Meet Captain South Africa; she’d rather not punch criminals

JOHANNESBURG – The usual suspects — Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and Darth Vader — roamed the halls at Comic Con Africa. There were also a few African characters on display: Kwezi, Captain South Africa and Shaka Zulu.

The success of Marvel’s “Black Panther” film spiked interest in African story-telling, and artistic creators on the continent hope to capitalize with more comic book characters of their own.

Bill Masuku, a Zimbabwean artist and writer, says Africa’s comic book industry started as an “imitation of what’s happening in the West” but is evolving to become more “naturally African.”

Masuku says Captain South Africa, a superhero he created, is a black woman who “doesn’t want to punch criminals because that doesn’t end crime.”

The three-day comic book and pop culture convention in South Africa ends Sunday.