If you have been following up on the evolution of the comic book industry in Cameroon, then there is a name which you must have certainly heard about. The name is ZEBRA COMICS. On the other hand, if you are a comic book fan from Cameroon and you don’t know about Zebra Comics, then you must be living under some rock in some unforgotten eldorado.
Well, on a serious note, for all those who know nothing about Zebra Comics, know that it is a media company based in Douala, Cameroon, that deals in the creation and distribution of comics, webtoons and manga, and which has been in operation since 2016. It should however be noted that Zebra Comics did not start off as this company with several salaried workers who dedicate their time and energy to make sure you are entertained and educated in the best way possible. They started off as a group of young people who had nothing more than their passion to tell original and authentic African stories to the world and who wanted to see it operate as a business.
After self publishing their work, partnering with a publisher to publish more content; participating in international comic book events like the Mboa BD Festival, Lagos Comic Con and Bilili BD Festival; becoming laureates at the Cameroon Business Challenge; becoming members of prestigious leadership platforms like the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) and the Obama foundation; and successfully raising funds on kickstarter.com to finance their comic book creation and commercialization endeavors, they decided that it was time to take this venture to the next level: create a company.
And so Zebra Comics PLC was born in 2020. This rebirth equally saw a drastic change of direction in their operations: the company decided to focus on the production and commercialization of digital comics, webtoons and manga. Anyone who is living and breathing today will agree that smartphone and internet usage is growing at a staggering rate across the globe. Also, the unbelievable growth of digital comics, webtoons and manga across the world presented itself as an opportunity for Zebra Comics to go the digital way. To make this work, writers, artists, editors, translators, marketers, software developers and other professionals had to be brought together to work and produce stuff that is truly fresh, authentic and African.
So, what did all this result in? Well, after two years of hard work, Zebra Comics PLC is proud to announce that comics, webtoon and manga lovers can now enjoy exciting African comics, manga and webtoon anywhere and any time with their smartphones, tablets and PCs through a brand new digital platform (application and website). This platform is subscription based (like Netflix) where users can have access to a ton of content all in one place. Users just need to go to Google PlayStore and download the app or visit the website.
On the app and website, users will discover a great variety of comics, webtoon and manga under the categories of romance, afrofuturism, fantasy, science fiction, sports, humor and slice of life. There is a long list of original IPs whose new episodes are uploaded on a weekly basis. Users will also discover titles like Anaki, Kawana. Khadija, Mancraft, Wrong Dial, Kush, The Patriarch: Damo and much more. Each of these comics, webtoons and manga treat themes that are very relatable and entertaining. Themes explored include religion vs tradition, love and family, witchcraft in modern warfare, spirituality and martial arts, and survival, amongst many others. This deep pool of original content will keep any subscriber entertained on a constant basis for a long period of time.
To discover all of these comics, webtoons, and manga, you just need to go to Google PlayStore and download the app called ZEBRA COMICS. For now, the app is not yet available on the Apple app store. Nevertheless, apple and PC users will get the same experience when they log unto the website https://zebra-comics.com/#/home.
