Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Comic Books in Arabic

From Progressive Muslim Thoughts, the blog of a Washington Peace activist*, a link to a BBC story about AK Comics, an Egypt-based company that's publishing a series, Middle East Heroes, in both Arabic and English. From the BBC article:
Another characters are Zein, known as The Last Pharaoh, who was transported from Ancient Egypt in a time capsule; Jalila, who developed superhuman powers after surviving a nuclear explosion; and Rakan, a warrior with a magic sword from ancient Arabia.What is notable about Middle East Heroes is that the female models are at least as powerful as their male counterparts. Jalila is most powerful character in terms of abilities.
From AK's website: Each hero is a unique blend of traditional, modern and futuristic qualities that symbolize and represent the Middle East nations. I took a quick snoop around and liked the scripts I saw just fine. "
Egos and spooks and feds, oh my! . . .They are the wizards behind the curtain, pulling the strings, connecting all the dots that make the status quo so . . .well, static.
" Conspiracy theories and mastermind rings are the bread and butter of comics, of course, though I'd like to see a super hero pantheon taking on a naturally arising system for a change sometime.


*Found on Pen-Elayne, from a series of posts trying to diversify linkage on the blogosphere.