Kwaku Anansi is the West African spider god. He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the spirit of all stories, as well as the god of lies and mischief. Anansi is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. He is the first spider, but often acts and appears as a man. The Anansi tales originated from the Ashanti people of present-day Ghana. The word Ananse is Akan and means “spider.” Anansi is depicted in many different forms. Sometimes he appears as an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face, and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.
Note: My 8-bit depiction of Anansi is based on Kwaku Anansi, an alternate-universe Spider-Man based on the West African legend, from Marvel’s Earth-7082 universe. He first appeared in a 2007 Spider-Man Fairy Tales comic book. There can be only one: Kwaku Anansi vs. Spider-Man.
