RIYADH: The first modern Arab comic, “The 99,” created by Kuwaiti psychiatrist Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and featuring a team of superheroes with special abilities based on the 99 attributes of God, was published by Teshkeel Comics in October 2010.
Al-Mutawa was not the first to create superheroes in this way. A number of modern superheroes are based on Greek and Norse mythological figures such as Heracles and Thor while others are built on action heroes gifted with special powers such as Superman or Batman.
The characters in “The 99” include Dr. Ramzi, a scholar and social activist, and the 99 youngsters with special abilities given to them by the “Noor” gemstones, which were lost during the Mongolian invasion of Baghdad.
The evil characters are led by the power-hungry Rughal, who tries to steal the power of the Noor stones for himself. The storyline shows the 99 characters led by Dr. Ramzi in pursuit of social justice and peace against the forces of evil.
The adaptation of superheroes in Arab culture is considered by many to be modest, apart from a few examples such as “One Thousand and One Nights,” “Sinbad the Sailor” and “Aladdin,” which had the usual stereotypes of turban-wearing Arabs riding camels and fighting with curved swords.
In spite of this stereotyping in the entertainment industry, Arabs and Muslims do exist in American comics as superheroes, such as Kamala Khan, who is a Pakistani American superhero known as “Ms. Marvel,” Simon Baz, the Lebanese American who becomes the first Arab member of the Green Lantern Corps, and Sooraya Qadir (Dust), a mutant from Afghanistan who becomes a member of the X-Men.