KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Dr Naif al-Mutawa, despite being just the founder of Teshkeel Media Group, is regarded as one of the most influential Muslims in the world today.

He spoke earlier this week at the 5th World Halal Forum held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Center as a guest. After hearing his talk, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin described Dr Naif’s work as “amazing and one of the most important innovations of the Muslim world.”

What did Dr Naif really do to deserve such praises and honours? The answer: he created an Islamic comic book titled The 99, in an industry which has erroneously been perceived by some Muslims as strongly Jewish or even Zionist.

In the book, a group of 99 from different backgrounds around the world are bestowed superpowers from exposure to magical gems. Each of their powers is based on Asma ul-Husna, the 99 different names (or attributes) of Allah.

Hence, you have Jabbar The Powerful who has great strength, Noora The Light who gives out light blasts and Darr The Afflicter who can induce pain in others… you get the idea. They are a fairly common power-set, those you might have seen elsewhere—in X-Men for example—with memorable names like The Destroyer, The Organiser and The Assembler.

Its story is quite plain, and the strength of this series lies in its myth: in Baghdad, there stood the greatest library of all time, Dar al-Hikma, where all knowledge of the entire world resides. The city was being trampled by conqueror Hulagu Khan who was pillaging the library when the librarians distilled the knowledge within its books into 99 gemstones by alchemical means.

The gems survived the assault, and later adorned the dome the Fortress of Knowledge, the home of the librarians. The fortress became a centre of learning until a rogue guardian tried to grab the power of the gemstones for himself. The fortress too, was destroyed, and the gemstones were believed to be lost. The story picks up centuries later in recent times, with the discovery of the first man to be imbued with power from one of the stones.

Dr Naif is receiving praise for his effort in building a new axis of comics and pop culture away from the American giants. Collaborations for the title include renowned names like artist John McCrea (Hitman, The Boys) and writer Fabian Nicieza (X-Men, Deadpool). Many also note that he’s trying to instil Islamic values, expand Islamic (or rather Middle-Eastern) myths and portray Muslim characters as positive role-models.

However, has the portrayal of Muslims in American comics been that bad that it has taken this long for the Islamic world to acknowledge a good “Muslim” comic? Was the lack of representation part of a conspiracy among the Jews who supposedly lead the industry?

Before the 90s, the only Muslims you’ll find in comics are most likely from terrorists organisations or Iraqi armies in the Gulf War. It wasn’t until 2000 that Muslims were portrayed as superheroes, when Brian K. Vaughan and DC Comics introduced Janissary, a minor character in Justice League of America.

In 2002, Chris Claremont introduced Hamza Rashad, who can stop time, in the teen superhero team title Gen13. Claremont portrayed the feelings of a Muslim family living in the US post-9/11 perfectly, but Hamza was pretty much a two-dimensional character, spouting clichéd dialogues (“Allah have mercy” etc) and praying in every other issue.

Around the same time, Grant Morrison introduced Sooraya Qadir a.k.a. Dust into Marvel’s New X-Men, probably the most popular Muslim character even until now. This was a much stronger attempt, Morrison did well in addressing the xenophobia against abaya and niqab, the full veil worn by some Muslim women.

After that, a number of supporting Muslim/Arab characters have been introduced into comics such as Naif al-Sheikh in DC’s Justice League Elite and Khalid Tefibi in WildStorm’s Stormwatch: Team Achilles.

Recent major Muslim characters in comics include Aisha from Vertigo’s The Losers, a no-nonsense special force femme fatale (played by Zoe Saldana in the film adaptation) who liberated her fellow Muslim women from human trafficking and taught them to fend for themselves. There’s also Habib ben Hassan a.k.a. The Doctor, in WildStorm’s The Authority, a suicide-bomber turned pacifist shaman who holds the consciousness of the whole Earth and made the Middle East peace talks succeed the moment he got his power.

My favourite so far, has been Faiza Hussein a.k.a. Excalibur, in Marvel’s stellar Captain Britain & the MI:13. Faiza was a doctor who joined a supernatural guardian force and yields the legendary blade of her namesake. She is indeed a strong female character which has been painstakingly written by Paul Cornell, helped graciously by an “oversight team” that included four Muslims.

From observations, the lack of representation of Muslim characters in comics is not due to some conspiracy, but far from it. There is a marked dearth of Muslim creative talent in the industry, and crafting a story that includes a foreign culture—at least for Western writers, as evident by Cornell’s “oversight team”—is a thin line to tread, much more with the fiery attitude of most Muslims towards misrepresentation.

While it is a bright idea by Dr Naif and Teshkeel Media to start a kind of new market for “Muslim comics”, it would be great to see more Muslim writers trying their hand at writing for a mainstream publisher, if only for the variety that they bring.

The 99 is published by Teshkeel Media and will be distributed by DC Comics. Their issues can be previewed and bought digitally at their website:http://www.the99.org.