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First Middle Eastern superheroes make foray onto newsstands

Jalila was having a bad day. First, there’d been a break-in at the nuclear power plant where she worked. Then she came home to find her brother was using drugs again, and had passed out on the couch – and when he awoke to find she’d flushed his stash down the toilet, he slapped her.

Now, considering that Jalila can shoot bolts of radiation from her hands, fly through the air and outfight a dozen assailants, this might have been a hasty move on his part – but she forgave him.

After all, he’s almost the only family she has left since the Dimondona nuclear blast at the end of the 55-year war killed their parents.

Jalila, a Wonder Woman-like super babe, is part of a new pantheon of Middle Eastern superheroes introduced in Egypt and the US earlier this year by Cairo-based AK Comics. The comic books are printed in both Arabic and English versions and, according to their creator, represent the first “superheroes” – in the modern, secular sense – from the Middle East.

“It’s actually a dream I’ve had since childhood,” said the 38-year-old hero-maker, who, like his creations, maintains a secret identity (by day, he’s a university economics professor). “I grew up with DC Comics,” he explained, referring to the institution that gave the world Superman, adding that the Middle East needed similar role models for young readers.

His four super characters were initially described as the first “Arab” superheroes, but, he noted, he has since modified the concept. “They’re not meant to be Arab per se, they’re supposed to be ‘Middle Eastern’ – it’s a little bit of a sensitive issue.”

Three of the heroes live in a futuristic Middle East, at peace after decades of struggle. Besides Jalila, there is Zein, 14,000-year-old Pharaoh and defender of Egypt, and Aya, a highly trained crime fighter who goes after the region’s criminals. “The whole concept goes back to the issue of a large, peaceful Middle East. It’s a vision I’ve had all my life,” he said, adding that the religious and ethnic backgrounds of the characters was deliberately kept vague.

In some cases, the metaphors are obvious, like the Jerusalem-esque “City of All Faiths,” in which Muslims, Christians and Jews live in harmony, and which Jalila must defend from the depredations of the dreaded United Liberation Front and the Army of Zios. In Jalila #1, these two evil forces are described as “still clinging to their extreme views, both wanting to solely control the City of All Faiths.”

While the characters’ creator concedes that Zios could be a loose reference to Zionism, he added, “It wasn’t meant to be anything so obvious, but maybe that’s what they had in mind.” He went on to say that the bad guys’ characters weren’t his idea.

AK Comics’ fourth flagship hero, the Conan-like Rakan, meanwhile, wanders a Middle East during the aftermath of the Mongol invasions of the Middle Ages, wracked by savage battles between Turks, Mongols and Crusaders. When asked if there were any political messages here, the creator said, “I thought maybe I could reflect from the future to some point in the past, when things were quite similar to how they are today.”

When the comics were exhibited at this year’s Comicon comic-book festival in California, (AK was the first ever Egyptian company to participate), they garnered a great deal of interest among American comic-book fans. “We sold more Arabic versions than English,” read a statement from AK’s US distribution partner, Studio G.

According to AK Comics managing director Ayman Al Nashar, this was part of the original business plan, which hoped to target Arab-American readers interested in developing their Arabic language skills, along with comic-book fans with Middle East-specific interests. Eventually, the hope is to distribute the serials in other countries as well. “That’s where we want to be in – maybe – 10 years,” said Al Nashar. “We’ll have a strong line of comics, distributed globally, maybe in several languages – something that hasn’t really been done by the big comics.”

The comic books were first marketed in the US, but the company had difficulty getting a foothold in the crowded American superhero market. AK, therefore, changed tactics, introducing the comic books in Egypt first, before eventually bringing them back to the US.

Over the past few months, sales in Egypt have increased steadily. While the first issue sold only a few hundred copies, according to Al Nashar, by August, the company was selling 35 percent of its 8,000-copy print run – even before students had returned from summer holidays. National carrier EgyptAir, meanwhile, has also commissioned 10,000 copies a month for distribution on flights.

According to Hind Wassef, manager of Zamalek’s Diwan bookstore, the comics have received a lot of attention. “I think people are very interested,” she said, noting, “Customers don’t just come to buy one issue.” So far, 50 percent of the comic books’ sales have been through Diwan.

While superhero-based comic books generally target young males, there was evidence that at least some girls, too, were interested – particularly in the buxom female crime fighters. “Jalila is someone who does serious things and defends her country,” said nine-year-old Alaa Mohammed after reading the comic, noting that the series was much more serious than Mickey Mouse, the reigning star of the Cairo comics scene. The heroine’s gender also appealed to Mai Aboul Fotouh, 13. “Usually superheroes are men,” she said. “It’s nice to find a woman for a change.”

According to Al Nashar, the original concept always envisioned strong female characters. “We’re stressing on gender equality. Both the women are successful: one’s a scientist, one’s a lawyer,” he pointed out.

Focus groups have also had a positive response to the comic books because they are set in places familiar to local audiences. “It’s very exciting to see images of Egypt or the Arab world on the covers, such as the Baron palace and the Egyptian museum,” said Al Nashar.

While the animated serials primarily target younger readers, Al Nashar said the company tries not to neglect potential older ones as well. “We try to be more sophisticated; to appeal to the older age groups by having plots and characters with more depth.” In the tradition of the classic American comic-book heroes, AK’s superheroes – when not in costume – are depicted with real lives, often suffering from problems familiar to everyone, like Jalila and her brother’s drug habit.

Currently, artwork for the comics is outsourced to studios in Brazil and California, but plans are in the works to train Egyptian artists, in the hope of eventually producing the comics locally.

While the look of the heroes – with their impressive physiques and tight clothing – may be familiar to comic book fans in the US, some concessions have been made to local sensibilities. In the Arabic-language editions, for example, in contrast to their English-language counterparts, Aya’s and Jalila’s bare midriffs are covered.

While Al Nashar acknowledges that the comics will probably never be marketed in Saudi Arabia, he hopes to eventually distribute them elsewhere in the region.

One barrier to wider distribution in Egypt is the price. Currently, the Arabic-language versions sell for £E 4, while the cover price for the English editions is £E 5 – prices which no doubt serve to restrict readership. For now, the comics can be found in bookstores in Zamalek, at local toy stores and amusement parks, such as Merryland and Dream Park, as well as on whatever newsstands agree to carry them.

Meanwhile, the company has to deal with fresh competition from US-based DC Comics, which has recently issued new, Arabic-language versions of world-famous heroes Batman and Superman, which sell for a mere £E 2. AK, therefore, is now experimenting with a £E 1 black-and-white edition for the lower-income market. “It’s actually the cheapest thing on the market now,” affirmed Al Nashar, adding that, with each page costing $30 to $80 to produce, cover prices can only be trimmed so much.

One criticism made by readers has to do with the language. The English versions, for example, have a surprising number of typos – something the company ascribes to the necessity of doing the typesetting in Brazil. This, say AK officials, should be remedied once production is shifted to Egypt.
According to Adel Abdel Moneim, a long-time Arabic-language instructor, the Arabic versions, too, are far from flawless. “They have to work on the language a little bit,” he said. “It’s a bit awkward,” and difficult for younger readers.

A devoted comic-book reader in his childhood, Abdel Moneim was also surprised that the authors didn’t base their characters more on the rich heritage found in Arab and Islamic legends and epics. Still, anything that gets children reading is a good thing, he said, adding, “It would be good if [the comics] created... a tradition of local superheroes.”

For now, AK Comics is putting out only a single issue a month, which means that, for those following a particular title, like Rakan, there is a four-month interim between issues – a long time to wait for most comic book fans. The hope is that, as production glitches are smoothed out, an issue from each series will appear on a monthly basis. There is also talk of an animated TV series and a computer game featuring AK characters.

If initial reactions are anything to go by, there could soon be an eager audience waiting every month for the latest exploits of this new breed of Middle Eastern champions.

Paul Schemm

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