ROBA ISSUE #1 | Review

Roba is a comic book series by Chief Nyamweya and Nahabi Wandera. Issue #1 titled, “Capital Punishment” is the first in the series. As described on their Facebook page: “This first issue, published in The Star in July 2011, established the origins of the dark anti-hero. Roba was originally illustrated entirely in black and white using Indian ink on strathmore paper to compliment Nahabi Wandera’s noir themed story-lines. The concept was born of Chief Nyamweya‘s fondness for anti-hero’s established almost a year earlier with the debut web comic Emergency.”

The story starts off with Robert Mutwafy aka Roba, being released from prison after serving his 10 year minimum jail sentence. As he walks into an unfamiliar Nairobi as a free man, he vows to kill the man who betrayed him, a politician known as Rashid Mwamba. Vengeance is his driving force as he immediately puts a plan into action. Dark and gritty, the story progresses smoothly as we are introduced to the various characters and their roles defined quite well. The story doesn’t waste time as it gets on a roll. With the motivation set, the side plots are kept at a minimum, therefore the story stays focused on the main plot and I liked that a lot. The story is quite captivating and it plays off like a noir thriller film. As I read it I had jazz music playing in the background and it definitely evoked a mellow mood as I went from page to page.

Roba is a great character! At first he comes of as a bitter heartless dude, but slowly you get to see his humanity is still intact as he cares for those around him. The other characters are interesting as well, but unlike Roba, their character development was a bit fuzzy and that makes it hard to relate to them. Nonetheless the character designs are great and I especially liked Rashid Mwamba’s Rick Ross kind of look.

Now then, the art work. Art is pretty good! There is adequate attention to detail and the shading was done brilliantly, giving the characters and their environment a more solid look. The artist also did well to include recognizable landmark from Nairobi which always does well for local readers as they can relate to the world of the comic book and share a familiar dynamic. The characters in the story go through various situations and their expressions and reactions are important. hence how the artist drew their facial expressions without a doubt influence a great deal of an emotional response from the reader, This impressed a lot knowing how difficult it is to achieve that.

The dialogue in the comic book is fantastic; it is clear and simple to understand without too many complicated references. Though it would have done with fewer puns in most of the exchanges between the characters, most replies came with a witty response which felt too much as one point. The inclusion of a bit of Swahili slang here and there once again gives it a more Kenyan feeling which adds to the sense of “this is home grown material”

As I read to story, I couldn’t help but picture it play out on screen. The pacing of the story in some sections of the comic book almost feel movie like. It’s an intriguing story that was well thought of and progresses smoothly. As a reader you will want to know what comes next and it doesn’t get boring. Roba series of comics are well known and this serving as the character’s origin story does well for the franchise. The subject matters in the comic books are fiction but still tackle issues that are heavy in the Kenyan society. Highly entertaining and creative, this is a comic book that deserves its spot among the best of local entertainment. There will be more to review on the other series’ in the Roba Comic books. So watch out for those.

[Cheerz for reading! And always keep in mind: Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water]