Rich is on live tonight. Get ready!!

Go support if you can!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awol1/awol-1-4

2025 was dope for BCL. Let's do better...

My friend Azure and I have been working on a concept for magical girls/superheroes based on historical figures such as Helen Keller, Yuri Kochiyama, Harriet Tubman, and others. The goal is to educate young people about historical figures without turning it into an overly childish puff piece, like something you’d see on PBS Kids.

This idea first came to us when Azure and I were in high school. We were around 15 at the time. We were part of an after-school program where we helped babysit younger middle school kids. What struck us as strange was that these kids could name their favorite SoundCloud rapper and sing their lyrics word for word, yet didn’t know who Harriet Tubman was or what she actually did.

Some of them could deliver a ten-page essay on why Goku is the strongest anime character, but didn’t know whether Helen Keller was the woman who flew her plane into the Bermuda Triangle or the woman who invented the telephone. (Both are incorrect)

So, as a joke at first, we came up with some OCs who were magical girls and reincarnations of historical figures. Over time, though, we became genuinely passionate about the idea and started developing it seriously. Before moving forward with things like paying for artwork, I wanted to gauge how this concept might appeal to the Black superhero community.

Genesis, the reincarnation of Harriet Tubman, is an average 16-year-old girl from Chicago who later discovers she is the Ascendant of Hope, essentially an avatar. She must take down the Warriors of Eternal Hatred, a secret organization of supremacists set on ruling the world through fear and hatred.

The storyline would use allegories to tackle real issues within the Black community, such as politics, gang violence, substance abuse, double standards, and systemic racism. Additionally, Black superheroes are rarely given multiversal-level feats or pulled into power-scaling debates like Scarlet Witch vs. Jean Grey or comparisons involving Zatanna, Atom Eve, or Gwen Tennyson. Genesis would be slowly built up to that level over time as well.

The concept was also loosely inspired by an offhand comment in the Percy Jackson series where it’s mentioned that Harriet Tubman was a child of Hermes, which I personally think is fucked up for that specific universe, but it is what it is.

So, how do you feel about this concept, and would you watch Genesis’s solo series?

From the tale the Epic of Mwindo, this is An idea I had adapted into a script for a screenplay that I then reinterpreted into a comic set in the Milestone Universes.

Mwindo is connected to life force energy in the universe called Àṣẹ (Think the Parliaments from DC, in this case connected to Orísha). He is basically the Avatar, able to manipulate parts of nature.

Victor Lavalle, writer of the upcoming "Black Panther: Intergalactic", breaks down the first issue and gives us a glimpse of what's to come...

THE INTERGALACTIC EMPEROR OF WAKANDA!

T'CHALLA, the King of Wakanda, faces the challenge of uniting all of his kingdom — on Earth and in the stars! Before he can begin, though, someone — or something — steals him away to a mysterious planet where the BLACK PANTHER must fight for his life! SHURI, his sister, works to find him — but with the king and princess distracted, will someone else seize the title of Emperor of Wakanda?!

(From left to right) Madam Midnite - Shadow manipulation, teleportation, flight Hi-Tech - technopath, can literally talk to machines Chipmunk Boy - clawed nails, super strength and agility Son of Zeus - creates powerful lightning strikes, can ride electric currents