[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Zap! Pow! Islamic superheroes to save the day
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:03:44 +0100
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com
**http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/22/news/comics.php
Zap! Pow! Islamic superheroes to save the day
By Hassan M. Fattah The New York Times
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2006
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates For comic book readers in Arab countries, the
world often looks like this: Superheroes save American cities, battle beasts in
Tokyo, and even on occasion solve crimes in the French countryside. But few
care about saving the Arab world.
If Naif al-Mutawa has his way, that is about to change. Young Arabs will
soon be poring over a new group - and new genre - of superheroes like Jabbar,
Mumita and Ramzi Razem, all aimed specifically at young Muslim readers and
focusing on Muslim virtues.
Mutawa's Teshkeel Media, based in Kuwait, says that in September it will
begin publishing "The 99," a series of comic books based on superhero
characters that battle injustice and fight evil, with each character
personifying one of the 99 qualities that Muslims believe God embodies.
A burly, fast-talking Kuwaiti with a dry wit, Mutawa, 34, said existing
superheroes fall into two main genres: the Judeo-Christian archetype of
individuals with enormous power who are often disguised, like Superman, and the
Japanese archetype of small characters who rely on each other to become
powerful, like Pokemon.
His superhero characters will be based on an Islamic archetype: by
combining individual virtues - everything from wisdom to generosity - they
build collective power that is ultimately an expression of the divine.
"Muslims believe that power is ultimately God, and God has 99 key
attributes," Mutawa said. "Those attributes, if they all come together in one
place, essentially become the unity of God." He stresses that only God has them
all, however, and 30 of the traits deemed uniquely divine will not be embodied
by his characters.
Still, this is tricky territory. Muslim religious authorities reject
attempts to personify the powers of God or combine the word of God in the Koran
with new myths or imaginative renderings more typical of the West.
But Mutawa is seeking to reach youngsters who are straddling the cultural
divide between East and West. They like comics and Western entertainment, and
yet are attached to their roots and intend to hold on to their customs. He,
too, faced that divide, going to summer camp in New Hampshire in the 1980s - he
says his parents wanted him to lose weight - while grappling with Arab culture
and pressures.
In his flowing white robe and traditional Arab headdress, Mutawa looks
every bit the Kuwaiti; when he opens his mouth, however, he is every bit the
New Yorker who spent his formative years reading comics and much of his adult
life in the United States, training as a psychologist at Bellevue Hospital
Center in New York and writing a series of children's books on assimilation,
race and prejudice.
"I was the kid that was thrown out of class for not being willing to
accept what the teacher was teaching us about Jews," he said. "I had Jewish
friends at camp, and I knew that they were not the stereotype." With three boys
and a fourth child due soon, Mutawa says he wants his children to be able to
find a balance between East and West.
Others too have seized on the opportunity for comics in the Middle East
but not graphic representations of the principles of the Koran.
In Cairo, AK Comics has published Middle East Heroes, four
larger-than-life Arab characters who face the challenges of most Arabs by day
and fight for them by night.
Mutawa, an avid reader of "Archie" and other comics who has a doctorate
in clinical psychology and an MBA from Columbia University, said he dreamed up
his Muslim superheroes during a taxi ride in 2003 with his sister, Samar, in
London.
The plot of the series, drawing on stories and history familiar to most
Muslim youths, involves the wisdom and learning that characterized the Muslim
world at its apogee, when it reached from northern Pakistan to southern Spain
in the late Middle Ages.
The story concerns 99 gems encoded with the wisdom of Baghdad just as the
Mongols are invading the city in the 13th century - in his version, to destroy
the city's knowledge. The gems are the source of not only wisdom but power, and
they have been scattered across the world, sending about 20 superheroes (at
least in the first year, leaving another 49 potential heroes for future
editions) on a quest to find them before a villain does.
"To create the new, you have to tap into the old," Mutawa says of the
deep historic connections in the comic. "The real goal is to teach kids that
there's more than one way to solve a problem."
The characters in "The 99" are not all Arabs, but Muslims from all over
the world. Jabbar, the enforcer, is a hulking figure from Saudi Arabia with the
power to grow immense; Mumita is from Portugal with unparalleled agility; and
Noora, from the United Arab Emirates, can read the truth in what people say and
help them to see the truth in themselves.
There's a burka-wearing character called Batina, which is derived from a
word meaning hidden.
But that is where religion stops and mythology begins, Mutawa says.
"I don't expect Islamists to like my idea, and I don't want the
ultraliberals to like it either," he says. So far, he has managed to get
Kuwait's censors to approve the early mock-ups, he says. But to keep the
orthodox at ease, he has included women in head scarves and plays it by the
book as far as religion goes.
But what may give him the biggest edge is a seasoned team, including
writers like Fabian Nicieza, who wrote for X-Men and Power Rangers comics, and
a group of managers and advisers who are old hands in the industry.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:
1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi:
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
scholarship, kunjungi
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **
Other related posts:
- » [nasional_list] [ppiindia] Zap! Pow! Islamic superheroes to save the day
