Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Venom | Tagged: marvel, venom

Nnedi Okorafor Revives New Nigerian Venom for Marvel

Published Wed, 24 Feb 2021 07:45:59 -0600

Last updated Wed, 24 Feb 2021 10:07:31 -0600

In today's Marvel Voices: Legacy #1, based on the Marvel podcast celebrating diverse voices in the Marvel Universe, Nnedi Okorafor and ChrisCross add something new. A new Venom for the Marvel Universe in a less-than-usual place, in "A Luta Continua" – the fight goes in in Portuguese.

ERRATA: Apologies, I totally missed this one, was created by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford debuted the Nigerian Venom character Ngozi in Venomverse: War Stories #1 back in 2017, and brought her back for Black Panther: Long Live The King #6 in 2018. Thanks to Liam for pointing it out.

Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American Afrofuturist sci-fi author who has won of Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards for her work. She has also written Black Panther-related comics for Marvel and Laguardia from Dark Horse and more. ChrisCross is a longstanding comic book artist on work such as Blood Syndicate, Captain Marvel, Xero, Accell and Bankshot.

Most Marvel Comics characters live in New York. A few live in Los Angeles. There are a few in Wakanda, Asgard, Latveria and other fictitious locations. But the number living in Nigeria are few and far between.

And so a protest against Nigeria's police forces, shines a spotlight of a different corner of the Marvel Universe.

With police acting in a fashion familiar to many around the world.

And a small number of protestors under fire reveal their true colours. And that one of them has a Venom.

A new warrior for vengeful justice? The essence of the superhero power fantasy is that of giving power and inspiration to the powerless. Classically that would be the male geek adolescent, lacking in physical prowess and social standing, playing out power fantasies in their comics. But what superfiction excels at, in whatever medium, is finding new people lacking in power and giving them inspiration through such fictional fantasies as well. It turns out feeling powerless or part of an underclass is a worldwide phenomenon. No wonder so many protest marches have a tendency to look like cosplay parades on occasion… but this Venom also has a superhero teen-team of her own, acting in Nigeria and even more Outlawed than their equivalents in the USA.

MARVELS VOICES LEGACY #1
MARVEL COMICS
DEC200562
(W) Ho Che Anderson, Danny Lore, More (A) Sean Hill, Valentine De Landro, More (CA) Taurin Clarke
CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH IN MIGHTY MARVEL STYLE!
Black Panther. Storm. Blade. Falcon. Ironheart. Luke Cage. Spectrum. And so many more. Marvel's incredible legacy of black heroes gets the star treatment in this action-packed special! New and established creators take on their favorite heroes in a dizzying array of stories designed to inspire and uplift! The Marvel's Voices program is your #1 stop for "the world outside your window" – don't sleep on this one! Rated TIn Shops: Feb 24, 2021 SRP: $4.99

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