I first came across Afua Richardson years ago on the Artxilla message boards back when that was my primary method of scouting talent and sharing my own work. She was going by the name Lakota Sioux back then, and her work was pretty good. I went through period where I was spending less time socializing with artists and more time prospecting for clients (with mixed results), and she was one of the people who I just lost track of. In that time, Afua's work REALLY took off, including doing the art on
Genius for Top Cow's Pilot Season, which eventually spawned a mini-series. Here's the Pilot issue of
Genius, in it's entirety.
Here's the sales pitch:
What if the greatest military mind of our generation was born in strife, surrounded by violence and combat since birth? When the gauntlet is dropped, the question isn’t “How did 17-year-old Destiny Ajaye unite the gangs of South Central into a killer army and declare war on the LAPD?” No, the question is, “Can anyone stop her?”Like I said, I totally missed this. I was kinda embarrassed at first, but then I was like, I would be effing up TWICE if I didn't post this just out of embarrassment. So,
you can click here to order
Genius: Pilot Season pretty cheap while supplies last. The first issue of the miniseries was reprinted in
Top Cow First Look Vol 1 trade paperback, which is available at that same website.
If you're gonna be in Chicago on July 14th and 15th, you should stop at the Dusable Museum's 38th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival, which will also contain Black Age XV, host to lots of black comics artists like Eric Battle, N.Steven Harris, and of course the lovely miss Afua Richardson. I rediscovered her work on Facebook recently, and it would definitely be worth stopping by the Festival just to check out what she brought! If you're reading this Afua, I promise not to sleep on the skills again! -samax.
