Some sites have said that the startup is part of a “renaissance” of made-in-Africa music, art and literature that is being noticed across the world, with over half of Comic Republic’s downloads from readers in the United States. The nine person team at Comic Republic has witnessed downloads of all its titles (which are published online) grow from just a couple of hundred when they launched in 2013 to over 25,000 today.
In a January interview, Martin said to Quarz: “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?” The startup, which is growing in popularity every day, is a sign that the African comic industry is making strides both at home and abroad. When the company first launched with their character Guardian Prime (said to be like a black Superman, according to Quartz), it was on the same day as the premiere for Man of Steel. These more modern characters aren’t the first to hit the African comic scene, however, as many South Africans will remember Mighty Man(distributed by Afri-Comics in 1975), a hero similar to Luke Cage, or Tessa, Kid Colt and even Afrikaans stories like as Die Swart Luiperd. The Chief Executive of Comic Republic, Jide Martin, founded the company in 2013 and has said that the superhero blockbusters of the past few years are partly responsible for the rise in comic book creation in Africa.
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