Let’s get comical; a fresh take on African story-telling

A group of Cape Town creatives is completely changing the game of story-telling, and more importantly, telling stories from the continent.

The team of authors are producing high quality comic books.

Their mission is to educate and entertain, inspire new narratives, build a diverse world and reshape the imagination of African storytelling.

The brains behind this concept are designer and author, Mokena Makena, and published authors, Palesa Lesaoana and Motlatsi Kane.

Lesaoana is the co-founder of a company named Coalsack Media, which is a literature-based entertainment company catering for children, teenagers, young adults and a mature audience.

"The stories covered in our comics are loosely based on historical events from the African continent, with a focus on South Africa and Southern Africa. Some of the topics covered include South Africa’s history, mining and migrant labour, as well as family, friendship and choices," she said.

They've been very busy this year, having published a comic titled Bishop Q, which got the green light from Exclusive Books, and will be on their racks in the coming weeks.

There’s no rest for the brilliant, because the trio is in the process of publishing another comic, Thabo Teeba Thabang, aimed at the younger generation.

The creative juices flowed freely in the production of Bishop Q and it's a project the group is particularly proud of.

Bishop Q maps the story of a young man who turned his back on his past, and hometown, and is living as an underground rap artist in a new city and territory. The past catches up with him and along the way he discovers powers that allow him to time travel.

"There is a lot of effort and time involved in the process. At one point I was just glad to be done and see the final product. But the excitement only came later, and it hasn't stopped since then,“ said writer Motlatsi Kane.

“Allan Moore says a magician is somebody who can create something, where nothing previously existed. So I would have to say the magic of seeing a finished product is the best part."

But where did the passion for comics begin?

"It came from a love of books, comics and general entertainment media,“ responded Kane.

"In the market there is definitely a shortage of African narratives and even the ones that exist need to be updated. The three of us come with already existing stories and material, so that is where we started. For brainstorming new ideas we identify target age groups and potential topics, and take it from there."

The comic Thabo Teeba Thabang will also be unleashed onto the world before the end of the year. Kane said it was for "the younger reader".

But wait, there's more. Next year sounds like it's going to be a big one for the group.

"Our 2022 plans include creating animation and publishing a graphic novel by Mokena," said Lesaoan, while Kane added: "We are currently working on the storyboarding of Wholvien Awakening, which is very likely going to be our first graphic novel."

The group is hoping that more people will consider comics as reading. "For younger people or people who would not normally pick up a book, I hope that the storytelling is compelling enough for them to pick up another comic book.“