Vixen: Return of the Lion #1
Vixen: Return of the Lion #1 marks the first time Mari McCabe (Vixen) headlined her own solo DC miniseries, giving a character who had spent decades as a supporting player and team member a narrative built entirely around her heritage, trauma, and identity. Written by G. Willow Wilson — at that point early in her superhero comics career, fresh off the Vertigo graphic novel Cairo and the launch of Air — the issue signals that DC was willing to invest in one of its few Black female leads with a story rooted in African mythology and post-colonial warlordism rather than standard cape-and-cowl adventure. The issue also introduces villain Aku Kwesi and supporting characters Abiesa and Sia as new additions to the DC Universe, expanding Vixen's corner of the DCU for the first time in a meaningful way. Although the miniseries did not spawn an ongoing series, it stands as the deepest solo exploration of Mari McCabe's Zambesian origins in her publishing history and was a notable early entry in Wilson's body of work before she became widely recognized as the co-creator of Ms. Marvel.
"Return of the Lion Part 1: Predators" kicks off a bold new chapter for Vixen as she returns to her homeland of Zambesi after a raid on an Intergang warehouse uncovers long-buried secrets about her mother’s death. Written by G. Willow Wilson and brought to life by Cafu’s dynamic art and Santiago Arcas’s vivid colors, the story finds Vixen reconnecting with an old ally while facing a dangerous new foe in the warlord Aku Kweisi. The cover by Joshua Middleton captures the intensity of her return.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.49–$10.56 13 listings
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
DC editorial handed Wilson a specific springboard — Vixen returns to Africa — and then allowed her to build the story from there, tying it directly into the Anansi plotline that had been running through Dwayne McDuffie's concurrent Justice League of America run, in which the trickster god had been covertly manipulating the powers of both Vixen and Animal Man. Artist CAFU, who had been working on Marvel's Black Panther, was brought over for the series, with editor Joan Hilty and assistant editor Mark Doyle overseeing the project; the cover for each issue was provided by Joshua Middleton. The miniseries was originally solicited as five issues, though subsequent issues' indicia listed it as six — an internal production discrepancy noted in DC's own database — and the complete story was collected in a trade paperback released in December 2009.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published October 1, 2008; cover-dated December 2008. Written by G. Willow Wilson; interior art and inks by CAFU; colors by Santiago Arcas; cover art by Joshua Middleton. Edited by Joan Hilty with Mark Doyle as assistant editor.
- First appearance of Aku Kwesi (villain/warlord), Abiesa (Vixen's childhood friend), and Sia (Kwesi's lieutenant) — all new DCU characters introduced in this issue.
- The series represents the first solo headlining miniseries for Vixen (Mari McCabe) in DC Comics history; despite decades of Justice League membership and guest appearances dating back to Action Comics #521 (1981), she had never carried her own title before.
- The story is set in continuity following the Anansi arc in McDuffie's Justice League of America, in which the trickster god Anansi had been secretly manipulating Vixen's and Animal Man's abilities — events Wilson explicitly picks up and builds on.
- CAFU was drawn to the project from his previous work on Marvel's Black Panther; his linework was noted for its fluid depiction of motion and the visual texture of the African savannah setting.
- The chapter title for issue #1 is 'Predators'; Vixen is sent back to the Dagombi Plains of Zambesi for the first time in roughly a decade in-story, where she confronts Aku Kwesi and discovers he possesses animal-based powers analogous to those granted by the Tantu Totem.
- The complete five-issue miniseries was collected in a trade paperback (ISBN 9781401225124), released December 16, 2009, and the individual issues were reprinted in that same collection.
- Vixen: Return of the Lion #1 was one of G. Willow Wilson's first superhero comics for DC's main DCU line, predating her later celebrated work co-creating Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel (2014) by more than five years.
Cast · 4 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Vixen: Return of the Lion #[nn] (2010)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.