Breathless, I stumbled forward, my worn brown leather sandal cracking against something hard. I froze. The sound was crisp, almost deliberate. My first thought: an unfortunate snail crushed beneath my heel. What else could it be in a forest like this? But I had neither the time nor the clarity of mind to dwell on broken shells. The forest stretched endlessly around me, thick with shadow and mystery, and my only concern was finding Agbabiaka. Without him, I was hopelessly lost.

The torchlight in my hand, a small solar-powered thing with a flickering beam, offered little comfort. Its light danced weakly on the forest floor, illuminating tangled roots and the occasional fluttering insect. My phone was useless; no signal, no Google Maps, just a black screen reminding me how far I was from the world I understood.

I had come from my university in Mauritius to document the legendary Idanre Hills in Ondo State, Nigeria. It was meant to be a homecoming of sorts. Born and bred in Nigeria, I’d long heard tales of this ancient land, stories straddling the line between history and myth. The most compelling for me was that of Agboogun, the mystical hunter whose hieroglyphic-like inscriptions still marked the rocks of Idanre. Egypt had hieroglyphics. Nigeria had Agboogun. And I was here to tell that story.

“Didn’t Agba say where he was going before he vanished?” Sharon’s voice broke the silence. Her Queen’s English clipped through the air, delicate but edged with panic. She was our cinematographer, blonde and pale, with a pointed nose and lips that were too pink to look real. She called Agbabiaka “Agba” because his name was, in her words, “a tongue twister.”

I shook my head. “He just said he’d keep watch through the night. That we should rest easy.”

Sharon had gone mute ever since we realised we were lost. She walked beside me like a shadow, silent, stiff, until now. Her voice carried a blend of accusation and despair.

“We shouldn’t have taken the shortcut. I said it, didn’t I?”

“You did,” I admitted. “But no one could have predicted the car would break down. With night falling fast, what choice did we have?”

She didn’t reply. She only shook her head, lips pressed thin.

We were supposed to be three: me, Sharon, and Marley, our Jamaican lighting technician, whose snoring could put thunder to shame. Marley was a deep sleeper. The kind who could sleep through an earthquake and wake only to ask if breakfast was ready. So, when we found Agbabiaka missing, we left him behind, thinking it would be a brief search.

But it wasn’t. We wandered deeper and deeper, the forest swallowing us whole.

“Wait,” Sharon whispered suddenly. “Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“Listen.”

I paused. The forest was alive with the sounds of crickets, rustling leaves, and distant hoots. But there, beneath it all, was something else. Faint, then louder. The cry of a baby.

I felt sweat break across my forehead. The night was cold; the sweat wasn’t from heat.

“A baby?” Sharon asked, almost to herself.

As a boy in the Nigerian countryside, I’d been fed on tales, stories passed down by candlelight, voices hushed, eyes wide. The bushbaby was one such tale. In Yoruba, they called it Egbere: a creature that cried like an infant, roamed the forest at night, and carried a mystical mat. Steal the mat, and you’d become instantly rich. Fail, and you’d be devoured.

Science told me it was just a Galago, a shy primate with large eyes and nocturnal habits. But science wasn’t here now, the stories were.

“We need to help the baby,” Sharon said.

“There’s no baby,” I said flatly.

“What do you mean?”

I grabbed her hand. “We need to go.”

She resisted, confused. “But…”

“No time to explain.”

We ran. Or rather, I ran, dragging her behind. The cries grew louder, surrounding us. Then Sharon tripped, crashing to the ground with a yell of pain.

“Can you get up?” I asked, turning the torch to her.

“My ankle… I think it’s sprained.”

“Are you serious?”

“Why would I joke about this?” she snapped.

I helped her up, slinging her arm around my shoulder. Her steps were limp, but we had to keep moving. The cries were now everywhere, echoing through the trees.

Then we saw it.

Sharon screamed. I froze.

In the beam of my torchlight stood a creature, if one could call it that, beside the thick trunk of a towering Iroko tree. It was feeding…on a human leg. Blood pooled beneath it. The body was unmistakable.

Agbabiaka!

The thing looked up. Bulging, pupil-less eyes. Fangs glinting with fresh blood. Clawed fingers like hooked machetes. Its skin was the colour of sunburnt earth, stretched tightly over a distended belly. It hunched, like the weight of its evil had bent its spine, and it cried, not like a monster, but like a baby.

Sharon screamed again. The creature turned.

Time stopped.

Then…

A sharp kick jolted me.

I blinked. Agbabiaka stood before me, smiling, dressed in a bright adire fabric. “Akanni, everyone’s ready. I’ve checked the oil and water. The car’s good to go.”

I looked around. No forest. No monster. Just daylight and the smell of fried plantain drifting from a roadside stall.

“We’ll take some shortcuts,” Agbabiaka added, “get to Idanre Hills before noon.”

I stared at him, the pieces falling back into place, the dream, the shortcut, the bushbaby.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

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While countless creative works had gone ahead in the past, the globally acclaimed Black Panther movie instantly became a hit, opening a door to a completely new world of possibilities for African creative works. Its phenomenal feats are too numerous to recount. For one, it became the first comic book and superhero film to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards, as well as the first film in the MCU to win an Academy Award. Though directed by Ryan Coogler who also co-wrote it with Joe Robert Cole, both black Americans, however, the work ushered in a golden age for “African” works. The movie did not only gross over $1.3 Billion worldwide, it equally broke numerous box office records, including the highest grossing film by a black director and broke twitter record for the most tweeted about movie of 2018, recording five million tweets as at February 12, 2018! It however did not stop there; it went on to surpass the Titanic to become the third highest grosser at the US Box Office. I have often wondered what made this phenomenal work stand out in the way that it did, there must be something.  In a panel of experts round table, at the American University of Beinut’s (AUB) West Hall where the Black Panther’s global influence was discussed, panelist Malek Jaofar, a Media Studies graduate at the university, gave a rare insight to this. In his express words, he said, “Black Panther cannot be dismissed as just another blockbuster Hollywood Film or comic book film. It has so much to offer especially in terms of representation of blacks and people of color on the big screen.”

A couple of years after the emergence of the record-breaking Black Panther movie, where has the awakening left the African creative industry? Was the golden age of the industry merely a hype that disappeared the same way it appeared, more like a flash in the pan effect? I don’t have all the answers, but one thing is certain, this phenomenal movie ignited something, it sparked an influence that would not go away anytime soon, not even in a couple of years. Late last year, the internet literally broke, when the news circulated that entertainment giant, Disney, had hinted about a collaboration with a Pan-African Entertainment entity, Kugali Media, founded by creatives from Nigeria and Uganda. The news spread like wildfire as Nigerian Creatives soon began to accept the reality that authentic African content ranked high on the international scene. The creative marriage between Disney and Kugali would be a first of its kind collaboration as the two would create an all-new, science fiction series coming to Disney Plus in 2022. The title of the highly anticipated work, “Iwaju” is in the Yoruba language, it simply means “The future” and is set in futuristic Lagos. The work trended massively in December, 2020 and gave the African Creative Industry a good image projection in the media. In a way, the news again amplified a world of possibilities for African creative works already heralded and ushered in by the Black Panther movie. When one of the visionaries of Kugali was interviewed about this milestone, he had this to say, “Most of what you find out there in Africa is being told by non-Africans, and it is crucial to us that Africans tell their stories.” I cannot agree less. This had been one of the contentions of the late legendary African writer “China Achebe” about the need for Africans to tell their own stories.

Though a lot of people are unaware that Iwaju would not be the first African story pitch to get Disney’s attention. 2018, the same year the Black Panther movie was released to the big screen, Disney made public the news of an African fairytale story about an African princess “Sade” they intended to embark on. The story revolved around the protagonist, Sade, who through the help of newly developed magical powers, saved her Kingdom. Sadly, since the announcement by the entertainment giant, nothing has been heard again about the project. Iwaju, we are convinced will certainly not go this route but beyond all these, this is to tell us that the rise of the African Creative industry is certainly not a mirage, it is an unfolding reality that is fast emerging and it is evolving faster that we realize. This cuts across both the comic and the animation industries, which is our key focus here.

There is no denying that the question had erupted before now that how can you tell an African creative work? What is the “African-ness” in a creative work? I will tactically not dive into this ocean of controversy because it is really not necessary. An authentic African work, comic or animation is easy to tell the same way our stories and culture are so easy to identify. Unlike before when African creatives might not rate their works so high, authentic African work now has huge potentials on the global space and the sooner African creatives wake up to this the better for them. There is something that intrigues the West about the uniqueness of our culture and way of life. Bolanle Austen-Peters, a Nigerian frontline creative in a class of her own, taking stage plays to a completely different level, told CNN on the set of her African stage play classic, “Oluronbi”, “I want us as Nigerians to own culture, to use our culture to buy our influence in the world. Our culture is powerful and it is important we begin to see this as a commodity.”

I really cannot finish this piece at a stretch as much as I love to. I am trying to avoid unnecessarily long articles. I personally run away from such myself often times. I still have two or three more creative works to x-ray. This I shall do when I get the opportunity to sit down and type again. On this particular article, a plate of Nigerian Jollof rice, peppered chicken and a glass of fresh juice gave me huge motivation to type, chuckles. So, till next time when I get to continue this piece and probably finish it, cheers!

Ayo Makinde is the visionary of comicsDI

He writes from Abuja, Nigeria.

The post THE RISE OF THE AFRICAN CREATIVE INDUSTRY: A MIRAGE OR AN UNFOLDING REALITY? (Part 1) appeared first on Comicsdi.

The 2019 geek event was a three day event which took place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September, 2019. For the first time in the history of the event the con took place simultaneously in two venues: the Silverbird Galleria and the Alliance Francaise, Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos. The event, a brainchild of Musterseed Limited with Mr Ayodele Elegba as the Arrow Head was sponsored by Fearless Energy Drink and Alliance Francaise. I personally thought the turnout at the grand finale of the event on Saturday would be drastically reduced due to the fact that the event had been ongoing for two days previously in two separate venues. I was wrong. The crowd on Saturday the 21st September, 2019 was explosive. Though the day started quietly and as at 11am things were still at a very low key and I could barely feel the vibes. But within a very short time Alliance Francaise transformed into a Mecca of some sort with comic geeks flooding the venue of the event. There were a good number of vendors at the event too, featuring the who is who in the growing creative industry: Vortex made a major grand appearance after disappearing from the comic scene for a long while. The fast raising star of the industry “Epoch Studios” was not left out. Their stand was continually bubbling with fans that clamored to purchase their own copy of an Epoch Comic book.  Also, among the vendors at the event was the ground breaker “Youneek Studios”, Peda Studios, Shadow Black and a host of others. Though I however did not see the stand of the towering giant of the industry “Comic Republic” even though a number of dudes in the signature vest of the comic brand were spotted at the event.

One of the most engaging aspects of the Con for me was the panel sessions. They were insightful and very revealing. Every forward thinking brand CEO and creative geek that attended either the master class session or the general session will agree with me that these powerful sessions were more than worth it. A few high points at the event blew me off completely and made a daring statement in the industry. One was the Spoof session were creative geeks had the first hand opportunity to view the short animation work produced by Spoof titled “ Hero Corps”. The 2D Animation work actually got two standing ovations from the marmot crowd in the hall! Agreed, they succeeded in blowing people’s mind. The voice overs and audio quality of the animation was nothing short of amazing. Another high point at the event was the premiere of the ground breaking Malika 3d animation short film produced by the phenomenal Youneek Studios in conjunction with Anthill Studios. I had previously seen Mr Roye Okupe, the CEO of Youneek Studio before the premiere and told him I could not miss the premiere for anything at the event. The crowd that thronged the entrance of the viewing hall only reminded me of the crowd at the film house the day I went to watch one of the most anticipated film of the year “Avengers-ENDGAME”. Malika lived up to the hype. The images were beautiful to the eyes. The quality of the animation lived up to international standard making a clear statement that regardless  of the limitation that bedevils this African environment of ours we can live above it and produce something world class. Kudos to the brilliant minds at Anthill and Youneek Studios. Despite how thrilled creative geeks were however, at the back of my mind I kept asking, “hope the creative industry here in Nigeria is ready for the emergence of the animation industry and do we really appreciate the level of work that goes into making animation?”. It is no longer news that one of the greatest challenges of the creative industry is funding and making even a short animation the likes of Malika requires millions of naira. We were thrilled and mesmerized by Commotion Studio’s Sango:The Dawn of Thunder last year but at the moment we are still waiting on the mega project. We have the skills, we have the brilliant minds but are we ready for the emergence of the animation industry? Will creative minds that are pumping money into such ventures be able to eventually recoup their huge investments? Will there be enough funding to expand projects like these in the days to come? What does the future hold in a place like Nigeria for high budget projects such as animation? I have followed the animation sphere in Nigeria with keen observation. Before now there has been amazing works produced by the leader labels in the budding animation industry. The rib cracking Skelebe animation by Quandron Studios, Frogeck produced by Anthill Studios and of course how can I forget mind blowing animations like SIM and PLAYMATE by the amazing Eri Umusu of Anthill Studios. Regardless of this, the worrisome thing for me is whether the effort put in by these creative geniuses translate into substantial cash that makes up for all the sweat and sleepless night put into all these landmark animation projects.

The event gradually wrapped up with the Cosplay session and the Fist award night to reward excellence in the comic scene.  The Cosplay session this year received some of the most exciting characters from the Marvel and Dc Universe. We had the likes of Thor from the MCU, Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales from “Through the Spider Verse” and the psychopathic Joker from the Dc Universe all joining the Cosplay competition and bedazzling fans. At the end Mr Joker carried the day with a winning price of a cool N100,000.00 presented by representatives of the event’s sponsors “Fearless Energy Drink”.

The Fist Awards eventually wrapped up the huge event with best writer and illustrator going to KBS Studios: Kelly Kalu winning  best writer while Chima Kalu won for best illustrator. Queen Malika did not leave empty handed as “Malika fallen Queen” won for the best packaged comic. Epoch Studios did not fail to appear in the spotlight again as they cleared three awards straight: Best cover for AEGIS episode 5, best colorist won by Tarella Pablo for Seraph episode 4, and Comic book of the year for their comic “Prophecy”. The best studio of the year however went to KBS Studios while PEDA Studios won  Neophte award for their comic “Mbuze”.

So, while I thought the 2018 Con will remain the peak for a long time, the Fearless Lagos Comic Con, 2019 actually broke the previous record set by the 2018 Lagos Comic Con! In a way, the Fearless Lagos Comic Con is the dawn of greatness for the industry, from here, expect some quantum leaps by the industry that will create new records of greater achievements!

Ayo Makinde is the CEO of comicsDI,

He writes from Abuja.

Inked art is the cover art of Duro, an African Mythological Comic by ComicsDI.

The post THE FEARLESS LAGOS COMIC CON, 2019: THE DAWN OF GREATNESS appeared first on Comicsdi.