Award-winning journalist and comic book writer, published poet and comic reviewer will never sleep until comics properly represent its readers and the world.
Where are you located?
Los Angeles
What do you create?
I write comic books, science fiction prose, comic book reviews and much more marketing related copy than I’d like to be writing.
How do you define your work?
I view myself as a prism, a stone forged under a specific set of pressures. My work is the light of the world shining through my specific prismatic perspective, offering a new configuration and new combinations of ideas that are specific and distinctive.
When did you recognize your talent?
I’d say I did less to recognize it, and, more to accept it. Since I was very small, endless ideas for stories, songs, poems, movies and so on. Like the story of Athena’s birth, bursting full grown from the head of Zeus, I felt like all these things were desperate to escape the confines of my skull and get out into the world. Very quickly, I realized, “who am I to stop them?” I’m less of a talent and more a conduit for … something from somewhere else. When I’m writing or singing or creating, I just put in the last connection of the circuit and let it flow.
What is your business?
The Operative Network is a creative studio of artists and writers making superhero fiction, science fiction, artwork and merchandise.
How long have you been in business?
Since October 8, 2013.
What made you start it?
There is a strong lack of representation for people of color and marginalized groups in content, in production and in business. We aim to change that.
Project Wildfire: The Once & Future King, is a weekly web comic produced through the Operative Network.
How does your business solve a problem?
Many Black fans in particular clamor for characters who speak like them, who act like them, who dream like them. We provide that.
Which of your accomplishments give you joy?
I was at a Black History Month event at the mall and noticed a little girl staring at me. She had a head full of those multicolored plastic barrettes that littered my own elementary experience and skin the shade of fresh coffee. After a minute, she finally walked up to me and said, clearly, “Yeah, I’ve got heart. It pumps ice water through veins of corrugated disappointment.”
I dropped the book I was looking at to regard her, quoting a line from a poem I’d written before she was even born. Her mother rushed over and apologized for the child bothering me, to which the kid said, “He said that at that poetry night.”
Apparently, this woman brought her daughter to the World Stage Anansi Writers Workshop years before when I read that line in a poem, and it stuck with this kid so much that she could quote the line back to me, years later.
That made me see how I could make an impact with language.
What keeps you going?
Ambition never sleeps. If I was the Black George Lucas, it still wouldn’t be enough. Plus, I have two kids who I’d like to have a body of work they could be proud of and inherit, even if it’s still only a collection of dreams.
How to reach Hannibal.
Instagram: Hannibal Tabu — Facebook: Hannibal Tabu — Twitter: Hannibal Tabu — Tumblr: Hannibal Tabu
Ark Republic is ending the year with a series of mixed-media stories of hope, empowerment, leadership, courage, brilliance family and affirmation. We want to enter into the New Year with a community collaboration called, “The Light Series.”
The Light Series is a month-long exploration of all things light and love. So, we invite you to walk with us. Even, we ask that you participate in highlighting those in your community who need some shine, or even yourself, your business or your superpower.
Our first week, December 1 to December 7, we will feature stories of innovators in our communities. Next, from December 8 to December 15, we share stories of inspiration from our entrepreneurs. Afterwards, from December 16 to December 25, we explore spiritual, religious and family traditions, as well as, winter rituals. Finally, from December 26 to January 1, we will end the series with stories of affirmation and forward movement in this next cycle, 2020.
If you would like to submit a personal essay, article, video, poem/spoken word or other media presentation of your work, just provide basic information and answer at least five of the questions. Once finished, send your answers and a high resolution picture(s) to the following: thelight@arkrepublic.com.
[give_form id=”545″]
Ark Republic is an independent media company that provides a platform for free-thinking folk to tell stories as complex and colorful as possible. We need your help to keep the wheels churning and the stories flowing. Please become a member or donate to an organization dedicated to giving you stories that keep you informed.
[give_form id=”7786″]
