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Nick Tomb
Kyarra Harris here, thinking about comic books and how important it is to support local artists and business owners who provide these beloved stories to us. My colleague Aga Popęda spoke to Nick Tomb about his new comic book series The Adventures of Maritime Domain Awareness Man, which will hit the shelves next month, April 4.
The series is about a Ghanaian boy named Kofi who discovers he has superpowers that alert him to dangers in the sea, and his friend Esi who wants to be an ocean advocate and scientist when she grows up. Tomb came up with the story idea (at first it was a joke) while working on an integrated maritime strategy for Ghana in his job with the Institute for Security Governance in Monterey.
I knew I would enjoy this story when I learned Tomb took the time to hire illustrators and culture brokers from Ghana, and included their suggestions to enrich the series. He mentioned his nervousness approaching the story, and wanted to do the story justice. But, Tomb says, he has received an abundance of support from his friends abroad.
He calls the series a “21st century adventure” because the art style and overall feel of the comic book is different from the mainstream superheroes we are familiar with. Children are the target audience of this series, but Tomb says anyone who advocates for the environment will enjoy the story. With the characters’ background and setting of the story taking place in Ghana, readers are sure to learn something about the country’s culture too.
Tomb is a Weekly reader, and Popęda learned about his upcoming project back in November 2022. But in the finicky world of self-publishing, things take time and patience. With just a couple more weeks left until its debut, Tomb is ready to share his vision and inspiration with the world, and I will be one of the new readers to check it out.
-Kyarra Harris, digital producer, kyarra@mcweekly.com
