I don’t know if I’ve ever read a work of Afrofuturism before. I’ve read Octavia Butler, so maybe, but this, this takes things to the next level. It begins as some sort of Wakanda Forever fantasies but then it takes things further, in fact, it goes so far…
The sheer span of this book is hugely impressive. It literally takes the readers from the beginning to the end of time. In the beginning, there was life and life evolved into a proud African king and warlord who desperately wanted a legacy, a son. To this end, he took one and incurred a wrath of a witch and from that day on he wouldn’t die. Thus, he went on, outliving all he’d known and loved time and again, a one-man citadel traveling through centuries, witnessing grave injustices, wars, and progress. All the way into the distant future. All the way to the stars. And so, as a reader, you get to witness the entirety of the African experience, cradle to grave of civilization, as lived by one reluctant witness weighted down by his own immortality. It’s epic in the purest form of it, it is an epic. All presented in gorgeous art panels, something of a mashup of classic fantasy art and photorealism, with giant muscles and expressive faces, and stunning scenery. This story isn’t just entertaining (although it certainly is at that), it is exciting, emotionally engaging and thrilling. Presented quite succinctly by a sort of omniscient narrator, which is logical considering how much it has to cover, this story tackles so much, racial and gender inequality, war complex, all the repeatable offenders of the past, all the imaginable dangers of the future. It’s a story of Earth itself and its flawed and faulty denizens. There’s so much here and all so well done. I’m impressed. I really am. Nicely done. Recommended.
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December 2023
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