Iwájú: Three Lessons From Kugali’s Disney Deal

You may have missed it but amidst the slew of new shows announced by Disney was the announcement that the entertainment behemoth has partnered with Kugali media, a comic book publisher founded by three friends of Ugandan and Nigerian descent.

Announcement of the collaboration arrived from Disney Animations official channels. It's been described as a 'first of its kind' and immediate work focus will be on delivering an adaptation of their comic book titled Iwájú, a loose translation of the Yoruba term for 'the future'.

The news itself is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Kugali themselves.

Win for Kugali

What makes the announcement so astonishing is that the deal arrives for the group at what is still an early stage in their development. Although their origins date back to 2015, they were officially founded in 2017 by the self-proclaimed comic book nerds Hamid Ibrahim, Tolu Olowofeyeku and Fikayo Adeola. As with many black creatives a key aspect to beginning their work was the desire to see themselves in graphical mediums which they had often been neglected by. In some ways there are ties to the creation of the AniMates podcast and even the recently heralded Cocoa magazine which began during the lockdown - consumers turned creators who are driven to change the landscape of their favorite genres with a view to catering them to a black audience. Nevertheless, to go from handing free comics for referrals in 2018 to a Kickstarter for the Kugali Anthology (i’d recommend the Raki edition) to a sci-fi series in under three years is incredible growth.

Win for Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism has always been difficult to bog down into one specific outlook because it pertains to many different things - but this is actually one of its biggest strengths. At its heart it lives at the crossroads of cultural and technological exploration and paints pictures of what this looks like in future settings. Naturally, as with Kugali, this tends to take us to off-beat sci-fi landscapes with depictions of African protagonists and mythology weaved through the centre of the plot. Ziti Nelson, co-founder at Kugali, paints this as being more than a mere creative exercise however.

"The idea was that in the science fiction genre there were hardly any black people. It was as though they were passing on this message that there were no black people in the future."

Cultural influence permeates different fields and the success of Afrofuturism for Kugali could have the effect of keeping the ball rolling elsewhere. Outside the comic strips the most visible example in the West in recent times has been the 2018 portrayal of Wakanda on the big screen.

This re-launched Afrofuturism into mainstream consciousness but its imprint in movies such as Afronauts and before that the Last Angel of History, as well as many more films means that what we're finally seeing is the result of the critical mass needed to take the field from the underground into wider success. Crucially though, Afrofuturism is more than far reaching sci-fi and escapism from present trials. It offers a visible way of imagining the future that those back home and in the African Diaspora hope to pave. We've long seen it in Literature and increasingly do so in fashion and music. This is one step forward in what has been and is a very long journey.

Hope Yet for Creatives

The very last point is that their success offers some hope for a number of black creatives who continue to work in their industries. The last year has put a strain on everyone mentally, physically and financially: from those working in animation, to publishing and elsewhere in the arts. The recent success of Kugali offers some hope that for those willing to take the risk and find the right funders and platforms to strike out on their own, there may be opportunity waiting in the wings.

Mayowa Ayodele

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