We Made You Laugh. My Top 5 Nigerian Comedy Comic Artist
Its no doubt that Nigeria's comedy industry has grown and thrived over the past years, from stand up comedy to Nollywood comedy movies. While most are familiar with the two forms mentioned, only a few people have knowledge of the upcoming comic industry and the comics associated with this genre. Although we have a lot of hilarious panels from our daily newspapers, I will limit this list to the artist that have successfully gained a reputation for their consistency in creating contemporary comedic comics/ cartoons or shorts.
P.s Again, note that this is my personal opinion and theres definitely some bias to it ;-)
5. Wale Adenuga: Ikebe Super
While at the University of Lagos in 1971, Wale Adenuga honed his cartooning skills working on the campus magazine. In 1976, he launched his own magazine, the raunchy but funny Ikebe Super from which Papa Ajasco emerged. Wale Adenuga is seen by most to be a very humorous yet serious man and this translates to his successful career in the entertainment industry.
The names Papa Ajasco, Miss Pepeye, Boy Alinco, Pa Jimoh and so on which are household names were birth on pen and paper when this entertainment tycoon had little or nothing. There are only a few copies out there and they belong to mostly the 70's kids so you might want to ask your parents about it, unfortunately this comic is so old I couldn't get a digital version to post. :-(
4. Nnamdi Nwoha: Elfworks, Area (Series)
While Area animated series stands out as Nnamdi's most popular works, there have been a plethora of works created by the artist. This enigmatic artist studied Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Lagos and afterwards decided to go full time into comics and animation.
Besides Area however, Nnamdi is silently associated with a variety of projects that range from commercials and campaigns to branding. He has worked with companies like GTbank and Etisalat to create more of their customer friendly online ads. He also has a clothing line, Drofu which has a collection of apparels with the sole aim to make anyone laugh.
3. Etubi Onucheyo: Mumu Juju
http://www.vortex247.com/comics/title/mumu-juju
The quality speaks for itself! Mumu Juju gives us a comedic narrative of two main characters (Mortar and Pestle) as they overcome challenges and obstacles while trying to complete the tasks given to them by a god named ‘Kenga’ and his witch side-kick ‘Ee’. This comic blends satire with some kickass battle scenes which both showcases the ability of the creator to make a hilarious story mean while keeping its quality.
The writer, Etubi in an article says that Mumu Juju touches on the importance of love and friendship in getting us through any situation in life with a hilarious twist to it that takes away the seriousness of the story and makes it fun to read, while still sending its message across.
2. Dapo Adesugba AKA Collyde: Awon Da comics
https://www.facebook.com/AwonDa/?fref=ts
Rapper, Comic book artist and social media activist Collyde has been on the Nigerian art scene for about a decade. Hailing from the University of Lagos, Collyde's art was influenced by his university environment and interpretation of the world around him (with a little bit extra untop). Though often criticized for having an art style that exaggerates and hyper sexualizes women, his work arguably depicts a sort of truth which one won't find with mere words, the themes that are touched with his art gives the reader some socio political and economic awareness to the country that is Nigeria.
Collyde's art stands out from the rest in this list as one of the best in terms of quality. His famous orange, gold and red combination flourishes in each of his work only to be out matched by the quirky poses he graces his characters with. From Fart Director to the Sango series and many more, Collyde could easily be tagged as one of the best Nigerian comedy comic artist of this time.
1. Kro Onimole: Crasher Comics
http://www.crashercomics.com/
When Kro isn't working on his day job in an advertising agency, he's busy making hilarious shots that we all know of as Crasher Comics. According to Kro, Crasher is a love story (at it's very core) loaded with a few pop culture references, monsters and everybody's favorite pervert, the great Kokoro.
Most of the story takes place in the Obawon University somewhere in Nigeria. Crasher comics features an array of characters that reflect the everyday Nigerian student. We can say that we all have friends that possess the clumsiness of Benedict or the hustle spirit of Ruky (Any work anyone?).
Crasher has been around for so long and is one of the most consistent web comic flick to come out of Nigeria. With an art style that showcases simplicity in lines and color, Crasher has been delivering hilarious panels to its fans once every other week for years now and even though it doesn't push out as much as it used to, its content never lacks in what we fans want from it. Laughs. The sheer consistency of this franchise easily make it my best among every other comedy comic out there.
Thats all folks!!!
And yeah... Kindly note that my short film 'Shango' would be released next week.
