Everybody may remember the exciting feeling in one’s childhood when a new comic book came out. Well, as visual culture is taking over, comics are getting more and more part also of the grown-up world.

Comics are used in political, religious and social contexts.

Comic Republic, a Nigerian comics startup based in Lagos, is creating a universe of superheroes for Africans and black readers around the world. The cast of characters ranges from Guardian Prime, a 25-year old Nigerian fashion designer by day who uses his extraordinary strength to fight for a better Nigeria, to Hilda Avonomemi Moses, a woman from a remote village in Edo state who can see spirits, and Marcus Chigozie, a privileged but angry teenager who can move at supersonic speeds.“I thought about when I was young and what I used to make my decisions on: What would Superman do, what would Batman do? I thought, why not African superheroes?” Chief executive Jide Martin, who founded the company in 2013. Its tagline is, “We can all be heroes.”

So far, companies have asked Comic Republic to create comics for their products and NGOs have asked for help illustrating public health risks like malaria.

Lagos now hosts an annual Comic Con for the comic and entertainment industry. Kenya hosted one for the first time in 2015.

“This Modern World” is the title of the weekly political comic strip by Tom Tomorrow, pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins. It comments on current events and often ridicules those in power, the strip also focuses on the average American’s support for contemporary leaders and their policies, as well as the popular media’s role in shaping public perception. The cartoon appears regularly in over 90 newspapers across the United States and Canada

Also Apple created illustrated comics to make the App Store Review Guidelines more comprehensible. The renewed document/comic book features five different storylines corresponding to the safety, performance, business, design and the legal parts of the guidelines.

Douglas Rushkoff is professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens and lecturing about media, society, and economics around the world. His latest work is the graphic novel “Testament” retelling the Bible as a near-future global conflict over currency and reality itself. Humans and gods struggle to dominate a mythic and relevant narrative both within the panels and between them.

A visual culture embedded from childhood is taking over the world – at the expense of the written word. We got used to an instant picture consumption. Comics are combining visual power with artistic drawings. And their pictures are creating emotions – therefore the best and most efficient way to transmit messages in an entertaining way. The way of communication of the future which we long for.