Fantastic Four

Jalila spends her days fighting against the United Liberation Force and the Zios Army, wearing a black leather halter top and tight-fitting pants. She kicks ass to protect her home – The City of All Faiths – from those who wish to control it. Meanwhile, Zein is heir to an ancient Egyptian king and though he's a respected university professor by day, at night he is a crime-fighting machine with more-than-human powers.

These are two of four superheroes who populate the world of AK Comics, based in Cairo and distributed in the Middle East and the United States. Creator Ayman Kandeel, who, like his creation Zein, is a university professor of economics in Cairo, began this series in 2002. The comics, which are published in both English and Arabic, tout its characters as "The only Middle Eastern superheroes."

"I grew up reading all sorts of comic books and novels. As a kid I was impressed by ancient Egyptian history and wonders," says Kandeel. "I always imagined a superhero with ancient Egyptian roots, with all the mystery and mysticism that civilization embodies."

Stepping away from the comic-book world, the real world continues to deal with a very real war in Iraq, which has focused a laser beam of negative propaganda on Middle Eastern cultures, often lumping countries together into one homogenous, warlike Islamic mass by misrepresentation. AK Comics promotes a very opposite picture. All four main characters in the series are working on behalf of peace, after all.

Let's not forget Aya, "the princess of darkness," who not only works for an elite crime-fighting organization in the Middle East, but is trained as a lawyer, fighting for justice and gender equality.

"Aya was designed to confirm the gender equality issue that is still somewhat sensitive in the Middle East. Since she has no superpowers of her own, it was by choice rather than obligation that she fends off evil," says Kandeel.

And finally there is Rakan, "The Lone Warrior," raised by a saber-toothed desert cat, who wanders the deserts of Arabia and Persia, using the techniques of "Sheba" (wisdom and peace), making him an invincible warrior.

Kandeel says that "Rakan was created to satisfy those adventure and fantasy addicts with a mystic twist, offering the kinds of thrills that medieval East/Persia can offer. He embodies the strong, persevering and unrelenting nature of the warriors of that era."

The comics are based on U.S. standards, meaning one will find the standard burlesque, sexy women, the familiar diabolically muscled villains and heroes cavorting against gothic backdrops like stark buildings and obliterated vistas. Even the fight scenes are punctuated with the trustworthy "Bams", "Kracks" and "Hiyaas" that have been employed by comic books for decades. The creative teams behind each series is a mix of Western and Middle Eastern talent.

Marwan El Nashar, AK Comics' managing director, notes that the artwork differs from classic comic book style. "We are trying to adapt a unique individual style that can stand out from the rest. You will notice that the art features of our characters are quite realistic and more 'mature' than your average Marvel or DC Comics. The characters and storyline are our genuine creation. They tend to blend reality and actual events in a storytelling style. Moreover, we use altered names of Middle Eastern cities, monuments and so on. The futuristic era our heroes reside in creates a wonderful 'brave new world' atmosphere."

This apocalyptic atmosphere draws upon the Middle East's real, cumulative history of conflict, providing weighty storylines for these first-of-their-kind comics and then stretches it off into the fantastic. Three of the characters (all but Rakan) live in a time after the "55-Year War," which culminated in a massive nuclear explosion, a situation that can give a non-fictional shiver to any reader in today's political climate.