One might say cartoons and Islam have a rather testy relationship. In early 2006, the Muslim world erupted in protest when Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten printed cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in less-than-flattering caricatures. While this affair played out worldwide, grabbing international headlines, it completely pushed aside the release of another cartoon related to Islam, one a whole lot more colorful and positive.

If you googled ‘Islamic comics’ around that time, you were bombarded with search results about the Danish controversy. But, a tenacious searcher would have also found a New York Times story published on January 22 about a revolutionary new comic strip from the Arab world, called The 99. The big deal? It is the first superhero-based comic strip created with Islamic values and ideals in mind — a rarity in an industry dominated by American and Japanese authors.

“If you look at superheroes today, there are two groups. The group that comes out of North America and the group that comes out of Japan,” says Dr. Naif Mutawa, children’s writer, therapist and creator of the Islamic comic. “The group from North America are based on a Judeo-Christian-Greek back story. Like the prophets, all the super heroes are orphans. And all of them, like the prophets, have a miracle delivered to them from above through a messenger.”

Recognizing that using religion as an archetype for modern-day storytelling was nothing new, Mutawa created the concept of The 99 blending fiction with historical events in Islamic history. Aimed primarily at nine- to 12-year-olds, the comic narrates the story of 99 gems scattered throughout the world, each embodying one of the 99 characteristics of Allah. The narrative begins with the thirteenth century sacking of Baghdad and the Spanish crusades, but the backdrop for the action is 2007 — 99 individuals living in 99 different countries who become superheroes upon possessing one of these gems. There’s Mumita the Destroyer who hails from Portugal, Noora the Light from the United Arab Emirates and Darr the Afflictor from the United States.

The 99 gems scattered around the world are a metaphor for the spread of Islam, and the comic goes as far as to personify the modern diaspora of Muslims — one of the characters is from Sudan but grew up in France, and multicultural backgrounds are found in several characters.

Mutawa’s comic distribution company, Teshkeel Media, is already earning millions of dollars. In a telephone interview with Egypt Today, the 35-year-old Kuwaiti admits he came up with the idea for The 99 in a taxi in London. At that point, Mutawa had under his belt a background in writing and publishing children’s stories, three post-graduate degrees, including an MBA from Ivy League Columbia University and a doctorate, and he had just finished working with survivors of political torture from the 1991 Gulf War. Yet, “It was the summer of 2003, I was 32 years old, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.” Mutawa recounts how his sister reminded him of his desire to go back to writing and illustrating, but Mutawa wanted to create a concept that did justice to his academic accomplishments.

He still remembers the exact sequence of thoughts in his mind, sitting in that London cab four years ago. “For me to go back now, after all this education, it had to be a concept that had the potential of Pokemon. Because I said Pokemon, my next thought was that there had been a fatwa against Pokemon in some Islamic market. My next thought was, ‘What has happened to Islam, and who gave these people the right to make these decisions?’ My next thought was how disappointed Allah must be. My next thought was Allah had 99 attributes. That brought me full circle back to Pokemon ironically, which has a concept of a few hundred attributes. So in that cab ride I had the beginnings of an idea. I turned to my sister and asked her, ‘What do you think about this?’”

Idea in mind, Mutawa set about writing “the business plan, the financial plan. I wrote the concept on my own, I wrote the character bible, and I pitched to investors.” It worked. Mutawa acquired an initial financing of $7 million from 54 investors in eight different countries, including Egypt. Knowing that bringing The 99 to life would take a few years, Mutawa established Teshkeel Media and, using his contacts from business school, became the official licensee of Marvel comics in the Middle East. One year ago, in November 2006, the first issue of The 99 was released throughout the MENA region; today, the company is on the twelfth installment, having released one a month.

A love for writing and illustrating aside, why did Mutawa feel the need to create a specifically ‘Muslim’ comic? Mutawa explains how, after 10 years of working as a therapist, he “left the experience feeling that our part of the world lacked modern-day role models.” It became a matter of urgency when Mutawa came across a newspaper story about a Hamas supporter in Palestine who was reportedly distributing a children’s book with stickers of suicide bombers as heroes. The father of four decided there and then that he needed to create alternative, positive role models, if only for his own children.

It’s hard to ignore the plethora of ‘Muslim’ products on the market today. Consumers enjoy Muslim chocolate (Ummah chocolates), there’s Muslim soda (Mecca Cola), there are even Muslim ‘boy bands’ (too many to list, really). And now there’s the Muslim comic. Overkill?

On the contrary, Mutawa believes, explaining that although The 99 is based on Islamic culture, history and ideals, its themes are universal. “It’s Islamic only because it’s not Judeo-Christian. It’s about basic human values; it doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim or not.”

But how will audiences outside the Arab world, particularly the youth in Western markets, receive superheroes who go by alien names such as ‘Jabbar’ or wear hijab? “You have to change the name, someone told me. They won’t buy Jabbar,” he laughs, dismissing such criticism. The artist knows the typical stereotypes attached to Islam and Muslims, and has been careful not to push the same ideas in his comic — of the 99 heroes, almost half are female, 31 of whom wear hijab. Rather than giving the women typical feminine superhero powers such as Karim (generous) or Latif (gentle), Mutawa has created Mumita the Destroyer. “There’s none of this archaic, patriarchal view of the world. The idea is Islam takes on as many faces as the places it is in,” the creator explains.

Mutawa hopes these comics will foster a more positive view of Islam around the world. The attributes found in the comic characters, “strength, wisdom, generosity, foresight, dozens of others, are unfortunately not used to describe Islam in the media today.” That is something Mutawa clearly hopes to change with the comics which he once described in an interview with Reuters as “a metaphor for the spreading of Islam without mentioning Islam. These comics have no mention of Islam or the Prophet [PBUH] or prayer.”

Conquering the Western market then, isn’t that complicated. The real challenge lies at home. Until recently, Archie comics were banned in Saudi Arabia. Today it is distributed freely, albeit with longer skirts and sleeves colored onto Betty and Veronica. However, the full magazine format of The 99 is still awaiting approval, with the comic strip only available as part of Arab News, the country’s largest circulation English language newspaper.

The comic has come under attack — attempts to impersonate God’s power using human beings on earth are not warmly greeted by hardliners. But Mutawa defends his characters, claiming their powers are “not absolute. The characters cannot do anything on their own. They are fallible.

“Allah is Al-Karim [The Generous]. Someone can also be karim, but not as much as Allah. Someone cannot create life like Allah.” To appease the religious critics, it is expected that the comic series will ultimately only feature a maximum of 70 heroes, implying that only in God can all 99 attributes come together.

Such mentalities have constrained creativity in the Arab world, where expression has largely been limited to literature, poetry and only recently, cinema. In a Wall Street Journal editorial, Roya Hakakian speaks of a “cultural handicap” placed on the Arab world because of this restraint, and welcomes the entry of The 99 into the region, hoping that Mutawa and Teshkeel Media “will open a space for drawing and illustration.”

The religious challenge is also accompanied by a cultural stumbling block. Comics in the Arab world have not enjoyed as significant a place in pop culture as in the US. No one is denying that cartoons and comics have existed in the Arab world long before Teshkeel came into existence — characters 3Ala’idin and Samir were the Arab alternative to Archie, and there has even been an Arab Mickey Mouse known as Miki. And one cannot forget (no matter how hard you try) the personification of political figures such as Nasser and Saddam Hussein as comic strip ‘heroes.’ But that was more politics than actual comic art. While Islamic comics abound (including animals wearing hijab), it would be accurate to say that no other comic before The 99 has adopted the traditional superhero character with superhuman powers, portrayed in a continuing storyline running over months, even years.

Neither has any comic been produced with the quality and artistic professionalism presented by the creators of The 99. Mutawa has hired big-industry names to brand his comic, many of whom have worked for Marvel Comics, including the artist who originally drew up The 99’s characters, Dan Panosian, a contributor to X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Hulk.

But doesn’t nurturing local Arab/Muslim talent have a role to play in Mutawa’s mission? “I haven’t really found anyone that I can work with, but we’re looking. For me, it wasn’t important to find Arabs or Muslims. The important thing was to find top-tier talent. I wasn’t looking at this from a nationalist perspective. We’re more after the global market.”

And luckily for Mutawa and his all-star cast, not everyone is beating down the religious door in anger. Mutawa received a second batch of financing recently for the sum of $18 million from an Islamic investment bank. The bank, which also has a Shariah board, approved the financing and deemed Teshkeel Media as ‘Islamic.’ In fact, Egypt has been their biggest market for The 99, so far.

In the works are plans to launch an animated television series based on the comic, targeted for broadcast by Ramadan 2009. Last month, The 99 made its US debut, where 40,000 free copies were distributed, and talks are in place for Turkey and Malaysia. It is already circulating in Indonesia, having been translated into Bahasa Indonesia. The comic, like the 99 gems it talks about, is reaching comic fans far and wide. “We sold Spanish company Montichelvo the rights to develop back-to-school stationery and gift products based on The 99.”

That, Mutawa proclaims proudly, is globalization.  et

The 99 is available widely in Egypt, sold at most major newsstands and supermarkets in both English (LE 14) and Arabic (LE 7).