s8221;

   


Otiko said many people don's8217;t understand how satire works. 's8220;It's8217;s a tricky concept, but the goal is to use humor to make a salient point,'s8221; he said. 's8220;However it could be interpreted as mockery.'s8221;

   


's8220;Some of the most popular comic strips I have done feature a corrupt politician called Sen. Kelvin K. Klebold,'s8221; he said. 's8220;I guess politicians are an easy target, but many of the issues I touch on are similar to the recent scandals in the Republican party. Truth is often stranger than fiction. 's8221;



's8220;Ghetto Fabulous's8221; has been featured in The Riverside Press Enterprise, The Hampton Script, (the college paper for Hampton University), Westside Story, (San Bernardino), The LA Sentinel, The LA Wave and The Washington Afro-Am. It recently started appearing weekly on hiphopdirectory.com a website featuring news about the rap world ,and was also picked up by the Florida Courier and The Juice Weekly.



Otiko said, 's8220;The comic costs $10 per strip, although I am currently running a special where buyers who pay for a year's8217;s subscription receive a 50 percent discount.'s8221;

   


Last year Otiko released a compilation of his comics in 's8220;The Best of Ghetto Fabulous Vol.1's8221; It is available online at http://gfabtoons.com/buythebook.asp.

   


The first 100 buyers received a free note pad and pen featuring the 's8220;Ghetto Fabulous's8221; logo. For more information go to www.gfabtoons or call 951-315-4262.

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