Malika: Warrior Queen Volume 2

by Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye (Illustrator), Etubi Onuchyo (Illustrator)

Malika, queen and commander of the fifteenth-century West-African empire Azzaz, has been flung into the year 2025.

After years of moving in the shadows, Malika is forced out of hiding by the Olon Jin--ancient sorcerers imprisoned for centuries because of their obsession with dark magic. In their sights is the Fire and Frost stone, a relic that holds the combined power of two legendary dragons. On her journey to Egypt to retrieve the stone, Malika uncovers a sinister plot that predates her own five-hundred-year-old legend as Warrior Queen and threatens to end humanity.

This Dark Horse edition will collect the YouNeek Studios editions of Fallen Queen Parts 1 and 2.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy

280 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2022

About the author

Born 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!

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Malika has been flung into the present where she makes some new allies along with the return of an old enemy. She's still trying to stop the return of the evil Divine One (Sorry can't remember his name). There is definitely some setup for a superhero team book at some point. There's nothing Earth shattering to this comic but I'm all for a superhero universe with African heroes.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read the first story of Malika I was intrigued to see the next chapter, and a little baffled that I chose to ignore some minor continuity by jumping into while ignoring EXO.

But this trade did not disappoint at all. I see characters who while aspirational still have insecurities and issues to deal with. Seeing a few painful memories and a few risks to get a better idea of the situation is at every turn. Plus there's a real sense of family dynamics. Every character feels like they're part of an extended family, sometimes literally sometimes found. It what makes their interactions so tense. Plus the action is top notch.

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, no, I wasn't a fan of the first Malika book from Dark Horse, but the rest of the author's universe seemed to have enough to suggest he might eventually pull off the intended mahoosive, integrated story across multiple titles. I still think it might be too much for one man to write, and anyway this section of the project comes to us in revised form already. So what was Part Three – Fallen Warrior Part One is now Volume Two, and slightly changed, if not extended. And it still wasn't to my taste, even if not a complete waste of time in finding out for sure. While smashing the story ahead five hundred years from the previous outing, it still carries far too much of what's gone before with it, meaning (a) this is never going to feel self-contained, and (b) this world features too many magical thingamabobs, wizardly widgets and dastardly, dragonly doodads to be really coherent. I see the Dark Horse deal was for a whopping ten books in this cycle – well, this is the fourth, and practically all the rest just need to be created now. I wish all involved well with it, because they will need a lot of luck, with the Malika titles if nothing else. Certainly this brand of fantasy isn't to my taste.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the well-intentioned underwhelming entries into Okupe’s YouNeek YouNiverse, Malika stood out considerably as a book actually wroth checking out. The first volume, anyway.
The second one solidly brought it right back down to Okupe’s usual level of…just ok.
Mainly because Malika took her warrior queen ways from the exciting past into the fairly bland near-present of 2025. Presumably, the goal is to increase characters’ intersectionality to create the sort of web that Marvel weaves, but this is nowhere near that. Much like YouNeek YouNiverse isn’t anywhere near as good of a name as Marvel.
Okupe, to his credit, really tries, and his historical asides and references are well done. But there is a certain overwrought (and overwritten) quality to his storytelling with all of his characters given to expounding instead of talking. And that blandness is especially noticeable in the art, which constantly looks like flat made-for-TV-on-a-budget cartoons or cheaply digitalized video game imagery.
It’s kinda sorta entertaining overall, and certainly reads quickly, especially for a 280 page book, but outside of purely representational themes, there isn’t much here to appreciate and/or love.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay friends....

I'm going to be honest when I say that Malika: Warrior Queen Vol.2 is definitely not as strong as the first volume. There is a significant time jump and readers are necessarily privy to the information that impacts Malika as a character. While I understand what Okupe is attempting to do with the world, a lot of it feels convoluted and rushed. I would not really recommend reading these books out of order because of the disjointed feeling that I got when reading this volume. Iyanu Vol. 1 and EXO Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 technically come before this and HIGHLY recommend reading them before jumping into this. It was a solid read, but the elements that made Vol. 1 strong were missing in this one.

[amine~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

sadly i don't know if i'll want to continue with the series. a lot of the dialogue felt a bit cheesy to me, and some plot points seemed to be just too convenient for the advancement of the story. i still have some hope for this universe tho, and commend the author for creating smth of such high stakes

now onto these next 11 reads to finish my 2022 book challenge:P

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I think I am done with the YouNeek YouNiverse. I just cannot look at those two words any more without pain. The story and art in vol 2 were ok, but nothing special. I actually preferred things when it was set 500 years ago. Pretty sure they're not going back.

[Chinesa Rusch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I NEED MORE

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 good story, good art, for some reason didn't hook me as much as the first volume did.

[Adrienna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed greatly. Look forward to vol 3 or oloris with heroes.