If Michelle’s family is rich, why does she live in the same neighborhood and attend the same school as Curtis?
Is her family rich? She’s conceited, she thinks she’s “too good” for the others, but I never noticed any mention of wealth in her family.
I could just be flip and say “It’s a comic strip, and comic writers ignore realism whenever it suits them.” But I’ll offer two serious answers:
First of all, Michelle isn’t rich- her father is. Her father is off making big money, but he abandoned her and her mother ages ago. He still comes back occasionally and showers her with expensive gifts, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that Michelle or her mother are rich.
Second, historically black neighborhoods have always had some socio-economic diversity. That’s less true than it once was, of course, since the end of segregation has made it possible for well-to-do black families to move out of the old 'hood and live almost anywhere they like. But even now, an area like Harlem still has rich black families as well as poor ones.
If she’s able to spend seemingly endless amounts of money on her appearance, clothing, and singing lessons (not to mention professional photos), I would think she has money somewhere.
Daddy probably gives her a hundred-a-week allowance. Michelle is shallow and self-centered so she blows her entire allowance on herself.