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WHATZ UP MAN PUTS VOICE READERS
ON WEST SIDE"S CHICAGO AVENUE
Derrell Spicy has become a local icon on Chicago's West Side since launching his
WHATZ UP MAN comic strip in THE VOICE Newspaper growing cast of characters is drawn directly from the streets of our West Side African American neighborhoods. The popularity of WHATZ UP MAN among VOICE readers of all ages derives from the ability of everyone to identify themselves or other West Siders in the characters inhabiting the comic strip. The situations themselves draw their humor from everyday life in a Black community. That American comprises a multitude of isolated worlds is evidenced by calls to THE VOICE from Chicagoans of other ethnic backgrounds saying they don't understand what is so funny about the strip. The irreverent humor of Spicy's characters, their blunt
and uncompromising views of situations on the West Side and society at large contains enough material to shock, offend, and embarrass everyone, even as they laugh at the truth of the situations portrayed. Wandering through the strip are sassy, perspicacious children, an old pimp, a crack addict, and representatives of ethic groups doing business in the Black community, presented in merciless
stereotypes. Chicago cops, Baptist preachers. And public school teacher all have Derrell Spicy
on speed-dial to express their apoplectic outrage at the theme of his latest
installment of WHATZ UP MAN.
WHATZ UP MAN is definitely not Nancy & sluggo. It's not The Simpsons. It's not even
The Boondocks. It' is a homegrown weekly snapshot of life in Chicago's West Side
Black community by an artist who grew up and lives there.