Awakening The Creative Storm

Awakening The Creative Storm (part one)

Sewedo Nupowaku, the head of Revolution Media Limited, a media and entertainment company in Surulere, Lagos is passionate about comics. “When I see people who tumble their noses at comics,” Sewedo declares, “I turn my noses at them and say, ‘These folks don’t even know anything!’” He takes us through the hassles of comic business in Nigeria, the ironic role of government in starting a business, and optimistically, what the future has in stock all in this no-holds barred interview with Ayodele Elegba and Wole Adeoye.

CP: How long have you started this journey?

Well, I don’t know how to recount the genesis but I do know we were registered officially under a business name, Evolution Media in 2001 though we didn’t do anything ‘ground breaking’ (I use that humorously) until 2003 when we did our Moremi show. We were a bit ambitious (myself and my partner, Ayo Arigbabu) –we really wanted to rule the world and we did what we might and we had some positive reviews including from The Guardian.

Before then, we have been pushing a number of things – comics and the rest, so last year (January 2007) we became a limited liability company.

What are the challenges of running such a media outfit?
The truth is: first of all, we live in a third-world country and one of the pivotal things that show a country is third-world is that a lot of endeavours in there are not too developed, so to speak. So, we grappled with the very idea of being in such a country where a lot of things aren’t that developed –infrastructure, financial system and other basic stuff. However, in such a country, people most often than not are preoccupied with the lowest rung of the Marxillonian Pyramid, that is, [concerned with] the basic physiological needs of food, shelter, and clothing. And usually, things like entertainment are not exactly people’s cup of tea.

But in all these, we foresee that the entertainment industry itself is developing and the potential is there. Look at what is happening in our music industry. So, we hope that for comics, animations and the rest, this will happen and we are determined to be at the forefront, pioneering an explosive kind of growth in acceptance and awareness. (And that’s why we are embarking on Action TV to drive comics and animations.)

The reward has really been minimal. A lot of people are still struggling. The challenge of distribution and funding for comics can be very fundamental. Apart from the South Africa-produced Super Strika, there’s really no consistently produced comic magazine in Nigeria. The challenges are huge: logistics, funding, distribution, and even getting the right hands. However, the reward is that you can almost taste and touch the future –some sort of creative storm coming. But this is the time for hard work, due diligence, creativity and innovation.

How do you maintain balance having left a ‘paying job’ to set out on your own?
Well, I’ve not really worked for so many companies. My first job was as a web-designer with an internet service provider (now named Prodigy); my second job was working as a copywriter and chief service manager with an advertising agency (Blue Seal); and went on to co-found a design agency called DNA Communications Alchemist (along with the publisher of M2 Magazine) and after a while we had to move on. From there I went to work as the creative director of a communications consultancy called Xcelerate and eventually became client service manager on the MTN account (we were actually taking care of their Public Relations).

So, in between working at these places, I wanted to concentrate on myself and I wanted to live my dreams. The truth is everyone will take a gamble [when you set out] and it’s always far better to be your own man. When you work for someone, it’s just an apprenticeship period –a rite of passage so that you get contacts; know how things work; have mentors, and when you own your company you too will become a mentor, a facilitator to people who are not actually expected to be with you forever.

Your experience doing cartoons, comics and the carnival

Frankly, it’s been great. I’m very passionate about comics and I’m the type that when I see people who tumble their noses at comics, I turn my noses at them and say, “These folks don’t even know anything!” because from time to time, I see these same people who turn their noses at comics go and watch the movies and they say, “Oh! Look at that!” But I feel there’s no big deal about what you are seeing. We’ve seen these comics when we were six years old, for God’s sake. When they see Venom in SpiderMan3 they feel ‘wow’ but I read my first Venom comic when I was eight or nine and I had said ‘wow’ way back. I also noticed that usually a lot of my folks who read comics seriously might not necessarily become geniuses but their grasp of the spoken word, their grasp of creative themes and elements is very high, and they tended to be mavericks in their way of thinking. They became very unconventional although some stopped reading comics because of issues of pricing and issues of themes (and frankly, even in the books we read our taste changes as we grow).

So, I’m very passionate about comics and feel I should facilitate people getting to know the joys of comic book reading. It is a fantastic medium, because more than anything else, over a book it has the strength of visuals. (Now, I’m reading Bourne Identity and the author is talking about the cobble stones on the street of Paris. I live in Surulere; there are no cobble stones for God’s sake. How am I going to know what cobble stones are? But in a comic book I can see what cobble stones are, and still enjoy the narrative.) And where comic even has something over movie is because in a comic book you can articulate anything visually which, if you are going to do that in a movie, it will take millions of dollars in computer generated imagery (CGI).

So, comic is cheaper, visually more entertaining and satisfying method than any other medium, and of course, [comic] comes in different genres –romantic-based, comedic, action-packed comic books and those that deal with mysticism. Moreover, comic books have ways of dealing with serious subject matters that you won’t believe. Such issues ranging from poverty, rape, identity, etc. And that has been the idea behind the Comics & Cartoons Carnival. It’s meant to bring people together to discuss, exhibit, show and buy a whole lot of things. Generally, have fun and get something out of it.