New Africa Benson strip has gone live. Click the thumbnail on the left or click the link here.
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Posts Tagged ‘nigeria’
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Second issue of the Africa Benson comic strip.
Hope you all like it!
Hi all, just got word from my friend and fellow writer Niyi Adeniji that he has been hard at work at completing his first graphic novel.
In order to help me get some word out and hopefully help him build some hype for it (I hope!), he has offered to give me artwork and an interview in the coming weeks of his book.
So, first up, character design sketches.
All, I really know so far about the book is that it is called “Versus” and the art is by Dayo Animashaun.
Enjoy!
I almost forgot about this!
So, Pax Nigeriana volume one, has finally gone on sale. I wrote about it on this blog before and what I said still stands. It is definitely one of the best Nigerian comics I have read and one of the most mature too. It deals with an alternate Nigeria in which different choices made during the civil war could have lead to a better country for all of us. Well, that’s what I gathered upon reading the free issues on their website, but I am pretty sure there will be some twists in there.
Anyway, like I said earlier, volume one is out on sale now.
I haven’t bought my copy, but as soon as I do, I will probably be reviewing it for the blog. Of course, you shouldn’t wait for me. Have a look at the free issues on their website, and I’m pretty sure you would be tempted to pick up volume one.
So, go out there and support Nigerian comics!
Our president is dead. He died last night from his illness which had plagued him for quite a long while.
It’s quite a tragic end to a story that at its heart is probably more a commentary of the dangers of being cowed into doing something you shouldn’t be doing than it is about evil or anyone getting their commeupance.
Of course, like I said over on the facebook page, very few people really know what happened in the last few months of President Umaru Yar-adua’s life and it would just be idle musings and well, I don’t think it is worth it. Suffice to say, may his soul rest in peace and we in Nigeria carry on in peace too.
On a more cheerful note, I have uploaded three desktop wallpapers for your viewing and downloading pleasure. They are on the flickr page and the facebook page as well. So you can pick them up from either of those. For some reason the Africa Benson ones are not the full size they’re supposed to be, but as soon as I sort that out, I will do an update making sure everyone knows.
Let me know which one(s) you guys and girls like ok?
I almost forgot about posting this.
Ayodele Elegba of Comicpanel told me about a writing workshop that they are hosting over at the Excellence Hotel in Ogba, Lagos. If you are interested, an image of the flyer is below containing all of the information you need.
Looks like it could be useful even if only for potential networking possibilities.
Hi guys, so as I am sure you figured out, I decided to wait before posting up the first page of Ozidi: Of Bone and Metal (from now on written as Ozidi: OBOM). Since I didn’t put it up, I will give you another sneak peek into another one of the comics that we have on the horizon – Africa Benson. So, below is a page breakdown from one of the issues of the comic book.
Artwork is by Shobo Coker.
Next up is more character design artwork from *drum roll* Killing Days!
Bet you thought I had forgotten about that one abi? Well, below you’ll find character sketches of a preliminary version of the leader of the Days, Bloody Sunday and another one of them called Broken Thursday.
Artwork by Chika Nwose.
Hi all,
I know you’ve been waiting patiently for some more news to drop about our upcoming titles. Well, here’s a nother morsel for you. A detail of a panel from Ozidi: Of Bone and Metal.
I am currently debating whether or not to go live with this comic yet. You will find out tomorrow.
Character designs from our third title that’s currently in the works. It’s called Monster Boy.
All artwork here is by Shobo Coker and it is going to be written by Bibi Green, Tony Ukpo (Jr.) and myself, Yegwa Ukpo.
So, with that, you guys and gals have been given sneak peeks into all the titles that we have in the works. As we work on getting them ready for your consumption, I will probably be updating the blog with more artwork and page layouts to continue whetting your apetite.
Stay tuned to the blog!
Well, since I am in a generous mood, I have decided to offer you gentle readers with a sneak peek of some of the other stuff we are working on.
This is a preview of a panel from the new Africa Benson series. This is been drawn by Shobo Coker and written by me.
Look forward to some more sneak peeks (possibly including some character designs from our third title!).
Was discussing with Nsikak Ifet, the artist on Ozidi: Of Bone & Metal about possible colours and colour schemes for the comic title. We were testing a few different colours and approaches to the book. In the process I got excited and possibly a little carried away, making him place the character and do some colour work on him in photoshop.
Afterwards, I grabbed the file and put in some finishing touches to bring what you guys see now.
Depending on how the rest of the colour tests go, you should be seeing a VERY interesting looking comic once it comes out (God willing!).
Think of this as one of the many possiblities. 
Stein by Kenneth Coker
Kenneth Coker graces us with two new pieces of character art for the comic he is working on with his brother, Shobo Coker.
He is definitely getting a hell of a lot better and I can’t wait to see the finished product from the both of them.
You can check out the other piece of character art here as well as find out more about them.
Black Thunder #1
So, I mentioned Black Thunder in my earlier post talking about getting comics out into the marketplace.
In retrospect, I may have assumed too much about its publisher’s aims and motivations, but I still feel it is something that stands out for me in terms of the energy and spirit of independent publishing and comic book creation.
Now, Black Thunder is not unique in the Nigerian comic space for having a colour cover and black and white interiors. After all, the BEEF Teaser comic (which I spearheaded in 2005), Dark Edge and even the original Pandora had the same thing (although in Pandora it was only one of the stories that was in black and white). No, what makes Black Thunder unique is the fact that they made it to issue #5 over a period of 5 years and (this may be more subjective) the amount of energy they manage to cram into each and every single page.
The panelling and indeed the drawings too are quite good some of the time and even though there are some consistency problems with the artwork and the script could use some more stringent editing, I really believe that as these guys continue, they will keep getting better and better at their craft.
The story itself is nothing unique in entertainment of any media – Father dies passing on responsibility to son who reluctantly (at first) carries on with the torch. – this in itself is nothing bad of course, it’s all in the execution after all. This is where it is both hit and miss for me.
Despite the villains being your standard thug stereotypes, they actually pose a credible threat to our hero. I actually liked this as superhero comics in general always seem to paint the generic thug/minion as nothing but cannon fodder for our hero(ine)’s powers and/or abilities. It is refreshing to see thugs that are a threat to a title character, even one with powers. I would even go as far as saying that most of the best scenes in the comic involve the thugs that Black Thunder fights.
On the other hand some of the details of the origin story are a bit rough and could have probably been handled with more ingenuity. I am also not a fan of the costume itself (and how it manifests), but I guess it works within its genre (superhero comics).
The main thing that this comic really does well and the reason I singled it out to mention before is the fact that it really has heart. Most of the Nigerian comic books I have read since coming back to the country lack a certain je ne sais quoi. The sense that you are reading something that its creator really put a lot of sweat and emotion into. Not to say of course that no other Nigerian comic has done this before (actually, I would argue that Pax Nigeriana has a lot of heart too), but the fact that this basic (so far) superhero story has been put out there with such spirit is something to be commended.
This should only be the beginning for Meggo Comics and they should constantly be looking at ways to improve on their work.
If we had 2 or 3 more publishers putting out books like this on a frequent basis, we would definitely have a lot more industry than we have now.