My thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for an advance copy of this fantasy graphic novel that mixes pulp stories of sword and sorcery with mythology from Africa, and wonderful art telling a story of gods, the humans that are caught in their games and good old fashion revenge.

I was a big Conan the Barbarian fan, probably starting with the comics, which I knew before the many books, pastiches, movies, cartoons, role playing games and even a stint as an Avenger. I still remember the story of Conan and the Sea Woman, who dragged sailors to their death, something that stayed with me maybe because of the story, by Roy Thomas, but probably the art by Barry Smith. These might have been a gateway drug for me into fantasy which I think I was into before Star Wars. I read all the comics that features men with muscles and swords, women barely dressed, sorcerers covered in spells, whatever I could find. My library had large book sales, so when I could I would fill a bag with Lin Carter, Robery E. Howard, Karl Wagner, even the Gor books, which I liked for reasons outside of sword and sorcery. I've not felt a rush in reading these kind of tales in quite a while. The modern Conan tales are ok, but not really for me anymore. Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods written by Murewa Ayodele, illustrated by Dotun Akande takes me back to those days of sitting on my Grandmother's bed and reading Conan. This, hopefully the start of something big, features, gods, men, hunters, and fighting for power, and killing for revenge, set in a world that is just begging to be explored.

The book begins with a god falling. A drunk god at that, Obatala has fallen onto a world that is covered only in water. Upon reaching the bottom of the sea, Obatala rises to the surface, pulling land up with him, and creatures that start to walk and stir. Monsters, crawling things, beasts and more begin to walk the land. Soon the God of War Ogun appears, and defeats Obatala cutting of his hands, and killing all the creatures that Ogun can find. Except one lives and travels as far away as it can. Finding a pregnant woman the creature gives her a gift. Time passes and Akogun is born, a content baby with parents and a people who love him. Until they are taken away, and Akogun vows revenge. A revenge that not even gods will be safe from.

The book is a mix of being tossed into a story that is already moving fast, and one that builds up the world to make the stakes and the powers understood. This is a world where gods walk the earth, demigods mix with humans, and the woods are filled with creatures that would make even Conan think if finding another path. There is a feverish intensity, as if a storyteller knew that he would die when the fire he was telling the story by went out, and already drunk just started talking. However there is a good story here, and a different kind of mythology, one that I want to know more about, and a world I really want to explore. The art is amazing. Vile and violent, mean and cruel, and beautifully rendered. One can easily get lost on the pages, and one feels bad flipping the page, until one takes in what lies next. A graphic novel that really needs the art to tell the story, and has a story that could only go with this kind of art.

Nine-year-old me would have been in awe. There is a lot of violence, and a tad of of things that might make certain parents upset, but this is a story with Gods hacking off hands, so no one should be really surprised. Great art, a well thought out story. This graphic novel is really good. I hope to read more about this world, and see more by this team.

I really like the art style, but the story just doesn’t do it for me. There’s nothing that grabs my attention, and the characters feel pretty bland and lifeless.

Recipient of the (Lagos Comic Con 2023) Fist Award for Writer of the Decade, Murewa Ayodele is the writer of the Nommo-nominated comic book series New Men, the critically acclaimed webcomic series My Grandfather Was a God, and several Marvel comics. He is also the co-founder of Collectible Comics NG, a Nigerian comic book studio founded with artist Dotun Akande that was nominated in the Comic Studio of the Year category at the 2018 Fist Awards. Dotun Akande is an award-winning comic book cover artist and graphics designer who has worked with some of the biggest brands in Nigeria. He was the recipient of the (Lagos Comic Con 2018) Fist Award for Best Cover Artist and has created comic covers for comic book series like I Am Iron Man, Vengeance of the Moon Knight, Black Panther, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and Heirs of Apocalypse. Their newest collaboration is the mythic adventure tale, Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods.

Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods is primarily an African dark fantasy graphic novel. Set in the ancient continent of Alkebulan with a mythic cycle of cosmic destiny and unrelenting warfare colliding man against god, this adventure comic will remind readers of some of the great pulp comics of the 1930s and 1940s. The plot is a mythic adventure of gods combatting gods and meddling with the lives of men. These are primal, angry gods, gods of war and chaos that demand flesh and blood sacrifice, and the people are angry. When Ogun, God of War, defeats his rival Obatala, it sets into motion a series of cosmic events and the champion, Akogun, is born.

This is an epic tale, and the art of Dotun Akende really drives it forward. While Murewa Ayodele has carefully created a complete cosmic mythology, including demigods and divine revenge over millenia, it is the art of Akende that solidifies this tale. The balance between realism and stylization is tight, and the bizarre mix of blood and body parts that divine beings leave in their wake are brought to life by colorist Dee Cunniffe. This is a really fun graphic novel, a mythic dark fantasy that is a fast read, brought to life by some great art.

Overall, Akogun: Brutalizer of Gods is a really fun, exciting read. Murewa Ayodele has created a unique mythology, one set on a world populated with living gods and heroes that fight them. Dotun Akande’s art really sells the story, and fans of dark fantasy and epic adventure stories are sure to enjoy this new tale.

Whoa! What have I just read!? I know swords and sorcery genre but this is a very trippy. It's Conan the Barbarian having an acid trip. Those back and forth flashbacks got me lost in the story. And those explicit violence and soft p*rn scenes makes me more dizzy. The art is good but it the story is a bit mess up. There are lots of thing going on all mash up in this graphic novel. Before I can figure out what's going own another distraction comes along and blows everything away.

This is the first comic book review i am writing. So please excuse me if my review is a little bit wonky.

The story is about a half man half gods revenge on something bad happened to him. The best thing in this comic would be the art style and the second would be the story. Both are very good in my opinion. I would definitely read more on this comic but there are some issues i found here that could be improved. Some of them are the action scenes, The actions could have been a little bit longer. I understand he is a god and others are humans but atleast the fight could have been longer when the gods fight between themselves.

The author is really into femdom (I’m not projecting).

Pros:
Premise is fun and I will read the others.
Great art but I’d like to see fights last more than one panel.

Cons:
Bit of a deus ex ending but it’s about gods I guess…

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

I found this extremely old-fashioned almost pulp-like in it's execution. It definitely had a sword and sorcery barbarianesque taste to it and for that genre did it extremely well.

But for me that genre is tired and could do with being retired if you can't put a good twist on it and this didn't do it for me.

It was good enough to read, had some good action sequences and the art was good but there we go, three goods doesn't make an excellent