– credit, screengrabs from @slow_comics
It’s so tempting to dismiss social media as all doom scrolling through AI-generated slop and political arguments, but it also just turbo boosted this young comic book author’s career.
@slow_comics has accumulated 40K followers on his TikTok account through his own series of comics, and by his passion of visiting comic book conventions and stopping at booths that no one else is visiting.
It was in this way that he encountered Dare, an American of Nigerian heritage publishing and illustrating an indie comic book based on that heritage, featuring a world where people can talk to their ancestors and ask for advice.
@slow_comics @Oridipe at📍 Anime NYC! He made a Yoruba Nigerian Fantasy Comic! I bought so many books this weekend but I can’t lie, this is the one I am most excited about. The art style, colors, use of African cloth patterns in the backgrounds and textures (even in the trees barks!), the concept of the story with our protagonist going family to family and trying to figure out what is going on with the ancestors! And then Etch being such a dope concept of a comic that can be read in both directions, with an argument that changes your perspective of who is right based on where you team from. How cool is that!? And it features the “trickster” character of the story which is generally my favorite archetype. Orídipé just has such a dope art style and is clearly so creative with his concepts. I am ecstatic about this pickup and cannot wait to dive into this.#CapCut ♬ original sound – Slow Comics
Something goes terribly wrong however, and soon the ancestors begin attacking people, with the main characters driven to try and find out why. Called Ori: Holder of the Heads, the sumptuously-illustrated comics burst with influences from Dare’s Yoruba African culture.
Dare also published a side story called Etch, which can be read from left-to-right, or right-to-left, with each way offering a different perspective in an argument between two strange creatures.
The slow_comics host was “ecstatic” and bought both, but the video itself, which was liked by a million people, channeled an additional 25,000 followers to Dare’s creator account who came and sopped up all the outstanding copies of Ori, and also bought out a limited presale. Dare even had to ask his brother Joshua to drive from Pennsylvania to New York with the rest of his physical copies, which were also all bought out.
Dare, @Oridipe, recorded a video thanking the community for the groundswell of support and explained how interested collectors could get in on the next wave of editions.
@oridipe Orí and Etch preorders reopening Wednesday August 26 at 12PM EST. Link in Bio. Big thanks to @Slow Comics [email protected] #indiecomics #oriholderoftheheads #africancomics #phillyartists ♬ original sound – Oridipe
“I can confirm that Etch and Ori are just as good as you think they’re going to be,” @slow_comics said in a follow-up video. “Due to the virality of the video, he sold out basically overnight.”
Dare, Ori, and Etch, will next be live in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 12-13 at the Small Press Expo, and the Uhuru Book Fair in Clark Park, Philadelphia, over the following weekend.
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