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E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale Williams Volume 1
**Part of the YouNeek YouNiverse! Extraordinary fantasy and superhero stories inspired by African history, culture, and mythology—created by the best Nigerian comics talent!**
The oldest son of a world-renowned scientist, Wale Williams--aka tech-savvy superhero EXO--tries to save Lagoon City from a deadly group of emerging extremists.
But before this "pending" superhero can do any good for his city, there is one person he must save first--Himself! The Legend of Wale Williams Volume 1 is an Afrofuturist superhero story about redemption set in the bustling metropolis that is Lagos, Nigeria--with a creative team that's also from Lagos!
"Our mission is and always has been about empowering African creatives and storytelling while bringing both to a global audience." — Roye Okupe, Founder/Creative Director at YouNeek Studios
The oldest son of a world-renowned scientist, Wale Williams--aka tech-savvy superhero EXO--tries to save Lagoon City from a deadly group of emerging extremists.
But before this "pending" superhero can do any good for his city, there is one person he must save first--Himself! The Legend of Wale Williams Volume 1 is an Afrofuturist superhero story about redemption set in the bustling metropolis that is Lagos, Nigeria--with a creative team that's also from Lagos!
"Our mission is and always has been about empowering African creatives and storytelling while bringing both to a global audience." — Roye Okupe, Founder/Creative Director at YouNeek Studios
312 pages, Paperback
Published November 9, 2021
4 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Roye Okupe
29 books104 followersBorn in Lagos, Nigeria, Roye Okupe is a creative specialist who holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in computer science from The George Washington University. His passion for animation led him to found YouNeek Studios in 2012, an avenue that would allow him pursue his dream of creating a diverse library of superheroes. Under that umbrella, Roye wrote, produced and directed several animated productions including, but not limited to, 2D/3D animated short films, TV commercials, show openers, music videos and much more. These productions have allowed Roye to attain much prestigious recognition’s such as being #5 on Ventures Africa’s list of 40 African innovators to watch (2016) as well as being part of NewAfrican Magazines’ 100 most influential Africans of 2016.
With the superhero genre currently at the height of popularity, Roye has made it a goal to create a connected universe of heroes, with origins from locations that are currently neglected and/or ignored. In August 2015, Roye released his debut graphic novel titled: E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams Part One, a superhero story set in a futuristic Nigeria. E.X.O. was received with critical acclaim and has since been featured on CNN, Forbes, The New York Times, NBC, The Guardian, ABC7, BBC, The Huffington Post, Mashabe and more!
With the superhero genre currently at the height of popularity, Roye has made it a goal to create a connected universe of heroes, with origins from locations that are currently neglected and/or ignored. In August 2015, Roye released his debut graphic novel titled: E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams Part One, a superhero story set in a futuristic Nigeria. E.X.O. was received with critical acclaim and has since been featured on CNN, Forbes, The New York Times, NBC, The Guardian, ABC7, BBC, The Huffington Post, Mashabe and more!
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 19, 2022
The story of a Nigerian Iron Man. This was way too drawn out at 300 pages. The coloring was suspect as well. Still, I like the idea of a superhero universe based in Africa so I'll check more of these out.
February 15, 2022
Iron Man fights a Cobra Commander with Sith Lord powers and an army of loser robots.
The novelty of being created by Nigerians, starring Nigerians, and set in Nigeria quickly wears off as the story seems content to strictly inhabit age old superhero tropes like a hero driven by the death of a dear relative who has a nearly magical armored fighting suit and a support network with an unlimited budget for technology. There are A.I. androids, holographic training rooms, (not very) shocking secret identity reveals, a purely evil organization with an unlimited budget for tech and henchmen, and a world of underground crap: secret laboratories, headquarters, and transportation systems (so much excavation!). And as in "Superman: The Movie," one of the big bads is just pursuing a real estate scam.
Side note: I thought Wale's name was a homophone for "whale" while I was reading the book, but afterword I found out it is actually short for Adewale and is pronounced "waa-lay."
The novelty of being created by Nigerians, starring Nigerians, and set in Nigeria quickly wears off as the story seems content to strictly inhabit age old superhero tropes like a hero driven by the death of a dear relative who has a nearly magical armored fighting suit and a support network with an unlimited budget for technology. There are A.I. androids, holographic training rooms, (not very) shocking secret identity reveals, a purely evil organization with an unlimited budget for tech and henchmen, and a world of underground crap: secret laboratories, headquarters, and transportation systems (so much excavation!). And as in "Superman: The Movie," one of the big bads is just pursuing a real estate scam.
Side note: I thought Wale's name was a homophone for "whale" while I was reading the book, but afterword I found out it is actually short for Adewale and is pronounced "waa-lay."
December 8, 2021
Coming slightly late to this author's output, this is already the third volume of his I've seen to get a Dark Horse reprint, with the intentions of having a whole Nollywood-of-comics narrative universe out there. And it would appear to have nearly wrapped it all up – goodreads features three main strands, Iyanu, Malika and this, with all other titles apart from the direct sequel to this being spin-off one-shots, bonus editions, compilations, and so on. As much as I found Malika underwhelming, Iyanu left me feeling that more would be welcome. This is the most derivative of the three, however – an African Iron Man, trying to find the father figure who created the relevant tech, coming from a Wakanda hit by Judge Dredds (oops, sorry, my bad – police drones called Dreds), under the control of Doctor Doom.
Add in a hybrid of The Huntress and a female Flash – actually one of the characters we're more grateful for, here – and a heck of a lot of this seems derivative. But despite its length it still didn't seem too clingy where other people's coat-tails were concerned. I think a sharper edit could have been had, but the book possibly gains enough in the silent combat scenes to justify its page count. After it all we get a bonus story, which does more than anything I've seen yet to tie the three stories together, and suggest many doors the titles could step through in the future of their combined narrative.
Time may prove me wrong, but I do think a whole universe like this is a little too much for one writer, which may have been why it all seems on hold for now. But the three books do have an individual character, despite the solitary source, this and Iyanu at least both feel universally acceptable (only Malika had a feel of being stuck talking to Nigerians without the wide appeal), and they're certainly fresh enough to deserve a try. I'm put in mind, of course, of Valiant and their attempts to tie all their oddball titles into one universe. This obviously has a lot more work to put in to get anywhere close in scope, but quality-wise they're not found wanting in comparison.
Add in a hybrid of The Huntress and a female Flash – actually one of the characters we're more grateful for, here – and a heck of a lot of this seems derivative. But despite its length it still didn't seem too clingy where other people's coat-tails were concerned. I think a sharper edit could have been had, but the book possibly gains enough in the silent combat scenes to justify its page count. After it all we get a bonus story, which does more than anything I've seen yet to tie the three stories together, and suggest many doors the titles could step through in the future of their combined narrative.
Time may prove me wrong, but I do think a whole universe like this is a little too much for one writer, which may have been why it all seems on hold for now. But the three books do have an individual character, despite the solitary source, this and Iyanu at least both feel universally acceptable (only Malika had a feel of being stuck talking to Nigerians without the wide appeal), and they're certainly fresh enough to deserve a try. I'm put in mind, of course, of Valiant and their attempts to tie all their oddball titles into one universe. This obviously has a lot more work to put in to get anywhere close in scope, but quality-wise they're not found wanting in comparison.
August 15, 2022
I’ve visited YouNeek YouNiverse before with Okupe’s WindMaker. It’s sort of like Wakanda expanded and trying to be Marvel for African-centric stories and African superheroes. So from a purely representational perspective, it’s an awesome concept.
But just as comics, it leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you’re really into this sort of thing and by this sort of thing one means: cheap video game like graphics and plots that read like superhero cartoons with pages that look like stills from superhero cartoons.
To be fair, Okupe tried here with Wale Williams – from the conventionally alliterative name to borrowing heavily from such heavies of the Marvel Universe as Iron Man and The Cyborg. But mostly that just made the final product seem unoriginal and kind of inferior as a pastiche.
I don’t mean to be ripping this, not really, it’s fine, has a kind of blandly slick or slickly bland entertaining quality to it. And I’m not really a reader or fan of traditional superhero fare, so there’s that to consider.
This book was way longer than anticipated, but had the decency to read quickly enough – oh so many fight scenes. Overall, indifferent, may or may not read more. Library seems to be getting them and sometimes there is a place and time for a mindless read.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
But just as comics, it leaves a lot to be desired. Unless you’re really into this sort of thing and by this sort of thing one means: cheap video game like graphics and plots that read like superhero cartoons with pages that look like stills from superhero cartoons.
To be fair, Okupe tried here with Wale Williams – from the conventionally alliterative name to borrowing heavily from such heavies of the Marvel Universe as Iron Man and The Cyborg. But mostly that just made the final product seem unoriginal and kind of inferior as a pastiche.
I don’t mean to be ripping this, not really, it’s fine, has a kind of blandly slick or slickly bland entertaining quality to it. And I’m not really a reader or fan of traditional superhero fare, so there’s that to consider.
This book was way longer than anticipated, but had the decency to read quickly enough – oh so many fight scenes. Overall, indifferent, may or may not read more. Library seems to be getting them and sometimes there is a place and time for a mindless read.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
December 10, 2021
The good a different setting than in usual comics being Nigeria. Competently drawn and decent characters.
The bad it did not feel like anything new and it did have a tendency to make me think of other comics.
The bad it did not feel like anything new and it did have a tendency to make me think of other comics.
January 23, 2022
A loving son witnesses a horrible accident that sets him off on a path of loneliness in order to deal with the tragedy, and ends up breaking friendships and familial bonds. But destiny has a very funny way of teaching lessons and forcing regrets upon folks.
When Wale finally returns home he is thrust upon a path already forged by his father, which he will ultimately trudge through, before burning a new path from it.
I liked the cultural representation and how Africa is not depicted as an impoverished continent, but one full of diversity, technology, and enriched future. That alone makes the story stand out. The tale of redemption and forgiveness churned in with acceptance of self and rejection of rage makes it better. Africa is more than blood diamonds and rich people going on safari. It's a melting pot of diverse histories and cultures and ethnicity, and this story provides a endearing glimpse into the people's potential. Sadly, there are villains on the continent (even if their goal may seem admirable or righteous). But there are heroes too, willing to sacrifice their lives to help those who can't defend themselves.
When Wale finally returns home he is thrust upon a path already forged by his father, which he will ultimately trudge through, before burning a new path from it.
I liked the cultural representation and how Africa is not depicted as an impoverished continent, but one full of diversity, technology, and enriched future. That alone makes the story stand out. The tale of redemption and forgiveness churned in with acceptance of self and rejection of rage makes it better. Africa is more than blood diamonds and rich people going on safari. It's a melting pot of diverse histories and cultures and ethnicity, and this story provides a endearing glimpse into the people's potential. Sadly, there are villains on the continent (even if their goal may seem admirable or righteous). But there are heroes too, willing to sacrifice their lives to help those who can't defend themselves.
May 27, 2022
I love the idea of Roye Okupe’s Youneek Youniverse, representation, (seemingly) a mixing of multiple sub genres of super hero comics, everything about it screams interesting and potential. This was my first actual reading of anything from the youniverse and it was good, but it wasn’t anywhere close to great. The story is extremely paint by numbers and other than a few African language moments there is really nothing setting it aside from any other generic super hero book. While this can be seen as a positive, as it isn’t forcing something down the reader’s throat I can’t help but feel like with it being a major part of the idea behind the youniverse it should have been more prevalent.
Overall great art, easy quick read, good enough story.
Overall great art, easy quick read, good enough story.
September 4, 2024
The creators are trying to create a multiverse where key players from all of these different worlds converge in this modern day Nigeria. In theory this should have been my favorite as it is more sci-fi and super hero-ish but it was not. There's something with the dialogue that never felt natural and never flowed. Characters from the different series were introduced in a forced and clunky manner just so they could be in this series. The love/relationship discussions... hella awkward. The banter, forced and more times than not, flat. Not a fan. Not a fan.
February 1, 2022
Politics and double crossing big companies doing dirty tricks: the villains superheroes fight sure have changed since campy The Joker or Catwoman. But there are still daddy issues and romance issues. Nicely, there's also a strong, capable female superhero (ex and maybe future love interest) that EXO has to work with.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews