| |
 |
| Teshkeel Media Group |
| Meet Jabbar and Dana, two of The 99 heroes, along with their trainer, Zoran. The 99, released in November 2006, is a comic book whose heroes and heroines are based on Islamic figures and an event familiar to every schoolchild in the Middle East. Below: Psychologist Naif Al-Mutawa, the founder of The 99, was inspired his patients in America and the Middle East. “Those experiences made me very aware of the lack of heroes, and of the need for them,” he says. He first sketched his business plan on the back of a napkin in New York’s Times Square. |
 |
| Teshkeel Media Group |
Written by Piney Kesting
Photos and Illustrations Courtesy of Teshkeel Media Group
On a cold and chilly day in London, Al-Mutawa and his sister Samar were sharing a cab across town. Samar reminded her brother of his dream to become a writer. “I … had wanted to be a writer since I was a little kid. My parents were very supportive, as long as it was only a hobby,” recalls Al-Mutawa. One thought led to another, and by the time he had stepped out of the cab, the first seeds of The 99 had been planted.
Later that summer, in New York, Al-Mutawa sketched out a business plan for a new type of comic book. His goal: to create a band of superheroes based on Islamic figures, each with one of the 99 qualities that the Qur’an (the sacred text of the religion of Islam) attributes to God. Al-Mutawa talked to several well-known members of the comic-book community, finding support for his concept. Others backed his idea with cash—enough for him to establish Teshkeel Media Group n Kuwait, with The 99 series as its cornerstone.
“From the first moment Naif called and told me about The 99, I thought it was a terrific idea, from both the social and the business point of view,” comments Larry Durocher, former publisher of Rolling Stone magazine and a mentor for Al-Mutawa. Durocher believed the comic book could “be a profound door-opener for people to better understand each other, and to understand what Islam is all about.” Encouraged by the support he found, Al-Mutawa assembled a top-notch team, many of whom had worked for Marvel Comics. Sven Larsen, former director of marketing and creative services at Marvel, signed on. “There is an unmet demand for popular culture based on Islamic and Arabic history,” he said.
 |
 |
 |
| ALEC MARBELLA |
| From left: Tarek Hosni, editor-in-chief at Teshkeel, consults with Al-Mutawa. Mirna Dakik edits copy. Designers Hasaan Kanaan and Mohamed Azab eye a layout for The 99. |
 |
| SVEN LARSEN (2) |
| Illustrator Dan Panosian and writer Fabian Nicieza both worked on numerous Marvel Comics best-sellers. |
 |
Fabian Nicieza, an acclaimed writer in the American comic-book industry who is known for titles such as X-Men and X-Force, joined Al-Mutawa’s team as co-writer of The 99. “I understand how it is when people have not had heroic characters to call their own,” commented Nicieza, who emigrated from Argentina to the United States when he was a child. Working together for more than a year, Nicieza and Al-Mutawa fine-tuned the characters and story line.
The plot of The 99 is built on a historic event—the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258. The storyline focuses on the Mongols under Hülegü Khan entering Baghdad, intent on destroying the city’s great libraries. During the battle, so many books were thrown into the Tigris River that the waters were said to have turned black with ink. What the Mongols did not know was that the librarians, the huras al-hikma (“The Guardians of Wisdom”), had hidden the library’s ancient knowledge in 99 mystical gemstones, called the Noor (“The Light”) Stones. The huras then took the Noor Stones to safety in faraway Granada, in Islamic Spain. There, for centuries, the Noor Stones were concealed inside the dome of the Great Fortress of Knowledge that the huras had built. One fateful day in 1488, as the Spanish army of King Ferdinand approached, the fortress exploded. The huras dispersed across the globe, carrying with them the precious Noor Stones, and no one has heard from them again.
The tale then fast-forwards to the present. A psychiatrist named Dr. Ramzi Razem has spent his life searching for the gems. He believes that they have been found and that each Noor Stone is possessed by a young person living somewhere on the planet. His mission: to find these heroes-to-be and teach them how to use their powers to battle against darkness.
 |
 |
 |
| Teshkeel Media Group |
| From left: Sven Larsen, chief operations officer, Saad Al-Bitar, production supervisor, and Frankie Shum, vice president of finance, guide the two-year-old business, which attracted an initial 54 investors from eight countries. With a click of the mouse, Vivian Salameh begins translating the English script of The 99 to produce the Arabic edition. Days before the launch of The 99, a visitor in Kuwait’s Marina Mall looks over Arabic editions of Marvel comics. |
“Strength, honor, truth, mercy, invention, generosity, wisdom, tolerance—these are some of the superpowers possessed by my heroes,” emphasizes Al-Mutawa. “No one hero has more than a single power….” There are 99 young heroes, from 99 countries and from all walks of life. All are Muslim, but not all are Arabs, and their number is evenly split between girls and boys. As Al-Mutawa explains, whenever these characters collaborate to solve problems there is a message of tolerance and acceptance, a theme central to the series.
 |
| Teshkeel Media Group |
| The 99’s Dr. Ramzi Razem’s search for the bearers of the Noor Stones is fueled by his dreams of bringing peace and a new age of tolerance to mankind. |
Unlike many comic-book heroes, the 99 do not use weapons. “They use the gifts they have within themselves,” Al-Mutawa notes, adding: “The 99 is not about what kids shouldn’t be doing. It’s about learning how to use the power within them to make a difference.”
Nicieza agrees. “I want the readers to understand that when you are young, you don’t always do the right thing,” he says. “You will make mistakes and you will learn from them.” Because these characters are discovering their powers, they are less than perfect, and that allows readers to identify with them, he adds. In the long run, however, the characters band together to do something constructive. “That’s a very important and positive message to send out these days,” Nicieza explains.
Prior to the publication of the first issue of The 99 in 2006, Al-Mutawa, accompanied by two of his four young sons, took a vacation and returned to the New Hampshire summer camp where he had read his first comic book. In a public letter he later wrote, he explained, “The 99 is all about making a conscious choice not to let others define who you are. It is about being proactive in choosing the backdrop against which you are to be judged. Islamic culture and Islamic heritage have a lot to be proud and joyful about. The 99 is about bringing those positive elements into global awareness. I spent the better part of last year telling the world that next Ramadan, the world would have new heroes. Now it does.”
Want to know more about The 99, Kuwait and Naif Al-Mutawa? Check out this short video, produced by PBS, http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kuwait605/index.html.
Note: In the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is the ninth month. During this period, Muslims, followers of Islam, do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.
 |
| Teshkeel Media Group |
| “Ready for the next adventure? Then, let’s go!” Unlike many comic book heroes, the characters in The 99 do not use weapons. Rather, their powers come from the Noor Stones in their possession. |
click here to view the original article
 |
Piney Kestingis a Boston-based freelance writer who found her own Noor Stone the first time she traveled to Lebanon. She has been writing about the Middle East ever since. |
