Cultural Understanding Through Comic Books?
By Lisha Arino - Aug 8th, 2008 at 12:35 pmTime magazine reports on an Islamic comic book series called The 99, in which the superheroes are “endowed with Muslim traits and virtues.” Each of these superheroes personifies one of the 99 qualities attributed to God in the Koran, strengthened by gemstones imbued with knowledge from the House of Wisdom in Iraq, the largest library in Baghdad, which was ransacked in 1258 during the Mongol invasion of the city.
According to the series’ plotline, the librarians anticipated the attack and so created the magical gemstones, which would hold the essence of each book, as a means to preserve the library’s collection. Over the years, the stones were lost and thought only to be legend by most historians. The stones do exist, however, and the heroes work to find all of the 99 gemstones before their arch-nemesis Rughal does.
Despite the inspiration for the comic’s characters, there are no overt references to religion in the series. According to the series’ creator, Naif Al-Mutawa, this is because the characters personify “values that we all share.”
Mutawa’s characters come from all over the world, diverse not only in their nationalities but in their backgrounds as well. Noora is a teenager from the United Arab Emirates who is “spoiled rotten” by her father, while Jami’s parents, who worked for the Hungarian government, left him a special facility to develop his science and engineering skills, but also to escape parental responsibilities. Raqib works for the Canadian government, and in Indonesia Fatah uses his abilities to keep his parents in the dark about his activities.
The series has been a success in the Persian Gulf region, according to Time, with about 500,000 copies distributed in the past two years. According to Mutawa licenses have also been sold to India, Bangladesh, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Spain, and France.
I think the series has a real chance of success, at least here in the U.S. Its premise is intriguing and its marketing as an “Islamic” comic book will certainly pique the curiosity of many, causing them to at least check it out. Furthermore, the series’ success in the Gulf region proves its appeal to those with a connection to Muslim culture, but judging from what I read (an issue is available as a free download on their website) it is also accessible to those who don’t have one.
It’s too early for me to judge the series’ on its merits–the free online issue provides little more than a general back story–but considering that amount of ignorance about Islam and the lack of positive depictions in the media, I really hope it lives up to the hype.
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