The presentation today by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa was pretty interesting. He is getting all kinds of attention for creating what is essentially the first comic series featuring Muslim superheroes. It's called "The 99." From the clip he showed, I was able to gather there are 99 special stones that each member has that gives them special superpowers. There's also some incredibly cheesed out super villain bent on dominating the world. From a superhero persepctive, I find it odd that he chose such a large number. It's hard enough caring about every single member of the Avengers, I can't imagine having to provide enough dynamic and relationship bonds between 99 different heroes.
With regards to the social aspect, his series has gotten mixed reviews. President Obama singled him out specifically at a speech and praised him for his work. Naif's goal is to change the way the world views Islam and the way that Muslims themselves view Islam, thereby making it less of a stigmatized threat to Western thought. However, many reviews have been extremely critical, and believe the comics do the exact opposite, sparking radicalism into the Islamic youth. I'd be interested to read or watch the series in order to gather my own interpretation. All in all, very intereseting presentation.
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