Can African comics produce the next globally successful entertainment franchise? It is an ambitious question, but not an unreasonable one. Africa possesses the cultures, characters, histories and contemporary experiences from which valuable entertainment properties are made. What it has often lacked is the industrial machinery needed to develop those stories, protect them, finance them and carry them from a promising idea to an international audience.
In a new Esports Africa News interview, Dr Ejob Gaius—Co-Founder, Chief Operations Officer, writer, editor and Head of Content at Zebra Comics—discusses the practical work behind building an African comics business. The conversation moves beyond drawing and publishing. It examines production, intellectual property, technology, partnerships and the growing relationship between comics, animation, gaming and film.
That wider perspective matters. Comics are sometimes dismissed as a small corner of publishing or treated as entertainment intended mainly for children. In the global entertainment business, however, they frequently perform a far more valuable function: they provide a relatively accessible way to introduce characters, construct fictional worlds, test audience interest and establish intellectual property that may later travel into animation, cinema, television, games, merchandise and live experiences.
For African creators, the comic book can therefore be both a cultural form and a commercial starting point.
A Cameroonian studio with international ambitions
Zebra Comics was founded in Cameroon in 2016 by eight creatives who wanted to tell African stories and Cameroonian stories in particular to audiences at home and abroad. The company publishes comics, manga-style works and webtoons across genres including mythology, superheroes, Afrofuturism, fantasy, science fiction and contemporary life. Its stories are distributed through its website and digital platform, reflecting the importance of mobile delivery in reaching modern readers. Zebra Comics’ company profile describes its mission as exporting African cultures to the world through comics.
Dr Gaius’s responsibilities demonstrate how much work sits behind that mission. A functioning comics studio must coordinate writers, illustrators, colourists, letterers and editors. It must manage deadlines, maintain continuity, supervise quality and ensure that creative teams are working towards a coherent product. Once publishing, technology, marketing and partnerships are added, storytelling becomes an organisational challenge as much as an artistic one.
This is an important lesson for Africa’s broader creative economy. Talent is indispensable, but talent without dependable production systems can struggle to become a sustainable enterprise. A powerful character concept still requires development. A beautiful illustration needs a compelling story. A successful first release must be followed by another. Consistency is what turns isolated creativity into a catalogue, and a catalogue is what gives a publisher something durable to license, distribute and monetise.
Zebra Comics’ catalogue illustrates this attempt to build breadth. Its digital platform hosts Afrocentric comics and webtoons spanning romance, drama, fantasy, adventure, mythology and science fiction. This variety is commercially significant. African storytelling does not need to fit into a single category defined by folklore, historical struggle or the expectations of foreign audiences. African characters can inhabit romantic comedies, futuristic cities, supernatural adventures, school dramas and morally complicated worlds as characters from everywhere else already do.
The real prize is intellectual property
The most valuable asset in a creative company is rarely the printed book, downloaded episode or individual image. It is the intellectual property behind them: the characters, fictional worlds, designs and stories that audiences recognise and want to experience again.
Strong intellectual property can be adapted repeatedly. A comic may become an animated series. Its characters may enter a mobile or console game. Its visual identity may support merchandise. A fictional world can host sequels, spin-offs or interactive experiences. Each successful adaptation can bring the original property to a different audience while creating additional sources of revenue.
Zebra Comics has already taken steps in this direction. In 2025, the company announced a worldwide representation agreement with AEGITNA and the African Literary Agency intended to pursue international licensing and adaptation opportunities across publishing, animation, film, television, video games and merchandise. The agreement is not proof that every property will secure an adaptation; creative markets remain highly competitive. It does, however, show a deliberate attempt to place African-owned stories within the international rights market. Zebra Comics announced the representation agreement here.
Its collaborations with DC provide further evidence that African studios can contribute to major international publishing projects. Zebra Comics has worked on stories for global anthologies including Joker: The World and Superman: The World. Such collaborations matter not simply because of the famous characters involved. They allow African writers and artists to demonstrate their abilities within established international production environments while introducing perspectives shaped by the continent.
The larger objective, however, must be ownership. Working with global publishers can provide visibility and experience, but Africa’s long-term creative value will depend on developing characters and worlds in which African creators and companies retain meaningful rights. Contract terms, copyright ownership, licensing territories, royalty structures and adaptation rights are therefore as important to the industry as artistic training.
A story can become globally popular and still produce limited economic value for its original creator if the rights were poorly understood or surrendered too early.
Comics, games and animation belong to the same economy
EAN’s decision to feature Zebra Comics is not a departure from gaming and esports coverage. It is recognition that these industries increasingly share the same creative and commercial infrastructure.
A game begins with more than code. It needs characters, environments, dialogue, visual direction and narrative design. Animation requires writers, storyboard artists, illustrators, voice actors and production managers. Esports adds competition, broadcasting, events, creators and community engagement. Film, comics, games and animation may use different formats, but all can draw value from the same fictional universe.
This creates room for genuine collaboration. A Zebra Comics property could inspire a mobile game developed by an African studio. Its characters could appear in digital collectibles or limited in-game events. An animated adaptation might build a new audience for the original webtoon. Gaming creators and esports personalities could help introduce a comic series to younger digital communities. A successful property could eventually support competitions, cosplay, conventions and branded experiences.
These opportunities should not encourage companies to rush into every medium. Adaptation requires capital and specialist knowledge. Producing a successful comic does not automatically make a studio capable of developing a good game or animated series. The smarter model is collaboration: rights holders working with developers, animators, publishers and distributors that possess the necessary expertise.
This is how a creative value chain begins to form. Writers create concepts. Artists give them visual identity. Editors strengthen them. Publishers distribute them. Technology companies build platforms around them. Animators and game developers adapt them. Marketing professionals build audiences, while lawyers and commercial specialists protect and license the resulting rights.
The employment potential extends well beyond the celebrated creator at the centre of the story.
Technology can widen the gate
Digital publishing has reduced some of the physical barriers facing African comics. Traditional print remains valuable, but printing, warehousing and international distribution are expensive. Webtoons, mobile applications and online catalogues allow publishers to reach readers without first constructing a large physical distribution network.
Digital access does not eliminate the commercial problem. Platforms still need readers, reliable payment systems, effective discovery tools and sustainable revenue. Data costs and connectivity can also limit participation in some markets. Yet digital delivery gives African publishers a route to diaspora and international audiences that would once have been difficult to reach.
Artificial intelligence introduces another opportunity—and another dispute. AI tools may assist with translation, research, administrative work, audience analysis or parts of the production process. But the use of generative systems also raises serious questions about artistic consent, training data, originality, employment and ownership.
For a company built on creative rights, indiscriminate use of AI would be particularly risky. Technology should make creators more productive without weakening the value of their work. African studios must establish clear internal policies explaining where AI may be used, what human review is required and how confidential manuscripts, artwork and commercial materials are protected.
Efficiency is valuable. Creative trust is more difficult to replace.
From cultural potential to commercial power
Africa’s greatest advantage is not merely that it has many untold stories. It is that it possesses living cultures and contemporary experiences capable of supporting distinctive fictional worlds. The continent does not need to imitate Hollywood superheroes, Japanese manga or Korean webtoons to prove that its work has value. It can learn from the production discipline and commercial structures behind those industries while retaining its own narrative identity.
Originality alone, however, will not guarantee global success. African comics need reliable investment, skilled production teams, professional editing, effective distribution, audience research and stronger intellectual-property management. Publishers must build catalogues rather than depend entirely on single titles. Investors must accept that creative properties may require years of development. Policymakers and educational institutions must recognise comics, games and animation as connected industries capable of producing skilled employment and export revenue.
Zebra Comics offers an instructive case study because it is attempting to connect several of these pieces: local stories, organised production, digital distribution, international collaboration and intellectual-property representation. Its journey does not prove that an African comic franchise will automatically conquer the world. It shows that the necessary foundations are being laid.
The next global entertainment powerhouse may not arrive as a finished film or a blockbuster console game. It may begin more quietly—with a writer, an illustrator and a few carefully arranged panels.
Watch the full Esports Africa News interview: Inside Africa’s Comic Industry: Dr Ejob Gaius of Zebra Comics