In a few years, Des Moines music artist, model and writer Aniekan White went from writing stories here and there in “the comic realm” to entering the 2021 Web Toons digital comic contest. That success bloomed into one of the few Black-owned comic companies in the U.S.
White is the owner and founder of Sensi’il Studios. His author name is Basi Affia. The company started as a creative exercise for White, who wanted to put together a lot of smaller stories that he had written over the years to create “one big fleshed-out universe.” But once his stories began to gather a following, he realized he needed to take his craft further.
“OK, this is dope! This is high quality!” were the responses White was hearing. “Everybody I showed, and I’m not talking about just my mom — I love you, Mom! — but like, random people. When I show it to them, they’re like, ‘Bro! Let me know when this is done cause I’m going to buy this!’ I’m like, ‘alright cool.’ That told me my stuff is quality enough [that] I can keep doing this. So, I committed, [and] sat down. Then I’m going to release all of these. I’m going to sit down, write all [of] these stories, do this, I’m going to start this company.”
He established his LLC in January 2022.
“I did all the things. I got a business account, got registered, and all the little technical things that no one cares about,” White said. “I just went and did them.”
The first printing of his comic Rem: Shadow Work sold out. Drawn by Rickeria Lendale, Rem is a “supernatural, spiritual action story that follows a man named Chlomi Mendel in a fictional Middle Eastern country,” White said.
The story takes place following a revolution. “There’s a new regime in power who is doing justice bad, as the last one did. So, there’s another revolution about to happen. In the midst of this, Mendel is going through some personal stuff, a little bit of a mystery aspect there, and he gets his ability to see spiritual beings.”
Many of the sci-fi and fantasy elements in White’s comic universe serve as metaphor.
“So, there’s things called Nightmares, and they’re basically demons. But they’re these shadowy humanoid figures and it represents depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, just all kinds of things that go on in people’s minds,” White said. “So, he [Mendel] goes around battling these things. He powers up, he has his armor on and stuff like that. So, it’s like spiritual warfare. It’s cool!”
White wanted Rem: Shadow Work to have a specific theme his readers could follow.
“We can make a difference by how we interact with certain people,” he said. “It’s easy to be like, ‘Aw this dude’s a A-hole’ and kind of just pop off on him. But if you could see what they were going through, what they were dealing with, you might want to help them with that instead of being mad at them.”
Unfortunately, Rem: Shadow Work did not win the Webtoons contest, but White decided, “We got a dope story. Let’s print this and run it. So, we did!”
On March 21, White received physical books of his comic. He plans to distribute copies throughout the city, including the comic stores Mayhem Comics in West Des Moines, and Jay’s CD and Hobby in the Southgate Shopping Center. He’s also working with a company that helps writers distribute to places like Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target and other retailers.
This supernatural, action-packed comic author got his inspiration from all kinds of things. Brand-wise, he looks up to Black Sands Entertainment because they’re a successful Black entertainment media company focusing on a Black audience. On the creative side, he gets inspired watching classic anime like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto, reading web comics such as Ordeal, and studying video games.
“There’s a lot of good storytelling in games,” he said, citing Halo, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dragon Age and The Witcher. “There’s a lot of rich storytelling, a lot of character development, with really epic plots and cool action scenes. So, I do draw a lot of the writing style from those mediums and bring them into my comics.
White even collects the novelizations of games. “I have like, 20 Halo books at home. It’s too much for a grown man to have, I think.”
He shrugged. “But you know? Whatever. I got them. It’s cool.”
Throughout his comics, White depicts all characters of color, specifically those he sees as underrepresented in entertainment.
“I want to specifically celebrate cultures that originated from Africa, but I definitely still want to celebrate cultures from all over cause I feel like things like Greek mythology and Roman stuff is kind of beat to death — even Egyptian ’cause every time it’s an African story, it’s always Egyptian? It’s like, alright bro. Let’s go a little deeper into the continent and find out about something else! There’s so many cultures there.”
White also makes sure to include African languages throughout his comics, in names as well as dialogue.
“Including African language felt like the natural thing to do. If you look at the demographics of the world, Africa got a lot of people. I don’t know the exact percentage of what the world are, but there would definitely be very prevalent African languages if we were to colonize space and make settlements,” White said.
He mentions that there is a reason not many white characters feature in his stories. “It’s not because I don’t want white people in my comic. There’s a story reason,” he explained. “The real-life reason is because I wanted to have Afrocentric storytelling and I wanted to showcase different cultures.”
With Sensi’il Studios, White presents his own take on Afrofuturism.
“I wanted to maybe kind of allude to what it might look like if the Pan-African diaspora united and then in a couple hundred years we’re in space and there’s a bunch of Black people that are under one banner. So, you have all these people from all over speaking different languages; I want to celebrate that.”
White also makes up his own language, combining Igbo, Swahili, Kikuyu and other African languages. He started off learning Nigerian from his dad who is very into his roots. White says his dad taught him Swahili, but he doesn’t remember much of it.
He seeks guidance from friends that are from or live in Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt, as well as his wife, who is Kenyan and speaks Kikuyu, and his in-laws.
“Watching her and her family speak, I feel so stupid. I’m like, ‘Bro, I speak ugly ole English!’” White said. “English is such an ugly language, like when you hear other people speak, you’re like ‘Man! That is cool!’”
“They’ll get random texts one day at like 10 at night. ‘Hey bro! How do you say “get out my face” in this language?’ They’ll be like ‘Ummm. I guess you can say it like this.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, bet! Thanks!’”
White doesn’t have a problem with asking for help, which goes back to his theme of helping others. “A lot of times, I don’t just know [words] at the top of my head. I know some things. So, I have a bit of a background,” White said. “Like the saying goes, it’s not what you know it’s who you know.”
His next comic release will be on July 1, titled Lost With All Hands.
“That’s a sci-fi about these two engineers that basically have to fight for their life to escape these monsters,” White explained. The comic is illustrated by the artist Hansel Aguilar, who also goes by Semo.
The next project that White is working on, his main title, is Aaru En Duat which is his company’s “flagship title” as well. It is currently being illustrated by Kapi Workshop. White plans to have Aaru En Duat done by the end of the year so he can get copies to his readers in 2023.
White explained the meaning of the title: “In Egyptian mythology, Aaru is like their heaven, their paradise after life. It’s a field of golden reeds and it’s paradise. And the Duat is the underworld, and so the concept of, the running theme of that series and the meaning of that title is like heaven in hell or like the light in the darkness, being the hope in hopeless times. Stuff like that. So, I try to implement that in different scenarios throughout the stories and each character that’s going through its own thing has to find that light in their struggles and their dark times in order to get through it and persevere.”
To keep up with White’s work, he recommends following his Instagram page.
To check out more of the series or purchase merchandise, visit Sensi’il Studios’ website.
