COMICPANEL

THE NIGERIAN COMIC INDUSTRY:
A Candid Diagnosis by Ayodele Elegba

(INTRODUCTION)

Would you allow yourself to be diagnosed by a doctor who you are not sure of? Well I wouldn’t. I have asked myself this question even as I go on to diagnose our emerging comic industry which I believe is in a “still birth situation” waiting for some resuscitation from its various mid wives in the likes of comic makers and stake holders alike. So what gives me the audacity (not of hope) to diagnose this industry in such candid and into your face type that I hope to do in the remnant of this Seven or Eight Part write up?

Well with a true sense of modesty and humility (what I’m trying to say is that I still don’t know it all and anyways there where others like Wale Adenuga, Ikebe Super and Andy Ackman, Kaptain Africa who had gone ahead). I guess simply put, I’ve been in this industry long enough to do so with scars and medals to show. I mean I started to do comics PROFFESSIONALLY (not just reading) in 1998 when i joined ICstudios and co-created the comic title DARK EDGE. That’s like almost a decade…WOW. Any way, I also was responsible for the marketing of the three editions of the same Comic book spanning about five years and as such got a taste of what it’s like to publish and sell a comic book. I wouldn’t say I was totally successful doing all I did back then, if I did I am sure there wouldn’t have been a need for this article since all comic makers would in one way or the other still be benefiting from the work done, beside we would have had a bigger and stronger industry by now (10 years are you kidding me?). Yeah what I am saying is that it didn’t all go well back then because there where some factors (Villains) which I encountered back then that hindered me from achieving all my set goals. All of these challenges unfortunately, I regret to say, are still there today.

Apart from trying to push one of Nigeria’s “most famed” modern comic books, I have also worked either in close quarters consulting or as a mere hired gun with individuals and companies that had the desire to publish comics, some of them have faced these same challenges and afterwards closed shop while the dogged and still passionate ones continue to fight the battle believing that one day they will win the war. And off course you have the younger and newer players who desperately believe that they have the comic idea that would revolutionize the industry and consequently save Nigeria’s comic Dom. And finally again I have gone back into publishing and am currently back in the field and once again have fresh information on what the terrain is like. So I am not here to talk about research from 1998, I’m talking about fresh material, as fresh as me coming back home soaked in sweat and tired just yesterday trying to market COMICPANEL magazine.

All right, to close this first installment writing let me just itemize the challenges I faced in 1998 and still facing in 2009. If you are already publishing comics you should be familiar with them by now and for you trying to break in I’d suggest you pay close attention because there’s no use trying to pray that you wont face them because they are as real as corruption in Nigeria. These set of articles are not intended to scare you nor meant to suggest that we dont have one of the most financially rewarding industry in the world, this article is meant to step you down from the euphoria of emotions and bias for comics (as a mere lover of good art work) to the reality of comics as a business enterprise that has with it all the trappings of any business consortium. Here goes nothing:
1. The Content Factor
2. The Business of comics
3. Marketing and PR
4. Distribution or Circulation
5. Sales
6. The Island mindset (I can do it alone mentality)
This is not to suggest that these are the only problems warring against us, only that in my opinion if we as comic makers can get this basics right all other challenges would be easily surmounted. I’ve got to go now, my back aches like hell. Next time I’ll dig deeper into this challenges so we can understand our villains better and I promise to give you real life situations so you no what’s up. Till then, remember, now is the time...lets talk COMICS.