I interpreted âAfrica is the greatest ghostwriter of all timeâ wrongly the first time, thinking it alluded to the phenomena of having our narratives told by other cultures.
Dissecting the phrase further led to an epiphany that the continent is the foundation of many of the worldâs stories, many of such (remove second stories)stories that too often refuse to acknowledge her as their muse.
Looking at it again, this new understanding doesnât stray too far from the original. Other people are after all telling our stories while we take a most unprofitable backseat trunk rest.
I love comics at heart. I know this because Iâm online every day looking for them. But not the kind youâre thinking. Thereâs an overwhelming pool of content from established names like DC, Marvel
I scour the internet for entirely African created content and while there are quite a few, Iâve noticed a problematic trend. Nigeria has sort of become the locus of African comics, superhero titles anyway.
Iâm better
Yes,
There are the occasional stick figure illustrations and animations from Daniel Cokerâs LOL Gh and Nils Britwumâs Creo Concepts outfit, Louis Appiahâs Tales of Nazir animations and also work from Michael Lellatomâs Colossal Toons as well as Tobi Svanikerâs Chaskele but that still is lacking. Kiaski Donkorâs Ananse is in the works but with no definite timeline, the painful void remains.
There are so many stories to be told here, storytelling through comics and animation really is an untapped resource in Ghana (and the continent by extension).
Donât get me started on the âcomics/ animation is for childrenâ ramâs excrement of an anthem especially if youâre all crazy about flicks such as Batman and The Avengers.
A part of you might be screaming, âWhatâs stopping you from making your own comics?â Besides the fact that I canât draw, that truly is a brilliant question. What is stopping me? Iâm not as fluid a writer as I believe I have the potential to be but that mustnât stop me from whipping up a story and seeking out some of the talented illustrators to ink them.
I started something Iâve kinda lost faith in. Maybe Iâm scared or just canât find illustrators who share in my vision.
Whatever the case, the same question goes to you, whatâs stopping you from creating stuff youâre passionate about? Iâm not talking just comics, but any and everything.
And no, this isnât exclusive to Ghanaians. Even among the Nigerian creators taking charge of this beautiful art form, I feel there are too few stories. When can we as a people stop double checking content thatâs shoved down our throats for representation, our very own representation when we can just make our own stuff?
Itâs black history month and it annoys the hunger out of me that I keep coming up empty each time I google African comics outside Nigeria and South Africa. Itâs time we emerged from the obscurity of ghostwriting.
KaDi Yao Tay
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[…] Afrocomix is a comic reader app which allows users to read comics on their mobile devices for a fee. Subscribers to this service will have access to a wide variety of African oriented stories, art and short animations. It brings Africaâs rich mythology to life through an interactive platform and one could indeed say that they have successfully taken yet another step towards their philanthropic and storytelling goals. […]
[âŠ] someone who is not Central African to tell our story, it wonât work,â he insists. âI want to show the reality [âŠ]