The tentacular reach and popularity of the graphic novel now extends to the Middle East with the first comic book specifically targeted for the audience in the region — AK Comics’ Middle East Heroes line of comic books, which is published in both Arabic and English, pits forces of good and evil for control of the City of All Faiths.

“We need to believe in a higher being that will be there for help, and can affect change on his own. There is a global and human need for that,” explained Marwan Nashar, managing editor at AK Comics.

The main characters — two men and two women — include Jalila, The Defender of City of All the Faiths; Aya, the Princess of Darkness; Rakan, the Lone Warrior; and Zein, the Last Pharaoh, who was spirited out of his pharonic age by a time capsule. The generous gender balance and the very literal strength of the female characters — the female Jalila has the most powerful abilities — is proving stunningly popular with women, and the comic book appears to be enjoying widespread general appeal. Al-Ahram Weekly recently ran an article about the comic with the cheerful title “My Favorite Superhero,” which quoted a 27-year-old business analyst explaining the appeal of the comic: “The setting is familiar and most characters’ names are Arabic … it’s just easier to connect.”  

The comic book seems set to enjoy even wider distribution, if not popularity; the AK Comics website gleefully notes that EgyptAir has agreed to a first-of-its-kind deal to dole out 20,000 AK Comics magazines on their flights.  

Mimi Hanaoka