On the cover you see a black man in the standard superhero stance. In the background looms a masked figure and a metropolitan city with some type of robotic technology. You may think that this could be New York or Chicago, but no. As you turn the page you see the national anthem of Nigeria and from that moment your journey in ‘EXO: The Legend of Wale Williams’ begins.
This narrative starts in the middle, after Wale Williams has donned the suit, but before the reader knows why. Then we’re taken back to several years before. Wale is with his younger brother, mother and uncle. There is anger and resentment in the young man. He’s growing up without a father. The thing is his father is alive and well, but is seemingly obsessed with his work. Tunde Williams is a brilliant man who wants to protect his tech from falling into the wrong hands. As usual the government is involved. However it is the family dynamic that is intrinsic to this story. Through the present and in flashbacks the reader sees how Wale ends up wearing this armor, on a bridge in Lagos, Nigeria. The issues he has with his father, the love he has for his mother and the guilt he feels about his younger brother shows a complex family. That isn’t unusual in comic books. Right now in ‘International Iron Man’ Tony Stark is attempting to unravel the secrets his family kept from him, including that he was adopted as an infant. Even T’Challa is having major issues in his attempt to restore order to Wakanda in ‘Black Panther.’ But this isn’t about a billionaire philanthropist, genius or a king of a fictional African nation. This is about an African man, in a real part of the world trying to reconcile his idea of his father and the reality of what is happening to him now. He has to be a man too quickly and the reader gets the sense that he’s in serious need of help.
The recursive strategy that writer Roye Okupe uses constantly keeps both the reader and Wale off-kilter. At times Wale is decisive and heroic, while in other moments he is self-absorbed. In essence Wale is human. He wants to lift his community up, but not at the expense of the people he loves. Okupe forces Wale to grow up and work on getting out of his own head in the most painful and at times awkward ways imaginable throughout this first volume. But we need to remember that this is a journey and what is obvious to the reader is completely ignored by Wale. You will get frustrated, you will grunt as you’re reading and may want to hit this protagonist upside the head. You will also root for him and cheer as he learns how to manage the suit.
You may be reminded of ‘The Greatest American Hero.’ In this 80s television series, William Katt’s character is gifted a suit from aliens but somehow he loses the instructions. As he attempts to do the superman thing (learning to fly, figuring out how to land) we travel along with him. Ultimately we want this high school teacher turned superhero to succeed. And that is what you will want for Wale Williams. That and hoping he doesn’t blow up his house in the process.
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