By Cynthia Littleton, Variety
Charlamagne Tha God got a tattoo of Wolverine at age 16.
Next month, the “Breakfast Club” personality and longtime comic book lover is diving deeper into publishing through a deal with Artists, Writers and Artisans for a fantasy thriller graphic novel “ILLuminati.” The project will have a Kickstarter component – not so much for financing production of the 128-page novel but rather as a means of engaging fans.
Charlamagne’s goal is to shine a spotlight on the wealth of Black talent working in comic books and graphic novels. Content producers across publishing and Hollywood have consistently underestimated the level of Black fandom around key comic franchises and characters.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of comic books,” Charlamagne told Variety. “Listen to any hip hop record, man. I’m a huge Wu Tang fan. They’ve always referenced so many comic books.”
Charlamagne helped create “ILLuminati” in collaboration with a group of seasoned comic creatives including Bryan Edward Hill, Denys Cowan, Bill Siekiewicz and Sanford Greene. The plan is for Charlamagne to curate five custom covers for “ILLuminati” that will pay tribute to classic hip hop albums. The Kickstarter campaign launches today and runs through Oct. 22.
He thinks the novel’s twisty story about the death of a young female hip hop star and her psychic twin sister who comes to Los Angeles to find out what happened. It’s billed as following “a dark conspiracy that snakes its way through the pillars of power, fame, and popular culture.”
“Nobody even does satire anymore because there’s nothing satirical about life. Reality is just the most strange thing,” Charlamagne said. “A lot of these stories are just exaggerated things that have already happened, or, you know, our take on things that have already happened. So it’s just interesting to kind of bring that to life in comic books.”
Charlamagne has previously worked with Marvel Comics to write hip hop-themed comics involving Blue Marvel. AWA chief executive Axel Alonso was a pioneer in tapping into the natural ties between hip hop and comics during Alonso’s previous tenure as editor in chief at Marvel Comics. He launched AWA in 2018.
Charlamagne stressed his commitment to being hands-on with the creative aspects of the “ILLuminati” project.
“I’ve been involved in the process every, every step of the way because the story is is loosely based off the industry,” Charlamagne said. “We’re playing into the whole Illuminati Secret Society of the of the music industry, all those rumors and things you might see on pages like Reddit or those YouTube conspiracy theory videos. This is fits all of that in comic book form.”
AWA’s business focus is to take properties that begin as graphic novels into TV and film and other forms of media. But first and foremost “ILLuminati” has to work as a graphic novel.
“The business model is that we create stories that live beyond the comic book page. No one makes a comic book and says, ‘Oh my God, I hope it’s only a comic book.’ A good story can be a haiku, a novel, a play, a movie, a TV show. We have a good story here. So we want to make stories that can have many, many lives,” Alonso said.
“There’s a huge multicultural audience out there for comic books. They love the characters, love the mythology. And they want to see themselves reflected in the pages,” Alonso said.
The AWA deal adds to Charlamagne’s multi-platform activities that include co-hosting the popular syndicated daily radio show “The Breakfast Club.” He runs the Black Effect Podcast Network with iHeart Radio and he has a scripted partnership with Kevin Hart in SBH Productions. Charlamagne also launched the Black Privilege Publishing Imprint in partnership with Simon & Schuster. He steers a number of other ventures through his CThaGod World banner.
The level of activity that he’s built up in the past decade is a sign that independent Black-owned media is starting to grow roots at a time of immense opportunity for crossover projects among books, podcasts, radio, digital, TV and film.
“We live in an era where, with YouTube and social media and Kickstarter and all of these different platforms — you can literally build it and wait for people to come. Better yet, you can build it and you can just meet people where they are,” Charlamagne said.
Learn more about the Kickstarter campaign for ILLuminati. For more information visit AWA Studios on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and AWAStudios.com.
ABOUT AWA
Artists Writers and Artisans, Inc. (AWA) is an award-winning independent graphic fiction publisher and entertainment studio founded in 2018 by alumni of Marvel, DC, NBA, Fox, Hulu, and MTV, with former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso serving as Chief Creative Officer. Armed with some of the freshest and most critically acclaimed graphic fiction in a generation, AWA has established itself as an industry leader regarding its relationship with artists and writers by providing creators the freedom, incentive structure, and editorial support to pursue their boldest, most original, and socially relevant work. AWA has assembled a lineup of the world’s most renowned comic book talent, and its titles have been recognized as Eisner, Ringo, and New York Press Club award winners. With AWA’s Film & TV Studio, the company is building a distinct array of cutting-edge film and TV projects anchored in its burgeoning library of groundbreaking stories. Led by Hollywood veteran Zach Studin, AWA Studios has more than 20 projects in active development with industry-leading studios, networks, and streamers including the feature film adaptation of the AWA graphic novel MARJORIE FINNEGAN: TEMPORAL CRIMINAL, currently in development with LuckyChap Entertainment and Camp Hobart and the television adaptation of DEVIL’s HIGHWAY with Fremantle. Investors include Lupa Systems, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SISTER, and Fremantle. AWA is repped by Grandview.
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