'Ghetto Fabulous' Publishes Second Collection of Comic Strips

Online, January 21, 2010 (Newswire.com) - (Los Angeles, Calif.) Many Americans may have thought that racism was over when Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, but for Manny Otiko, creator of the comic strip "Ghetto Fabulous," it just meant more story ideas.

Created in 2003, Ghetto Fabulous is a comic strip that takes a satirical look at current events from the African American point of view. Otiko relaunched the comic strip in 2009, and today's turbulent political scene provides him with lots of material.

"In one of my cartoons, I drew myself saying that I wanted Sarah Palin to run in 2012, because she would create enough material to put my kids through college! " Otiko said.

Otiko recently published a compilation of his best strips from 2009, titled "The Best of Ghetto Fabulous Vol. 2." The collection is currently available as an e-book.

"People often ask me about the name Ghetto Fabulous," Otiko said. Ghetto Fabulous is an urban slang term which describe the spending habits of the nouveu riche.

"When I started the comic in 2003, it was a satire on the excesses of the hip hop world. But over the years, the focus has switched to current events and political news. In 2005, 50 Cent was a huge, but today Barack Obama has more star power than him," Otiko said. "When I relaunched the comic, I decided to stick with the name because it already had a following."

Otiko, who tries to publish a new comic strip every day, said that it is not difficult coming up with story ideas. "A black president opens up the door for a whole line of jokes," he said. " I had a line of jokes about racial profiling, including one where the First Couple is stopped trying to get into the White House late at night."

Otiko is a rabid watcher of news channels such as CNN and MSNBC, as well as news sites such as Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and Politico. "Politics is so weird that the jokes literally write themselves," Otiko said. "I usually get at least two or three jokes from news headlines. I keep my BlackBerry handy, and jot the ideas down there."

Otiko added that as long as political figures such as Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are around, he will always be in business. "Most of my comic strips are based on real events. Sometimes the comments are so outlandish, I have to remind readers that I am not making it up," he said.

For more information about Ghetto Fabulous go to (www.getfab.ning.com). You can purchase the "Best of Ghetto Fabulous Vol. 2" on Lulu.com.