In the eponymous comic appropriately titled “Eru” ,we meet Eric kikuyu, an “ageless insomniac” who holds a day job as a psychiatrist, a lecturer at the university of Lagos and a Parapsychology expert. However, when night comes he becomes a being known by many names and many
forms, but in this context is called Eru or Iberu ,darkness incarnate…Fear.
“Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We are inadequate… It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us”.
The memorable avenger ,or “vengeance incarnate” as Eru likes to call himself, travels the streets of lagos each night, preying on the evil and conceited, feeding on their fear and dealing with the occasional struggle on whether or not to take action when faced with a perilous decision concerning a human life. He is a sarcastic ,arrogant and mostly selfish meta god-like figure…thing who constantly struggles with his humanity or lack thereof. He can basically be seen as the African equivalent of…dare I say it…the boogey sand man…but of course with a twist.
Overtime, writers tend to stick to the established protagonist-antagonist trend where the main character is dubbed with a popular judo Christian concept, ”the savior or carrier role”, where he is seen to willingly protect or sacrifice himself for a group of people(mostly mankind) out of some sort of affection or sense of duty with the aim of destroying a particular or a number of threats ergo destroying himself in the process for the good of all. Granted its not such a terrible role for a writer to adapt into his storyline, but once in a while someone comes around and throws normalcy out the window, ergo Eru.
In the comic, the writer follows a very interesting approach by taking the fondly dubbed African boogey-Sand-Man and dawning him with the carrier cloak, and forcefully might I add because our “hero” seems completely unwilling to be one and for good reason I mean you can’t just take the embodiment of fear himself and tag him a good guy right?…well sorry but here the concept of a “lesser evil” comes into play .So here’s the proverbial cliffhanger, in this version of lagos city…he’s as good as good gets.
And look he speaks French, isn’t that cute?
That totally makes me feel better about the fact that the safety of myself and everyone else has been invariably thrust upon the shoulders of a bipolar, possibly suicidal ,cynical college professor and his nocturnal hangman…did I mention he’s a loner?
Now that combination right there cannot be healthy, but what can I say, he saved a blind kid and a misguided prostitute so that’s gotta count for something right?.
Lets all just try to ignore the fact that he’s a homicidal maniac who rips peoples(and I use the term loosely..those things are not people) arms and legs out for a living, enjoys it way too much and seemed a bit too unmotivated/indecisive about saving a humans life at first, not that you can blame him I mean when you look like the living representation of “SCREAM 3” and “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET” combined and are being forced to be the misunderstood caretaker of a civilization of people who run away screaming bloody murder at the sight of you ,it is generally expected for you to be a tad bit squeamish at the thought.
All in all, the approach taken by the creator is very original and jaw-clenching, the comic and its characters create an almost mystical air whilst portraying our contemporary human lifestyles and its attendant stereotypical anomalies
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