Classic Sword & Sorcery stories are usually set in Medieval kingdoms with plenty of dragons, wizards, and warriors from European traditions.
Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande switch this up in their new Sword & Sorcery title Akogun: Brutalizer of the Gods, which is equal parts Robert E. Howard’s Hyperborea, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Mighty Thor, and African mythology.
The first issue of their three-issue prestige format series from Oni Press releases on April 3, and we were able to talk to the writer/artist duo about their influences and the incorporation of Yoruba mythology into their highly-entertaining series in this exclusive interview.
Where did the idea to combine Yoruba mythology with classic sword and sorcery genre tropes come from?
Murewa Ayodele: It just felt like the natural thing to do. Dotun and I are Yoruba and we love the Yoruba myths – from creation stories that insist the world was made by a drunk god to folktales about creatures who are just heads but borrow body parts to seduce their victims. So when the opportunity to tell a sword and sorcery comic book came to us, we knew combining it with the Yoruba flavor was going to create something uniquely engaging.
How did you decide what to borrow from the mythology, and what to change to fit your story?
Ayodele: I hope this doesn’t sound like a cop-out, but we just go with whichever is more badass and exciting to work with. For example, in some myths, Ogun (the god of metal) and Sango (the god of storms) had once waged a stalemate war against each other. In our story, rather than fight with armies, we decided to make that battle a one-on-one. Let’s see which of the gods can take the most bloody beating. Whose limbs are going to get ripped out?
How would you describe Akogun and what went into designing the character visually?
Dotun Akande: Stoic, dutiful, competent, and taciturn are some of the descriptive words we forged Akogun from. He’s not a warrior per se (even though the Yoruba word, “Akogun” can be translated as “courageous warrior”). He is a hunter compelled by duty to take up the sword and avenge those who’ve been wronged by the whims of the gods.
Visually, we aimed to portray him as barbaric, iconic, and cryptic. We also aimed to combine the audience’s Sword and Sorcery (Conan) expectations with ancient African Savanna fashion. Hence, we frequently have him tussle and battle violently wearing just loincloths, we branded him with a unique appearance marked by a distinctive scar, and his monologues are laconic and he hunts stealthily.
Beside the mythology, did you draw from any other inspirations for the new series?
Ayodele: Yes, we drew inspiration from a lot of sources. Genndy Tartakovsky is probably our favorite storyteller. His work on Samurai Jack and Primal were big inspirations. The brutality of the God of War game and the cosmic landscape of Marvel’s Thor were tonal muses as well.
Oni Press has made a concerted effort to load up their 2024 schedule with tons of new series from a variety of genres. How does Akogun help to support this variety?
Ayodele: Akogun is an African Dark Fantasy tale of cosmic scale that centers around a lowly human warrior who is motivated by his family’s honor to wage a one-man war against his celestial gods. It features monsters like the West African Ninki Nanka and the South African Grootslang. The story world draws a lot of inspiration from different cultures on the African continent, especially the Himba people of Namibia.
The gods in Akogun belong to the Orisha pantheon of the Yoruba people. All these elements are brought to life by the award-winning Dotun Akande, colored by superstar Dee Cunniffe, lettered by critically acclaimed Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and edited by Eisner-nominated Karl Bollers. This is a uniquely phenomenal book. It’s the sort of variety we would have loved to get our hands on as comic book aficionados ourselves.
Your I am Iron Man graphic novel collection will be released this July. Looking back, what stood out to both of you the most on this project?
Ayodele: If we’re not mistaken, the collection was released in December. Marvel is resoliciting it for July. We guess it’s probably because it did really well. It’s not hard to see why what stood out to us the most was the incredible love and support we got from Iron Man fans, comic book fans in general, and retailers. Without them, the book wouldn’t be the success that it is.
Upcoming projects?
Ayodele: None that we can talk about at the moment. But we do plan to revisit the world of Akogun for a sequel series titled Akogun: Revenge of the Gods.
The first issue of Akogun will be in stores on April 3 with a variety of covers to choose from by Akande, David Mack, Grey Williamson, and Ramon Villalobos.
