The 99

The 99
Publication information
Publisher	Teshkeel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	August 2007 – September 2013
Number of issues	47
Creative team
Writer(s)	Naif Al-Mutawa
Creator(s)	Naif Al-Mutawa

The 99 (Arabic: الـ ٩٩ al 99‎) is a comic book, created by Naif Al-Mutawa and published by Teshkeel Comics, featuring a team of superheroes with special abililties based on the 99 attributes of Allah in Islam but some are virtues encouraged by a number of faiths.

The character cast consists of Dr. Ramzi, a scholar and social activist, the 99 youngsters (some of them children), with special abilities conferred to them by "Noor" gemstones. The set of evil characters is led by the power-hungry Rughal, who seeks to steal the power of the Noor stones and their bearers for his personal benefit. The storyline pits the 99 led by Dr. Ramzi in their pursuit of social justice and peace against the forces of chaos and evil.

Creation

The series was created by Naif Al-Mutawa,^[1] founder and C.E.O. of Teshkeel Media Group. The initial creative team for The 99 was composed of comic book industry veterans such as Fabian Nicieza, Stuart Moore, June Brigman, Dan Panosian, John McCrea, Ron Wagner, Sean Parsons and Monica Kubina although all have distanced themselves from Al-Mutawa, The 99 and Teskheel Media Gorup which has stopped releasing updates on its activities since 2013.^[2]

Publication history

An Origins Preview was first published in the Middle East in May 2006, followed by a US reprinting in July 2007.^[3] The 99 #1 was printed in September 2006 in the Middle East and was published in the US in August 2007 as First Light.^[4] The 99 only ran five issues in printed form, but both Middle East and USA editions continued to be published electronically until September 2013, with the final issue being #35. Indonesian and Indian editions were also produced.

A 6-issue crossover mini-series, JLA/The 99, with the Justice League and The 99 began publication in October 2010.^[5]

In total, there were 35 numbered issues, 6 unnumbered special issues.^[6] and the 6-issue crossover miniseries.^[7]

Premise

The Noor gemstones

During the siege of Baghdad in 1258, books from the House of Wisdom was tossed into the Tigris river by the Ilkhanate Mongol forces and allied troops to use them as a bridge. Downstream, a scholars dipped 99 gemstones into the water to absorb the wisdom and power from the books.^[8]

Characters

Doctor Ramzi Razem

The 99 are ordinary teenagers and adults from across the globe, who come into possession of one of the ninety-nine magical mystical Noor Stones (Ahjar Al Noor, Stones of Light) and find themselves empowered in a specific manner. All dilemmas faced by The 99 are overcome through the combined powers and capabilities of three or more members. Through this, The 99 series aims to promote values such as cooperation and unity throughout the Islamic world. Although the series is not religious, it aims to communicate Islamic virtues which are, as viewed by series creator Dr. Al-Mutawa, universal in nature.

The concept of The 99 is based on the 99 attributes of Allah. Many of these names refer to characteristics that can be possessed by human individuals. For example, – generosity, strength, faithfulness, wisdom are all virtues encouraged by a number of faiths.

In compliance with Islamic tradition, the Arabic version of the aliases of each of the 99 is written without the definite article "Al-", because use of this precise form is exclusive to Allah. This serves to remind that The 99 are only mortals, and sets them as human role models, with their qualities and weaknesses. Many of these are considered against Islamic beliefs (e.g. Baqi and Bari) since they are attributes exclusive to Allah (God).

One of the characters, Batina The Hidden, wears a burqa, which some reports highlighted.

The 99

• Bari the healer (Haroun Ahrens from South Africa) with the ability to heal the wounded
• Batina The Hidden (Rola Hadramy from Yemen) with the ability to blend into the background and become invisible
• Mujiba The Responder (Sharifa Samsudin from Malaysia) with the ability to access the collective wisdom of mankind
• Wassi the Vast (Ashok Mohan from India) with the ability to temporarily enlarge or elongate isolated parts of his body
• Samda the Invulnerable (Aisha Mokhtar from Libya) with the ability to create a protective force field
• Hadya the Guide (Amira Khan from Pakistan) with the ability to track people and objects back along the paths they have taken
• Fattah the Opener (Toro Ridwan from Indonesia) with the ability to open up portals to faraway places and by stepping through them instantly go anywhere he wants
• Darr the Afflicter (John Weller from the USA) with the ability to cause physical pain by focusing his anger on people
• Mumita the Destroyer (Catarina Barbosa form Portugal) with the ability to destroy objects
• Jami the Assembler (Miklos Szekelyhidi from Hungary) with the ability to understand how all machines and gadgets work
• Noora the Light (Dana Ibrahim from United Arab Emirates) with the ability to see the light of truth in others or produce illusions of light
• Jabbar the Powerful (Nawaf Al-Bilali from Saudi Arabia) with the ability to move or break through large objects

Villains

• Rughal, over 500 years old, was the youngest of the Guardians of the Fortress of Knowledge in the 15th Century. Desperate to find the Noor Stones, he becomes the adversary of Dr. Ramzi and The 99.
• Sphinx, an excellent martial artist and with the ability to make nightmares and fears appear to come true
• Professor Mindo, a quick-minded genius and once a leader in nanotechnology
• Red Shroud (James Higgins from United Kingdom), Rughal's driver, bodyguard and general assistant
• Blackwolf (Thiab Al-Daham from Egypt), Rughal's henchman and with the ability to transform into smoke and pass through solid objects. He is also impervious to harm.
• The Pathologist (Audric Blondel from France), enlisted by Rughal. A genius of biology and anatomy. He invented new unorthodox medical instruments and found a way to graft these onto his body giving him precise control over them.
• Hammerforce (Guenther Gerhardt from Germany), A former prizefighter in Thiab’s underground fight club in Cairo. Guenther submitted to Thiab's experimental performance-enhancing drugs, despite some terrible side effects
• The Murk (Mikhael Murkovsky from Russia), a brilliant scientist who worked with Rughal and with the ability to, like Blackwolf, turn his form gaseous at will.

In other media

The first of five planned 99-based theme parks opened in Jahra, Kuwait in March 2009.^[9]

An animated series, The 99, was produced^[10] and Teshkeel Comics signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Endemol to produce the series. The series was later banned by Kuwait.^[11]

The interactive website the99kids.com was designed by Aardman.^[12]

Creator Naif Al-Mutawa and The 99 were the subjects of the 60 minutes long PBS documentary Wham! Bam! Islam! by Isaac Solotaroff broadcast in October 2011 as the season premiere of PBS's series "Independent Lens".^[13][14][15]

Reception and reviews

In a religious decree carried by Saudi websites, the clerics ruled the series blasphemous because the superheroes of its title are based on the 99 attributes ascribed to Allah in the Holy Quran. The Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, head of the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas, said "The 99 is a work of the devil that should be condemned and forbidden in respect to Allah's names and attributes." The original comic strip version, first released in 2006, had already run into opposition from Muslims not only in Saudi Arabia but also in neighboring Kuwait, where it was created and produced by media executive Nayef al-Matawa.^[16]

Andrea Peyser, columnist at the New York Post, wrote in October 2010: "Hide your face and grab the kids. Coming soon to a TV in your child's bedroom is a posse of righteous, Sharia-compliant Muslim superheroes, including one who fights crime hidden head-to-toe by a burqa."^[17]

On July 2, 2014, The Kuwait Times reported that ISIL members had issued death threats and offered unspecified rewards for the assassination of Dr. Al-Mutawa, via Twitter. Al-Mutawa defended the work saying that he had received clearance from sharia scholars and never would have gone ahead with the project had he not.^[18]

Another controversial aspect of the series are the statements made by Al-Mutawa and his company about the public and financial success of The 99 that are in no way matched by available and/or objective sales reports in the countries where Al-Mutawa claims The 99 series is bought and read by hundred of thousands of children. Al-Mutawa continues to refuse to comment on this discrepancy.^[2]

See also

• Suleiman Bakhit, Jordanian cartoonist^[19]

References

External links

• The 99 at the Comic Book DB
• Official website
• The 99 Animation
• Video of an 18 minute talk at TED by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa
• Naif Al-Mutawa: The continuing saga of The99, superheroes inspired by Islam, Video of a 7-minute TED blog talk by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa
• Piney Kesting, The Next Generation of Superheroes, 2007, Saudi Aramco World
• Wham! Bam! Islam! site for Independent Lens on PBS
• The Islamic Superheroes
• THE 99: Changing stereotypes through Muslim cartoon characters, Forward Magazine, May 20, 2010
• Superman, Spiderman... Jabbar, Gulf News, Aug 20, 2010
• Comics to Battle for Truth, Justice and the Islamic Way, The New York Times, January 22, 2006
• Superheroes Powered on Islam, The Washington Post, February 8, 2006
• Muslim (not Marvel) superheroes, The Guardian, March 27, 2006
• Holy Superhero!, The Gazette, May 6, 2006
• Previewing Teshkeel's The 99, Newsarama
• Reinventing Superman FLYPMedia.com
• Kuwaiti Entrepreneur Hopes to Create the Next Pokémon, Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2008
• It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's 'The 99' Newshour, March 20, 2009
• Merica, Dan. "Muslim superhero comics meet resistance in U.S.." CNN. October 5, 2011.