In an interesting bit of comics news, through a collaboration between Scholastic and Kaepernick Publishing, former NFL star Colin Kaepernick is set to publish Dreamer, a new graphic novel memoir from Akim Aliu.
Akim Aliu was an ice hockey player who played professionally for 15 years, most notably playing for several different teams across organizations like the NHL and OHL. Upon becoming a free agent during the 2019-20 season, Aliu spoke publicly regarding allegations of racial injustices that took place against him within the hockey industry. Aliu's vocal activism ultimately led to him co-founding the Hockey Diversity Alliance alongside Evander Kane in hopes of addressing racial intolerance that takes place in the world of hockey. Now, Aliu teams up with fellow activist Colin Kaepernick to bring his own life story to the page with the release of Dreamer.
The children's graphic novel illustrates the story of Akim Aliu, tracing his life from his childhood growing up between Ukraine and Toronto, tracking the racism he's experienced in both parts of the world, further injustices he faced as a Black hockey player, and how he overcame all of it to become a household name in spite of the treatment he's endured. Dreamer features a creative team that includes Greg Anderson Elysée (Is'nana the Were-Spider) co-writing alongside Akim Aliu while Karen De la Vega provides the artwork. Cover art courtesy of CBR can be seen previewed below. Dreamer drops in local comic book shops and digital stores starting February 7th, 2023, with pre-orders available now through Amazon.
With both ex-NHL player Akim Aliu and ex-NFL Super Bowl superstar Colin Kaepernick using their platforms to put a spotlight on activism, this feels like a natural collaboration and certainly an educational one at that. Topics like racism can be complicated for even some adults to understand, but by marketing a book like this for the 8-12 age group, Kaepernick and Aliu's collaboration has the potential to help mold a new generation of readers to grow to understand these ideas from an early age.
There is no doubt that the two star athletes who have led a prominent path of social justice are capable of doing justice for a story with such a sensitive subject matter. For Aliu, no one knows the story better than himself as a writer, while the NFL quarterback already has an amazing track record with stories like this, previously turning I Color Myself Different into a New York Times Bestseller. Colin Kaepernick's collaboration with Akim Aliu is sure to mean a great deal to fans of comics and sports worldwide.
Dreamer hits shelves on February 7 in 2023.
Source: CBR