Africa, the cradle of humankind, is giving birth to a new offspring -- a superhero -- named SuperAfrican. Created by Kenyan singer/songwriter Sila Mutungi, SuperAfrican is debuting in a new, self-titled comic series from Visila Comics on February 25 in conjunction with Mutungi's new music album of the same name. The musician says the idea for his African superhero came from growing up in Kenya as a fan of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man but failing to see many superheroes who looked like him or came from Africa.

"African children face problems hard for people from western countries to even conceive of, such as hunger, drought, genocide, extreme poverty and AIDS," says Mutungi in the afterword for SuperAfrican #1. "And it's about time they had a hero of their own to look to for inspiration."

Set in the year 2045, SuperAfrican will see the titular hero fight against corruption, greed and ecological injustice in across the African continent. The first issue shows the origins of SuperAfrican in the bowels of a diamond mine, where he receives his supernatural powers, as well as his first battles as a superhero against monsters and human villains alike. Mutungi and Visila are donating all net proceeds from the sale of the SuperAfrican comic series to OneMama, a non-profit group whose goal is to provide self-sustaining medical clinics in Uganda for pregnant women and first-time families.

As mentioned earlier, Sila Mutungi is best known as a singer/songwriter.  In a review of his work, the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed him as an "Kenyan funk master" and in 2010 he earned an award from the NAACP. Both the SuperAfrican comic series and album will be available beginning February 25 on Amazon and through the website SuperAfrican.com.