Tell us a little bit about your company, how you founded it, and what you do.
Okupe: I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. I moved to the United States about 16 years ago. Growing up, I loved superhero stories, X‑Men ‑‑ The Animated Series, Batman, the Avengers.
I always thought it'd be very nice and very cool to see superheroes and fantasy characters that were based on my culture, but back then, I just thought it was a pipe dream.
Fast forward 16 years later, when I came over here to the US, I was able to see how the movie industry grew, and how movies like the Batman Nolan series and Spider‑Man Tobey Maguire series basically blew up the movie industry. I thought back then that it would be a chance for me to bring a different perspective.
I quit my job in 2015, and I went full‑time into doing comics. All my stories are actually inspired by either African history, African mythology, or in the case of my first book, EXO, Afro‑futurism. It's been a blessing then.
The reception has not only been great from the African community back home and here in the diaspora, but people from all over the world have identified with a lot of things that these characters are bringing.
Where are you selling your books?
Right now, we have distribution through multiple channels. We have distribution through Diamond Comics, Baker & Taylor, Brodart and Follett. Our books are in Barnes & Noble, Books‑A‑Million, local comic book stores, but also on our website, as well as Amazon, Kindle, Apple Books.
Right now, it's the first one, EXO. It's also our flagship title. We're actively actually working on an animated movie that's based on the first book. It's in early development. Malika, which is our latest book, and it's only been out for about maybe four months, is actually close to breaking our sales records for all our books so far. That's really a fan favorite so far.
Tell me about the talent on the books. Who does the creative work on the books?
All the people that work on the book are actually based back home in Lagos, Nigeria. I'm the only one from the team as the writer and creator that's local here to the US. The reason I did that is because part of my mission is to be able to promote African talent and African art, and promote these people that do these amazing works on a global scale.
Most of the time, their work never leaves the continent of Africa, but I'm a strong believer in empowering them, and also showcasing their art to a mainstream audience as well.
Do you do comics too, or just original graphic novels?
We do straight to graphic novel. The reason why is we've found out that a lot of people are gravitating towards trades. It's also a perfect way for readers to get to know you as a first‑time writer. They might not have the patience for issue one, two, three, four, and five.
What we do is go straight to graphic novels, where you get a full story: beginning, middle, and end. You're able to see character growth, see a full character arc, and how it is that they go from before they were heroes to when they're heroes, and what they do after they get their powers as well.
We've published four books, three ongoing series. The EXO series, which is a superhero sci‑fi that takes in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria; which is where I was born and raised. We have the Malika ‑‑ Warrior Queen series, which is a historical fantasy that takes place in 15th Century West Africa, and the WindMaker series that's inspired by West African mythology.
Three different series, four graphic novels, but we've also done two one‑shots that were part of Free Comic Book Day, May 2017, and also an upcoming one‑shot Malika ‑‑ Dragon Trials will be part of Halloween ComicFest (see “Halloween ComicFest Goodies Announced”).
YouNeek Studios is currently running a Kickstarter to fund Malika – Warrior Queen Part Two. The Kickstarter runs through November 19, and features the entire library of the YouNeek YouNiverse, as well as custom POP! figures, t-shirts and more.
See images of all published titles and more in the gallery below.
View Gallery: 11 Images 
