Bronze Faces

Collaborators Shobo and Shof (New Masters) team up with artist Tefenkgi (The Good Asian) for a thrilling anti-colonialist heist comic. Timi’s estranged father, Osage Asoro, one of Nigeria’s most respected artists, has died. He was known for making bronze masks that tell the stories of their family and the culture of their people. As part of a deal he arranged before his death to offset his debts, the British museum acquires his art. When the masks are showcased at an exhibition, Timi begrudgingly attends and runs into Sango and Gbonka, two women he grew up with 15 years ago, who were also raised by his father. When their efforts to have the masks officially returned fail, Sango suggests they steal them in honor of their baba. After a successful, if clumsy, theft, they discover documents that catalog the locations of other Benin masks, sparking a heist campaign to reclaim stolen African art. The vigilante crew they bring together calls themselves Ogiso, donning bronze masks to pull off a series of “spectacular thefts across the globe.” The nonlinear timeline, fraught team dynamics, and scandal-ridden detective hot on their trail add flavor to this Robin Hood–esque adventure. Earthy color work grounds the dynamic art, which peppers in Nigerian cultural details, including the stylish mixing of traditional cloth into contemporary fashion. It amounts to a riveting, fast-paced fable of restorative justice. (Mar.)