We all are well versed the rich comic industry that’s there in America and the growing number of movies and television shows based on comic/graphic novels, many comic enthusiasts are coming up with their own comic series, be it in print or digital form. And adding to these comic enthusiasts we have Comic Republic, a Nigerian comics startup based in Lagos, which is creating a universe of superheroes for Africans and black readers around the world.
Comic Republic’s comics are available digitally at no cost to the end user. The team aims to raise funds to support the dream through sponsorship and advertising from multinationals and NGOs that are focused on doing good for the environment. So far, they have worked with FirstBank of Nigeria ltd, The Future Awards Project and several NGOs passionate about promoting the African narrative and doing good for the society.
Comic Republic was born in January 2014 by Jide Martin along with his teammates who are Africa’s some of the finest in the world of storytelling, art and comics. The thought behind starting this comic series was because the team observed that there was the lack of good quality comics and a decline in the reading culture of the average Nigerian child. The idea was to create such good quality art and intriguing stories that it will encourage people to pick up this reading habit again especially as it related to comics.
Till date 6 titles have been released by Comic Republic namely Guardian Prime, Eru, Avonome, Hero Gen, Ireti and. Each title has been created by different people but have a common stance i.e beyond battling evil and saving the day, the comics showcases how individuals can come together to provide for a “better safer Africa”.
The team includes Comic Republic CEO, Jide Martin; marketing and corporate communications head, Eduvie Oyaide; COO and creative director, Tobe Ezeogu; VP, comic production, Michael Balogun; editing director, Ozo Ezeogu; legal advisor, Toheeb Ipaye; online operations oead, Tolu Onewo; award winning artist, Stanley Obende; storyteller and creator, Xavier Ighorodje; colorist, Franklin Ikechukwu and head of content creation and direction, Akintoba Kalejaiye.
Guardian Prime
Guardian Prime has been created by Jide Martin wherein Guardian Prime is the sentinel of earth, Nigeria’s own Superman. The main intention to start this comic was to teach the young gen of Nigeria justice, truth and peace.
Guardian Prime is their flagship character who has the alter ego of Tunde Jaiye. He is the fifth element, one of the five essential elements on earth (earth, air, water, fire and man). He is the perfect man. He can do everything a normal man can do only magnified to almost God like levels.
Guardian Prime’s power is faith; his ability to do all things if he only believes he can. Simply put, he is as strong as he thinks he his. The subtle message here is when you believe in yourself, you can be and do anything. This is the take away we want everyone to have when they read this one. When you believe, you can achieve!
Eru
The creator of Eru, Tobe says, “Eru is the Yoruba word for fear. I had this concept in mind even before I joined Comic Republic.” The comic deals with the slight imperfections of each characters and reflects Tobe’s fear. The concept for Eru was fear, wherein there’s this maniacal evil thing willing to save you from your worst nightmare but it is ironic because he is your worst nightmare. The irony of it spurred Tobe to create Eru.
Avonome
Avonome’s title character has been created by Stanley Obende, Xavier Ighorodje writes and creates the world necessary for the character to thrive and MHB (Mud House Black) is the production company for the title.
The comic is inspired by 90s dark themed fantasy comic titles like Mike Mignolia’s HellBoy and the cult classic Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. Stanley sought to create a more African themed piece that represented our own myths and beliefs in a way that wasn’t mainstream hence her choice of gender – and then voila Avonome was born.
Hero Gen
Hero Gen is yet another comic from Tobe and the inspiration behind Hero Generation was recounting his secondary school days. He wanted to take that feeling and make a comic about it wherein there’s the max speed rich kid with severe anger issues, Power boy military brought up and solid as a rock, Nutech the geek who when he becomes Nutech is given a sort of release from the confines of his normal nerdy silent self.
Right now their main antagonist for Hero Generation is the H.I.V.E.S who are a group of terrorist rocking stolen super suits from NACSS (Jade waziri) and in the last issue (spoiler) they’re about to detonate a bomb “again” , the difference is the content of this bomb is linked to a folktale title and a certain sentinel of justice.
Ireti
Ireti is a female comic book character created by Balox who was inspired by Stanley Obende’s Avonome. He created Ireti in in 2012 wherein Stanley was the artist who designed her first look, and Balox had her origin story covered. Ireti was first seen in Eru #2 in 2014. By then, she had gotten a new costume created by Tobe Ezeogu and a new origin story put together by Tobe, his brother Ozo and Balox. The comic is going to become a series which will be released in episodes per week this year in the first quarter of 2016.
Aje
The creator of Aje (Witch) Martin and Wale. Martin came up the idea while walking down the streets of Lagos where he saw a lady selling Akara (a known Nigerian food made from grinded beans). He thought what if this lady had some secret spell and was bewitching everyone with it while she sells her goods? And tadaa! Aje wa born and was then redefined (after bouncing it off with Wale) to be a young lady with dual nationalities in a more urban setting but with similar powers. The twist in the story is that she can only cast her spell in Yoruba. The first title of Aje was released in May, 2015.
As for the future plans for Comic Republic and its titles, 2016 is going to be a fun rollercoaster as the team looks forward to forging more strategic alliances and releasing new comic titles and sharing a minimum of one comic every month. Owing to the success of Aja, there are talk about a motion picture deal on this character soon.