With great power comes great responsibility for new breed of African superheroes; 1/26/16

Agence France-Presse via The National; With great power comes great responsibility for new breed of African superheroes:

"Aje was created by Jide Martins, the founder of Comic Republic, one of a handful of start-ups that is developing African superheroes they hope can rival the likes of Iron Man, Batman, Superman and Spider-Man.

Unlike Storm, the popular character from Marvel’s X-Men, who is a dual citizen of the United States and the fictional African country Wakanda, the superheroes Martins brings to life are born and bred in Africa – and live and fight there, too...

“Ten years ago, if you released a superhero from Nigeria, I don’t think anybody would care,” says Okupe. “But now that it’s a popular industry, people want diversity.”

For scholars of comic books, the rise of African superheroes are an inevitable reaction to a predominantly white cast of caped crusaders.

“I think it’s long overdue,” says Ronald Jackson, co-editor of the 2013 book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation.

“As we begin to appreciate other identities, we’re going to become increasingly more embracing of the kind of images coming out of African comics."