In April 2024, Oni Press will release Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods, a new three-issue mini-series from Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande.
Here is the series description from Oni Press:
In an age thought forgotten . . . when man, monster, and the divine all strode the Earth . . . a lone warrior emerges to test the immortality of the cruel gods who would deal destruction with impunity . . . He is a one-man reckoning that stands in defiance of his divine masters with a sword in hand and a thirst for godblood. His name: AKỌGUN THE BRUTALIZER!
Told across three powerfully oversized, bi-monthly chapters, steady your mind and spirit for a glorious new comics milestone revealing the fabled origin and battle-tested fury of the new champion at the heart of a daring new redefinition of swords and sorcery!
“Every generation or so, a new opportunity presents itself to shatter, and then slowly rebuild, the foundations of the mythic genre tropes that we hold dear and, in so doing, make them stronger than ever before. What Murewa and Dotun are creating with AKOGUN is one of those rare, special moments,” said Hunter Gorinson, President & Publisher of Oni Press in a press release. “For the first time, two Nigerian creators are recasting the distinctly Westernized mode of no-holds-barred barbarian-driven sword and sorcery storytelling through a distinctly African lens – capturing an entirely new pantheon of gods and monsters in the process.”
“According to Yoruba mythology, we were all made by a drunk god, and during one of his drunken stupor, he made horrific monsters also. The first of the gods to visit this new, twisted world was the erratic god of war,” said writer Murewa Ayodele in the same press release. “When we discovered this little bit of our culture’s mythology, we knew we wanted to tell a gritty fantastical story set in this primordial African world — a world of barbarous violence, monstrous creatures, and gods who give in to primal, destructive urges.”
“AKOGUN: BRUTALIZER OF GODS is the story of a warrior who happened to have found a little happiness in this dangerous world of ours. But when the gods took that happiness from him, they find out what a man who has nothing else to lose is truly capable of,” continued Ayodele. “Dotun and I are having loads of fun telling this adrenaline-filled tale. And with Dotun’s phenomenal artwork, the emotions from the pages drag you in. We are positive everyone who picks up the book is going to have fun with it too.”
What is interesting about this three-issue mini-series is the publisher is upping the page count to 40 pages for each issue, which seems to be a trend to watch for in the coming year. The other bit of information to take note of is this comic is releasing bi-monthly beginning on April 3, 2024. This is similar to the announcement Z2 Comics made recently regarding their prestige book. Is this a new trend as well?
