IKARUS BLACK

An interstellar cyborg/human space pilot, almost killed by flying too close to an imploding star, passed through a black hole and crash landed in an ocean on the other side of the universe; Earth - several thousand years in the past.

Join the battle for glory and his victorious return to the stars.

A note from the creator

Ikarus Black was a songwriter artist concept. I wanted a pseudonym to write sync rap tracks through. (sync tracks are songs written primarily for commercial use in trailers, video games, sports segments etc.) - Problem was; rap is all about personality.

I decided to start creating from this fierce, unquestioning, hyper confident place. But it wasn’t enough. Rappers need character, they need backstory; and the more I channelled Ikarus, the more his story started to come through. What if the Ikarus, a person who flew too close to the sun and died, actually didn’t, but instead, miraculously returned from the ocean? Reborn and ready to take on the world with a fiery new-found desire to reshape it.

Ikarus Black slowly started to show up in my dreams, and my idle thoughts as a fierce black man, with superhero qualities and a brave heart. In some ways, he was starting to encompass all of the bold, brave and unquestioning authenticity that I had sought to unleash from myself my whole life. A “risk it all for the dream” mentality that as a black man navigating the real world in the 2020’s has to really fight to acheive even a fraction of.

This hero, wasn’t some indestructible monument to masculinity; but instead a love letter to ancient African ideals of humanity. Braveness is inseperable from vulnerability, leadership from empathy, empowerment from kindness, sacrifice from mortality. Ikarus not only became the man I was hoping to SEE in the world, but also the man I was hoping to BE in the world. To bring him to life I was going to have to infuse his sotry with lessons of my own.

Over time The Story of Ikarus Black has evolved into a tale that served a fable-like purpose in my own decisions and story. But out of fear of being seen as ‘delulu’ he became my a secret.

I’m building this blog; this evolving, narrative universe, as a place to give context and weight to the music his story has inspired. But more than that, I hope it can one day become a source of power and pride for young men like me — living proof that we are worthy of being seen, as proud entries in the ledger of our human legacy. On our own terms.

How to use this e-comic

Issues covers will appear below. Click on them to be taken to their relevant blog post. The full playlist is show below, but the tracks each chapter is inspired by will be listed in the articles too. Enjoy!