A new Marvel collection featuring Black heroes will include a new story by Nnedi Okorafor that takes place on October 20, 2020 — the day that members of the Nigerian army opened fire on peaceful protestors at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
The collection, titled Marvel’s Voices: Legacy #1, will also include stories by two other favorite authors of ours, Tochi Onyebuchi and Mohale Mashigo. Other authors writing for this collection are Stephanie Williams, Ho Che Anderson, Danny Lore, and John Ridley. Each story in the collection imagines Black Marvel heroes in new tales.
Okorafor’s story centers the character Venom, with art by Chris Cross and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg. Here’s what Okorafor had to say about the story in a press release for the collection:
The #EndSars protests in Nigeria were a powerful flashpoint in 2020,” Dr. Okorafor says. “They began with a call for the disbandment of Nigeria’s corrupt Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and grew into an energized demand for social justice. The #EndSars protests sent gigantic ripples all over the world and it’s fitting that those ripples would make it to one of Marvel’s universes…and it was a little therapeutic to imagine what would have happened if an alien symbiote named Venom and a certain woman named Ngozi had been there on that nightmarish night of October 20, 2020.
Onyebuchi’s story centers the character Domino, with artwork by Ken Lashley and colors by Juan Fernandez. A long-time fan of superhero stories, Onyebuchi says that “[t]o now be able to count myself as a Marvel creator is to join Mount Olympus. Or, at least, the first step in my visa application to Krakoa.”
Mashigo’s story follows the adventures of Ironheart, Ms. Marvel, and Shuri, with artwork by Chris Allen and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg. Mashigo says that she “was really excited to work on this project because it gave [her] a rare opportunity to bring Riri, Shuri, and Kamala together…outside of their superhero roles, just taking time off and being there for each other. Even Super Heroes need a day off and a support system.”
The collection will be released February 24, 2021, in celebration of Black History month. Find it at your local comics shop!
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