The 99, An Islamic Comic Book For The Masses

Kids love comic books. For the past five years children in the Middle East have had The 99, a series whose superheroes have Islamic qualities created by Kuwait-born businessman Naif Al-Mutawa. The 99 is now going global.

The Koran attributes 99 qualities to God. The 99 has characters that personify one of each of these qualities.

Five years ago when the comic started it was feared that the series would mock Islam. That fear was unfounded as creator Mutawa made sure his work was respectful of religion. In the beginning the comics were given away for free with the Arabic versions of Marvel comics. Mutawa owns the license for the region which made that an easy to do matter. Today it is sold on its own merit, 500,000 copies have been sold or given away in the past two years.

Mutawa has some big plans for his comic. First off is six theme parks. The first will open this October in Kuwait. He is also planning a television show that will be playing by late 2010. But first he hopes that the comics themselves sell globally. He already has licenses to sell them in India, Bangladesh, France, Spain, the U.K., the United States and Canada. He believes that the characters will appeal to kids of all backgrounds, not just those who are Islamic.

The storyline of The 99 is based in Islamic history. In 1258 Baghdad was invaded by the Mongols. The series has 99 gemstones that are encrypted with Baghdad’s wisdom and power scattered all over the globe.

While the qualities represented by the gemstones are of Allah’s myriad attributes there is no mention of any religion in the tales.

“I used an Islamic archetype, but the actual stories don’t show any Islam, because they are based on values that we all share.” Even Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, he says, “are based on religious archetypes. Like the prophets from the Bible, they are all orphans. Superman left his parents on the planet Krypton, and Batman sees his father and mother gunned down in front of him.”

The goal of the series is to teach youngsters that there are 99 ways to solve a problem, a virtue of the Islamic religion. Team work and combining your talents with others can also be considered a virtue of other cultures.

The characters in The 99 hail from all over the world. They are all Muslims. There are 50 female superheroes in the series, only five wear a burqa.

“Even though there are approximately 50 female superheroes, only five will be covered in that way,” says Mutawa. “I want to send the message out that there is not only one way to be Muslim.”

Jim Kuhoric the purchasing director at Diamond Comic Distributors believes that Mutawa has a global winner on his hands.

“Not only are the stories entertaining and the art extraordinary,” he says, “but the 99 have also enabled others to understand a wider vision than what they are normally exposed to through the medium, and helped to promote cultural understanding and acceptance.”