KWEZI Collector’s Editon Issues 1-3

The African superhero universe is set to widen in South Africa. Kwezi, which means “star” in Xhosa and Zulu, is the brainchild of Loyiso Mkize a designer and fine artist who got his start in comics as an illustrator for the long-running Supa Strikas soccer series. Mkize describes Kwezi as “a coming of age story about finding one’s heritage.” The comic follows a narcissistic teenage boy named Kwezi as he discovers his superhuman abilities amid the daily hustle of the fictional Gold City– a bustling metropolis modelled after Johannesburg. Portrayed as a cocky anti-hero obsessed with selfies and Twitter, Kwezi is initially fueled by the attention from his adoring online fans, but he soon finds out that his powers come with a cultural responsibility. To accurately reflect Kwezi’s world and that of potential readers, the comic’s dialogue is peppered with street slang and pop culture references that place the story in a familiar context for young South Africans. The first three issues were self-published and took three years to develop after local publishers balked at the idea that a South African superhero could be a successful endeavour.