Ershad
Junior Member
:salam2:
Launched as a comic-book series in the Middle East by Kuwaiti-born psychologist Naif Al-Mutawa in 2006, The 99 has found a following that's just as international as its group of heroes.
Powered by magic gemstones, each member of The 99 hails from a different country and is a literal version of one of the 99 attributes of Allah. For example, Jabbar the Powerful from Saudi Arabia is super-strong, Hadya the Guide is a London woman who's also a walking GPS, and Darr the Afflicter (a guy from St. Louis named John Weller) inflicts his "painwave" on evildoers.
But they're not just limited to comics anymore. A theme park based on The 99 opened in Kuwait in 2009, and a second park in the region is now in the discussion phase. Al-Mutawa and his heroes were the subject of the documentary Wham! Bam! Islam! (which premieres Oct. 13 on PBS), and the animated feature The 99: Unbound will be unveiled to American audiences on Oct. 2 at the New York Film Festival.
"If I had these kinds of expectations, I'd be the one locked up at Bellevue and not the one seeing the patients there," quips Al-Mutawa, who hatched the idea for The 99 with his sister Samar in the back of a London cab in 2003.
"I knew that by creating it the way I create it — they're from 99 different countries, stuff like that — that it could one day maybe be able to be a global thing. It wasn't so much that I thought I could do something global. It was more trying to protect myself against what happens in my part of the world."
Al-Mutawa, 40, is himself a pretty worldly guy — these days, he divides time between Kuwait and New York City. His education has been mostly in the USA, including a doctorate in psychology from Long Island University, two master's degrees from Columbia and a love for comics that dates back to attending a Jewish summer camp in New Hampshire when he was 9. (His first comic: an adaptation of the Bible.)
Risky on many levels
When he was rounding up comic-book writers such as Fabian Nicieza and Stuart Moore and $7 million in initial capital from investors, Al-Mutawa knew The 99 was a risky venture, both financially and culturally, especially in Muslim countries because of the subject matter. It was important to him that this new franchise give Arab children new heroes and teach about Muslim principles in a post-9/11 world.
He expected a lot of flak — he likens the situation to white blood cells attacking something new introduced to the human body.
"We also have people in our communities who are the white blood cells who will attack anything that's foreign and new," Al-Mutawa says. "This is repackaging something they felt shouldn't be repackaged, and no one had actually taken that initiative.
"I'm one of those people who believes that the only way to beat extremism is through arts and culture. That's what happened in Europe during the Reformation and the Renaissance, and that's what has to happen in the Muslim world."
Yet The 99 was never really banned in the Arab world, he says.
It wasn't approved to get into Saudi Arabia for a while, but now a network will air the first season of The 99 animated series — the first four episodes make up the Unbound movie — in that country and in others in the Middle East this fall. In addition, Cartoon Network bought the rights to air the show in Asia, and the cartoon also will air in Australia and Ireland.
The one place where Al-Mutawa has met the most resistance? The superhero-loving USA.
The 99 has even teamed with Batman and Superman in a crossover series with DC Comics' Justice League to appeal to fans in the USA, but Al-Mutawa says some have attacked him for promoting sharia law to American kids, even though he has made sure religion doesn't play a major role in the comics or the cartoon. (The Hub, an American cable venture from Discovery and Hasbro, bought the rights to The 99 animated series last year, but as of yet has no plans to air it.)
"I'm not on my turf here," Al-Mutawa says. "I've met these same kind of people in my part of the world, and I've been able to give like I get. I don't want to say I won the battle, but there's a truce there. They understand I'm not the bad guy.
"The stuff that we're being accused of, like we're out there trying to radicalize young children? Some of the responses on the blogs was stuff like, 'We can't let the Muslims brainwash our children like the Mexicans did with Dora the Explorer.'"
However, The 99 won't "radicalize" anybody, "unless your definition of radicalism means to tolerate other people," says Stan Berkowitz, story editor on The 99 animated series.
A superhero subtext
A writer on American shows such as Justice League and Batman Beyond, Berkowitz says every superhero story has subtext, and he particularly likes the underlying themes of The 99.
"The Superman story, the subtext is the Moses story, finding the child in the basket. The Batman subtext is about vengeance," he says. "This one, it's not about the fight of the weak or who has what power. It's about everyone finding a gift, a skill or talent that they have and then developing it."
Al-Mutawa's five sons, ages 2½ to 14, are all fans of The 99. "I told my wife, 'Five down, 94 to go,' but she's not interested," he jokes.
But he also has an admirer in President Obama, a comics lover who gave a shout-out to The 99 last year during a presidential summit on entrepreneurship.
"When you're in school and you write something great, your teacher says, 'Good job' and gives you a happy face," Al-Mutawa says. "That was like getting three happy faces."
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-09-19/the-99-muslim-inspired-superheroes/50471634/1
Launched as a comic-book series in the Middle East by Kuwaiti-born psychologist Naif Al-Mutawa in 2006, The 99 has found a following that's just as international as its group of heroes.
Powered by magic gemstones, each member of The 99 hails from a different country and is a literal version of one of the 99 attributes of Allah. For example, Jabbar the Powerful from Saudi Arabia is super-strong, Hadya the Guide is a London woman who's also a walking GPS, and Darr the Afflicter (a guy from St. Louis named John Weller) inflicts his "painwave" on evildoers.
But they're not just limited to comics anymore. A theme park based on The 99 opened in Kuwait in 2009, and a second park in the region is now in the discussion phase. Al-Mutawa and his heroes were the subject of the documentary Wham! Bam! Islam! (which premieres Oct. 13 on PBS), and the animated feature The 99: Unbound will be unveiled to American audiences on Oct. 2 at the New York Film Festival.
"If I had these kinds of expectations, I'd be the one locked up at Bellevue and not the one seeing the patients there," quips Al-Mutawa, who hatched the idea for The 99 with his sister Samar in the back of a London cab in 2003.
"I knew that by creating it the way I create it — they're from 99 different countries, stuff like that — that it could one day maybe be able to be a global thing. It wasn't so much that I thought I could do something global. It was more trying to protect myself against what happens in my part of the world."
Al-Mutawa, 40, is himself a pretty worldly guy — these days, he divides time between Kuwait and New York City. His education has been mostly in the USA, including a doctorate in psychology from Long Island University, two master's degrees from Columbia and a love for comics that dates back to attending a Jewish summer camp in New Hampshire when he was 9. (His first comic: an adaptation of the Bible.)
Risky on many levels
When he was rounding up comic-book writers such as Fabian Nicieza and Stuart Moore and $7 million in initial capital from investors, Al-Mutawa knew The 99 was a risky venture, both financially and culturally, especially in Muslim countries because of the subject matter. It was important to him that this new franchise give Arab children new heroes and teach about Muslim principles in a post-9/11 world.
He expected a lot of flak — he likens the situation to white blood cells attacking something new introduced to the human body.
"We also have people in our communities who are the white blood cells who will attack anything that's foreign and new," Al-Mutawa says. "This is repackaging something they felt shouldn't be repackaged, and no one had actually taken that initiative.
"I'm one of those people who believes that the only way to beat extremism is through arts and culture. That's what happened in Europe during the Reformation and the Renaissance, and that's what has to happen in the Muslim world."
Yet The 99 was never really banned in the Arab world, he says.
It wasn't approved to get into Saudi Arabia for a while, but now a network will air the first season of The 99 animated series — the first four episodes make up the Unbound movie — in that country and in others in the Middle East this fall. In addition, Cartoon Network bought the rights to air the show in Asia, and the cartoon also will air in Australia and Ireland.
The one place where Al-Mutawa has met the most resistance? The superhero-loving USA.
The 99 has even teamed with Batman and Superman in a crossover series with DC Comics' Justice League to appeal to fans in the USA, but Al-Mutawa says some have attacked him for promoting sharia law to American kids, even though he has made sure religion doesn't play a major role in the comics or the cartoon. (The Hub, an American cable venture from Discovery and Hasbro, bought the rights to The 99 animated series last year, but as of yet has no plans to air it.)
"I'm not on my turf here," Al-Mutawa says. "I've met these same kind of people in my part of the world, and I've been able to give like I get. I don't want to say I won the battle, but there's a truce there. They understand I'm not the bad guy.
"The stuff that we're being accused of, like we're out there trying to radicalize young children? Some of the responses on the blogs was stuff like, 'We can't let the Muslims brainwash our children like the Mexicans did with Dora the Explorer.'"
However, The 99 won't "radicalize" anybody, "unless your definition of radicalism means to tolerate other people," says Stan Berkowitz, story editor on The 99 animated series.
A superhero subtext
A writer on American shows such as Justice League and Batman Beyond, Berkowitz says every superhero story has subtext, and he particularly likes the underlying themes of The 99.
"The Superman story, the subtext is the Moses story, finding the child in the basket. The Batman subtext is about vengeance," he says. "This one, it's not about the fight of the weak or who has what power. It's about everyone finding a gift, a skill or talent that they have and then developing it."
Al-Mutawa's five sons, ages 2½ to 14, are all fans of The 99. "I told my wife, 'Five down, 94 to go,' but she's not interested," he jokes.
But he also has an admirer in President Obama, a comics lover who gave a shout-out to The 99 last year during a presidential summit on entrepreneurship.
"When you're in school and you write something great, your teacher says, 'Good job' and gives you a happy face," Al-Mutawa says. "That was like getting three happy faces."
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-09-19/the-99-muslim-inspired-superheroes/50471634/1
