The 99

The 99 (Arabic: الـ 99 al 99‎), also written as The Ninety-Nine (Arabic: التسعة وتسعون al-tisa'a wa tisaun‎), is a comic book published by Teshkeel Comics, featuring a team of superheroes themed around concepts from Islam and its culture, specifically the ninety-nine aspects of God.

The series is a creation of Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, founder and C.E.O. of Teshkeel Media Group. The creative team for The 99 is 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 â€“ all of whom have worked at both Marvel and DC Comics.

Although the series is based on Islamic concepts, it is promoted as appealing to universal virtues, and the religion of each character is not made explicit.

A free introductory comic is available here: http://www.the99.org/include/contn/X1ZkxhXHSPO.pdf


 * Action Girl
 * Bad Powers, Good People: "The Afflicter." At least he can un-afflict as well.
 * Banned in China: Due to wanting to reach the maximum number of Muslim countries, it tries desperately to avert this, sending copies over for review (Amusingly, one edit had a female character given a more realistic figure!).
 * It was temporarily banned in Saudi Arabia, though, because one editor thought if it mentioned it was based on the 99 attributes of Allah, it would be accepted. Unfortunately, the reviewer thought it was blasphemous and didn't allow it in Saudi Arabia. Luckily, that changed.
 * Big Eater
 * Care Bear Stare: Noora has this as one of her powers.
 * Expy: Big Bad Rughal looks, acts, and ages a lot like Vandal Savage.
 * Gentle Giant: Nawaf Al-Bilali, aka Jabbar the Powerful. Despite being a massive, nearly-invulnerable powerhouse with super strength, he's one of the kindest members of the team. Which is a nice change, given that most people look at people from Saudi Arabia as jerks full of themselves.
 * Gotta Catch Em All: Averted for religious reasons. Word of God Author says that the series will not show all 99 powers, as that would count as a depiction of Allah, which is forbidden in Islam.
 * The Hero
 * Immortality Immorality: Long ago, the Big Bad of the series tried to harness the power of all 99 stones, but only wound up with the never-dying.
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: with the Justice League of America.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Potentially, 98 heroes. Can't ever be 99, not because the Big Bad has one of the gems -- but because depicting the 99 Attributes of Allah would amount to a depiction of Allah, and, in Islam, That Would Be Wrong.
 * Moral Guardians: There's an animated series of the comic, that was supposed to air on The Hub........until the New York Post stuck their nose in. The show is on "hiatus". (rough translation: Until someone at the Hub grows a set, don't expect to see the series in the US anytime soon.)
 * Fortunately, it shouldn't be that hard to find it in English (or at least with subtitles) when it comes out in 2012.
 * Power Crystal: The focus of the heroes' abilities.
 * Superpower Lottery: Noora, the Light. Can create light, can see the light or goodness in other people (moralistic telepathy?), can make herself and allies invisible, can cast illusions (such as masks), and can do a Care Bear Stare. This in a story where everyone is supposed to have just one power.