Tag Archives: islam

Muslim Superheroes

Recent weeks have produced a bevy of commotion regarding Muslim superheroes, to whit:

In May, A. David Lewis was interviewed by WBUR’s  “Here and Now” host Robin Young about the depiction of Muslim protagonists in superhero comics, particularly in the wake of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination. Lewis had recently given a talk on the subject at Harvard University as part of a one-day event about Muslim identities in comics. That, in turn, seems to have led to an article by BU Today report Rich Barlow focusing on Lewis and his interest in characters like Dust, Nightrunner, the Janissary, the Arabian Knight, and others.

What is clear is that Muslims on the comics pages confront the conundrum of their flesh-and-blood counterparts: their community views them with suspicion. Lewis says non-Muslim heroes wonder, “Can they truly represent the American way? Could they really be on our side? When Dust joins the X-Men, these persecuted American mutants don’t really know if they can trust her. The comic book creators can have it both ways. They can present an altruistic Muslim hero, but also reflect the Islamophobia.”

The BU Today article was accompanied by a slideshow of such characters set to music:

Barlow’s article was picked up by Madinat Al-MuslimeenProfessor Hussein Rashid’s Islamicate.com, and The Houston Chronicle‘s “Believe It Or Not” column, among others. It also received comment of an altogether different sort from Avi Green of The Infidel Bloggers Aliance and The Astute Bloggers:

Wow! So in Lewis’s narrow vision, the Copts of Egypt aren’t victimized, nor are the French, the Israelis, the Sudanese Christians, or even the Armenians during WW1, when the Islamic-led Ottoman Empire of Turkey slaughtered at least a million Armenians. Nor, I suppose, was Lara Logan when she was gang raped in Egypt back in February. What a most utter ignoramus. I guess he hasn’t ever read the Koran either.

Green suggests The 99 as one example of Muslim superheroes Lewis may have been trying to sidestep: “Lewis chose to put his head in the sand.” Meanwhile, that series was being featured elsewhere online, as part of The National‘s coverage of DC Comics’ recent publishing shift. Shot in February, the video focuses on The 99‘s creator Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa discussing the multi-national and inter-religious basis for the series in addition to its Islamic roots.

Superman #712
New cover but old solicitation.

Coincidentally, DC’s position on Muslim characters was challenged in a different way this month with the resolicitation of Superman #712. ComicBookResources.com reports that the issue was originally supposed to feature Superman teaming up with the Muslim hero Sharif (formerly Sinbad), but it had been replaced with a story of Krypto the Super-dog. ComicBook.com notes that “the change was apparently so last minute by DC Comics that the DC Comics website still shows the old content description for Superman #712 with the new Krytpo the Superdog cover image for Superman #712.” ComicBookMovie.com has opened a poll to ask readers whether the decision was a wise move or not.

Lastly, in separate but not unrelated news, PR Newswire announced the new series Buraaq from Split Moon Arts. The title character is “a practicing Muslim, a regular guy who is turned into a superhero by traumatic events in his youth.  According to SplitMoonArts, the mission is not to preach, but to provide wholesome family entertainment. The underlying message, they say, would help foster better relations between the West and the Islamic World.” Whether this is, as the PR Newswire headline reports, the first Muslim superhero is doubtful, but that claim does not seem to originate with SplitMoonArts itself.


Converting to Islam Its Own Sin?

In June of last year, novelist and comic book writer G. Willow Wilson gave an interview to Bleeding Cool News upon the release of her memoir The Butterfly Mosque. In both the book and interview, she chronicles what led her to convert to Islam and the stigma sometimes attached to converting into another religion.

Last week, The Infidel Bloggers Alliance essentially proved her point. Whereas Wilson calls “[c]omics readers […] the most open-minded, try-anything-once, take-people-as-they-are,” Avi Green holds Wilson in disdain, largely for converting at all but particularly to Islam. Green says that Wilson’s assessment of comics readers is “naive” and that Wilson herself “fell to Islam.”

Bleeding Cool‘s Rich Johnston, incidentally, stands by Wilson on principle and calls The Infidel Bloggers Alliance “a rabidly pro-Israel, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim site.”

Writer Joshua Dysart on Religion in Unknown Soldier

Though the series was recently canceled by DC Comics, the Unknown Soldier has once again been nominated for an Eisner Award. Over at The Comic Book Bin, Beth Davies-Stofka conducted a multi-part interview with its writer Joshua Dysart, and, in this featured segment, she focuses on the role of religion in the series. Dysart tells Davies-Stofka:

There was virtually no conflict between the Christian culture and the Islamic culture as I saw it when I was traveling through Uganda. And I just was obsessed with that. I was fascinated by it.

Read the entirety of the interview for the role of religion in the main character’s life as well as subsequent parts that segue into discussions of general morality.

Comics and Muslim Identity at Harvard

The Harvard University Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) has held a number of educator and creative workshops over the past year on comics and the Middle East. (See here and here.) This upcoming one at the end of April, though, is for all audiences and is open free to the public:

Comics and Muslim Identity at the Harvard University CMES
Flier for "Comics and Muslim Identity" at the Harvard University CMES

The day-long conference features talks by Jeffrey Melnick (University of Massachusetts, Boston), Hussein Rashid (Hofstra University), A. David Lewis (Boston University), Darby Orcutt (North Carolina State University), Laura Weinstein (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and Nasser Weddady (American Islamic Congress Civil Rights Outreach Director).

It’s worth noting that the day prior, they will be holding another workshop, this time focused on making comics that address Islam and the Middle East region. Fascinating from all angles!