African Comics: The Greatest Resources for Discovering this Treasure

Comic Republic is at the forefront of comic book publishing in Africa. The publisher is usually the first that comes up when discussing African comics. It’s very popular titles, like Guardian Prime, Avonome, Hero Kekere and Eru have cemented the publisher’s legacy as the definitive source for African comics.

You can read all of Comic Republic’s titles free of charge on their website. You can also download all the comics save for the most recent issues of Itan in either PDF format or CBR. Download African comic PDFs or read them online free at https://thecomicrepublic.com/readcomics.html.

Vortex Comics

Vortex Comics was on a roll until a terrible hacking incident torched their website and blog, making their content inaccessible. Like a phoenix, however, Vortex Comics has risen again, stronger and with new purpose. The company has relaunched its website, Vortex 247, on a subscription model (about $2.8/month), and aims to be the “Netflix of African comics, 24/7“, according to founder Somto Ajuluchukwu at a presentation during the Accra Animation Film Festival 2019.

Subscribe to Vortex247.

Peda Comics

Just like Comic Republic, you can read or download this publisher’s comics on their website free of charge. You can read all 7 published titles by Peda Comics, such as Showdown, Tekkids, Di Iche, Newborn Rise of the Mlezi at https://pedacomics.com/read-comics/

Collectible Comics

Collectible Comics is a relatively newcomer to the Nigerian comic scene. The publisher’s stories completely shy away from the superhero comic fervor that many other publishers like Vortex Comics and Comic Republic have embraced. Collectible Comics is even actively producing motion comic titled Man of the Law.

The publisher is running a model similar to Image Comics, where they allow the submission of creator-owned comics with owners retaining all rights to their books. You can do that at https://www.collectiblecomics.com.ng/series/

Full Circle Publishing

The award-winning African graphic novel from Ghana is available free of charge on the title’s website. You can download the entire volume or read individual chapters at http://lakeoftearsghana.com/volumes/.

TAG Comics

This publisher burst onto the scene in 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. In just one year, TAG Comics bagged a Nommo Award for their comic, Danfo. TAG Comics is wildly popular on social media where it shares some of its hit comics, Dafe, Friends & All of Mishima, Kpakow and Field of Champions. TAG has so far published a good amount of comics and continues to do so on a consistent basis.

Comic Blogs and Archives

Squid Mag

Whoop, that’s us! Squid Mag provides news, reviews and updates on the world of African comics, games and animation. From who’s creating what, to interviews, general comics, animation and gaming news, to awesome creations, to our aspirations for a fledgeling industry, Squid Mag is your go-to. If you’re looking for opinions on African creativity within these fields, look no further than us. Follow us on Threads and Twitter where we share new discoveries.

Comexposed

Google African comics and you might easily mistake Nigeria for Africa. That’s not at all a bad thing, it just shows Nigerian creatives are sharing their hard work more and everyone should take a cue. Right behind them is Zimbabwe championed by Comexposed. Comexposed is an art collective, a publisher and a hub for Zimbabwean ~~geek creativity~~ geektivity (I’m allowed to create words right?).

Comexposed showcases – both offline and online – what Zimbabwe has to offer and quite frankly, it’s a lot of needed diversity. Zimbabwean comics are spontaneous and don’t follow…focus KaDi. Check out Comexposed for all the Zimbabwean comic action you need in your life. Don’t forget to check out Comic Up Vol 2, a Zimbabwean comic anthology.

African Digital Art

African Digital Art (ADA) for short is a platform dedicated to digital art from Africa. This comes in all its forms, film, animation, graphic design, illustration and of course comics. While comics aren’t a central theme of the site, it’s a great place to discover new artists and the projects they’re working on. Check out African Digital Art.

BrainWavez

BrainWavez is a geek blog focusing on happenings in South Africa and neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. BrainWavez features interviews, reviews and events. It’s the go-to place for South Africans to find out about everything happening in the geek space.

Comic Bandit

The Blerdgurl

blerd.writer.fangurl

This will be an incomplete list without theBlerdgurl.com. The site is run by Karama, the black nerd girl (theblerdgurl). She highlights graphic novels, comic books, pop culture and more with a focus on work by globally underrepresented people, including people of colour.

Her work promoting African comics is divine. It is thanks to her that I’ve discovered some of the talents on the continent. In retrospect, her blog is possibly one source of inspiration to continue what we do here at Squid Mag. Get inspired by her manifesto and visit her website, you’ll love it!

Directories & Databases

Project Bahari – Database of African Comics, Animation, Video Games & More

Squid Mag is building an exhaustive database of comics, video games, animation, publishers, game development and animation studios, geek events, talent and other repositories. Our database, codenamed Project Bahari, will in simple terms, be the Google of comics, games, animation etc from Africa. It will showcase everything happening on the continent with all relevant links.

Take a look at Project Bahari, what we’re building over at database.squidmag.ink.

254 Comics

A digital distribution platform for African comic books dedicated to telling stories from all over the continent

The figure 254 is Kenya’s country code and also what defines this company. 254 Comics is a Kenyan digital distribution portal from where you can purchase African comics. The majority of comics on this site are from Kenyan creatives.

The comics are also reasonably priced. The biggest downside to this platform is the exclusion of Visa or Mastercard payment options. I personally can’t make any purchases because Ghana is blacklisted from Paypal’s services. Talk about a total buzzkill for digesting African comics. They do however offer mPesa and a way to pay using your airtime. If you’re a Paypal enabled country however, 254 comics is a great resource you should check out.

Comic Wox

Comic Wox started with an idea that if artists had one place to host their comics for free and with minimum stress, they would be proud to show off to their friends what they have created and eventually thousands of people will get to discover and appreciate their work.

With that in mind, Oluwaseyi Onibudo and his team launched Comic Wox as a platform where you can read African comics for free. In many ways, Comic Wox is just like Webtoons but for Africa.

Check out Comic Wox at http://www.comicwox.com/.

Amadiora

Amadiora is a platform which collects, edits, translates and promotes African and afro-drawn stories from across the world. It doesn’t discriminate on the origin of comics, rather, it focuses more on the content.

The team at Amadiora wants the term to be for Africa what Manga is for Japan and what a comic-book is for USA. Amadiora intends to create a new package of African and Afro stories which can reconcile all the drawing style of artists from Africa and the diaspora.

Check out Amadiora at https://amadiora.net/.

Comikly

Just like Comic Wox, Comikly is an independent platform hosting a wide collection of African comics.

Check out Comikly at https://comikly.com/

Apps

AfroComix

Leti Arts launched Afrocomix as a one-stop-shop for African comics, illustrated stories, animation and digital art.

Okadabooks

What is Okadabooks? “It’s a fast, simple and fun way to read books without ever leaving your couch! Send a text, choose a book, then download and start reading — it’s almost as easy as riding an Okada. It’s book reading, reinvented”. That’s according to the company’s website. Why it’s on this list? African comics of course!

True to their words, finding comics to read especially through the Okadabooks app is a breeze. It includes titles from Ayodele Elegba’s Spoof Studios, Comic Republic, Vortex and a few originals that have been remade. Journey your way to African comics in an Okada with Okadabooks.

Anthologies

ComicUp

Zimbabwe’s first anthology of comic books and for us at Squid, one of our first entry points into the Zimbabwean comic book scene. Comic-Up is an initiative by Comexposed that features stories from creators across the country. ComicUp is described by ComExposed (it’s publisher) as Zimbabwe’s premier anthology comic book, that brings together the best of Zimbabwean comics from multiple creators.

The first volume of ComicUp was published in 2015. You can find the latest issue at http://www.comexposed.com/product/comicup-vol4/.

Kugali

This startup is the database for everything comics from Africa and the African diaspora. It’s a database that’s populated by users and the Kugali team. It’s a great place to start looking for some of the best African comics this side of town. It offers a rating feature that will definitely help you discover the most beloved but might also sideline other great content that you might fall in love with. Jump into Kugali’s database and discover African comics you’ll dig!

Sam Graphico Anthology

To answer the question of whether or not that was any comic talent in Zambia, Sam Graphico put out a call for comic creators in Zambia. The result is the 32-page Sam Graphico anthology of Zambian comics. The first issue features comics from different creators including Mabvuto Comics, Black Hut Comics and Bill Masuku (with Welcome to Dead World) from Zimbabwe. It also features digital art from other Zambian creators like Grace Singogo who designed the cover. The first issue launched at Lusaka Comic-Convention and sold out during the course of the con in August.

Sector Comics

Sector Comics is a South African anthology of sci-fi comics. According to HTXT, SECTOR is a take on the classic ‘pulp’ comic format, in that it’s an anthology of short black and white stories – or ‘sectors’ – that span a variety of genres from sci-fi through to horror and each episode ties in to a larger narrative that will develop over the course of the project.

Other great places to discover African comics include Jepchumba’s African Digital Art, Comic Panel, the Uganda Cartoon Network and Folktales Moonlight. Comixology, Webtoons, Tapastic and Issuu are also fantastic resources but only when you know what you’re looking for, key in the right queries or have luck on your side. Oh, then there’s Facebook and the mother of all, Google!

This isn’t nearly an exhaustive list. Which ones did we miss and how else do you discover African comics? Share with us in the comments. Also, share this post with your friends and family who are hungry for African stories.

July 21.2022 Update: This post formerly included Kaboom.ng, a site that featured news, reviews and downloads of comics and comic scripts. That site has been down for almost 2 years. The update reflects the change.