NEWS POST: A Nigerian Comics Startup Is Creating African Superheroes

Africa's Avengers? (Comic Republic)

Comic Republic, a Nigerian comics startup based in Lagos, is creating a universe of superheroes for Africans and black readers around the world. The cast of characters—”Africa’s Avengers” according to some fans—ranges from Guardian Prime, a 25-year old Nigerian fashion designer by day who uses his extraordinary strength to fight for a better Nigeria, to Hilda Avonomemi Moses, a woman from a remote village in Edo state who can see spirits, and Marcus Chigozie, a privileged but angry teenager who can move at supersonic speeds.

“I thought about when I was young and what I used to make my decisions on: What would Superman do, what would Batman do? I thought, why not African superheroes?” Chief executive Jide Martin, who founded the company in 2013, told Quartz. Its tagline is, “We can all be heroes.”

(Comic Republic)

The startup may be a sign that comics are having a moment on the continent as well as in a market once said to lack interest in African-inspired characters. The nine-person team has seen downloads of its issues, published online and available for free, grow from a couple hundred in 2013 to 25,000 in its latest release last month as the series has become more popular. Comic Republic plans to make money from sponsorships and advertisers.

So far, companies have asked Comic Republic to create comics for their products and NGOs have asked for help illustrating public health risks like malaria. The head of one of the country’s largest e-commerce outfits, has asked for a portrait of himself rendered as a superhero. The story of one the characters, Aje—Yoruba for “witch”—may be made into a movie by a local filmmaker. Another edition of Guardian Prime’s story is scheduled for this month.

The startup is part of what some say is a renaissance of made-in-Africa music, literature, and art that resonate beyond the continent. Over half of Comic Republic’s downloads are from readers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and a scattering are from other countries like Brazil and the Philippines. About 30% come from Nigeria, according to Martin. Lagos now hosts an annual Comic Con for the comic and entertainment industry. Kenya hosted one for the first time in 2015.

The comic book industry has potential in Africa in part because of the popularity of superhero-themed films, Martin points out. His company launched with Guardian Prime, “a black Superman,” he says, on the same day as the 2013 premiere of Man of Steel.

(Kwezicomics)

Other African characters have already emerged. A popular South African comic, Kwezi, or “star” in Xhosa and Zulu, created by designer and artist Loyiso Mkize, follows a teenage superhero in Gold City, a metropolis imagined after Johannesburg. The comic, which features plenty of local slang and cultural references, is a “a coming of age story about finding one’s heritage,” according to Mkize. Nigerian animator Roye Okupe’s graphic novel, E.X.O: The Legend of Wale Williams released in August, is meant to “put Africa on the map when it comes to telling superhero stories,” according to Okupe.

Comic Republic’s universe of heroes differs from its Western peers in other ways. Of the nine characters created by Comic Republic, four are women, which Martin believes is a reflection of the fact that women are active in politics and business circles. “Today’s Nigeria, we’re very indifferent to whether someone is a man or woman. I wouldn’t say there was any strategic decision. It’s just a way of life for us,” he said.

Beyond battling evil and saving the day, the comics are meant to show how individuals can come together to provide for a “better safer Africa,” chief operations officer, Tobe Ezeogu said in November.

That message appears to be getting across to some readers. One fan wrote on Comic Republic’s Facebook wall of its flagship character, Guardian Prime, “My favorite quote [by him]: ‘All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to stand by and do nothing. I won’t stand by. I am Nigerian.’ I’m not Nigerian, but heroes are going to help the youth and stimulate patriotism.”

Originally published in Africa Quartz 

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Meet The Canadian Teen Who Won US$75,000 For Inventing A System To Keep Germs From Spreading On Airplanes

Raymond Wang won the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair on Friday. (Kathy Wolfe/Intel)

Canadian student Raymond Wang, 17, won the world’s largest high school science competition on Friday, taking home the top prize of US$75,000 for inventing a new way to keep germs from spreading in airplane cabins.

“It’s very exciting. I absolutely did not expect it,” Wang said by telephone from Pittsburgh, host city for the finals of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. “It’s literally the happiest day of my life.”

Wang started thinking about the problem of disease transmission on airplanes in December, after a steady stream of news about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Ebola is not spread through the air, he learned, but other contagious diseases — including the H1N1 “swine” flu virus and SARS virus — are spread through the air.

And that’s a problem in the cramped confines of airplane cabins, where everyone is breathing everyone else’s air.

As Wang puts it: “With the traditional cabin, what’s happening is you’ve got two large, turbulent swirls happening. You’re spreading disease across the rows and longitudinally.”

Can you say that more plainly? “When someone sneezes, there’s a mess everywhere.”

Here’s Wang’s video simulation of airflow in a “traditional cabin,” i.e. the cabin that we’re all subjected to when we fly now and his simulation of airflow in a cabin modified with his device:

Watch traditional and modified plane airflow simulations(0:21)

Wang said he decided to tackle the problem when he discovered that few people in the airline industry were actively working on ways to improve the quality of airplane air.

He created high-resolution simulations of airflow inside the cabin of a commercial aircraft — a Boeing 737, to be specific. And then he used those simulations to design fin-shaped devices that fit into the airplane’s existing air inlets.

The fins redirect the airflow, creating virtual walls of air around each passenger. Each person gets what Wang calls a “personalized ventilation zone” where sneezes are vanquished, pushed out of the cabin before they can spread in a turbulent burst.

His invention would improve the availability of fresh air in the cabin by 190 percent, he said, and would reduce the concentration of airborne germs by 55 times. Wang estimates that it would cost $1,000 per airplane and could be installed overnight, making it easy and economical for airlines.

And yes, he’s already filed an application for a patent.

Wang is clearly not your average high school student. He did his project not for class but on the side, and he learned what he needed to know pretty much on his own, he said. “This year I had to pick up from scratch computational fluid dynamics,” he said. “I kept going with it, watching some videos, looking at some papers.”

This is Wang’s first win at Intel’s big international fair, but it isn’t his first invention. He also invented a device that generates electricity from the impact energy of rain falling on roofs, as well as a self-cleaning outdoor garbage can. Now finishing his junior year in high school, he says he wants to study engineering and business in college.

“It’s one thing to be able to come up with these great ideas, but another thing to be able to promote them to the entire world,” he said.

Wang said he has long dreamed of competing in Intel’s international fair, and the experience has lived up to his expectations. “Basically a lot of this work is master’s or PhD-level research, and to see so many people sharing the same passions all gathered in one place, coming from across the world, is a very surreal experience,” he said.

Wang and his fellow science fair finalists are not above selfie sticks. (Kathy Wolfe/Intel)

Two runners-up each received US$50,000. They included Wang’s fellow Canadian, Nicole Ticea, 16, who developed an inexpensive, disposable and electricity-free HIV-testing device for use in low-income communities. Ticea has already founded her own company to continue developing her technology.

Karan Jerath, 18, of Texas, was also a runner-up. Jerath refined a device to allow an undersea oil well to recover after a blowout.