Friends of Jalila - AK Comics - Middle East Heroes

AK Comics has always tried to provide a positive sense of self-identity through its characters Aya and Jalila. Yes, of course, they are simply gorgeous, and it would be great to have a plain-looking middle-aged female hero - but, hey, it's only a comic book - let's take it one step at a time.

Meanwhile, if you want to discover some real modern Arab women heroes, check out the excellent work being carried out by the following blogs on the web. In what may be described as difficult times in the USA when civil liberties are going to the wall and the country is deeply divided between rich and poor, left and right, these women are holding their heads up high with tremendous dignity and optimism.

Get to know them:

http://bedouina.typepad.com/doves_eye/culture/index.html

http://www.moorishgirl.com/

Rafael Albuquerque is another of the excellent Brazilian artists working for AK Comics. With his partners Kris and Felipe, he runs Pop Art studios in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Rafael is credited with helping to create Jalila, Aya, Rakan and Zein and brings to life the scripts of AK's Managing Director and Resident Genius, Marwan el-Nasher. Rafael developed his style by reading 'Wizard' and following closely the artwork of artists such as John Buscema. He is inspired by movies and special effects and his 'movie-led' style in AK has brought him great praise for the cinematic feel of continuous movement and dialogue - tremendous dynamism.

He founded PopArt Studios in 2004 and attended Comicon in 2005. He is working with Image in the US as a way of distributing his work. If you are holding your latest business convention in Porto Alegre, Brazil (and why not - it's one of the world's fastest growing cities with tremendous business opportunities for light industry and property) then you can hire Rafael and his team to give your delegates a truly exciting - 'Create your own comic book' session - a great uplifter for the delegates!

You can find out more here:

http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/noticia.php?id=8939

The link between Brazil and Egypt over AK Comics is an important example of horizontal development. Increasingly, the developing countries are beginning to realise that their best opportunities for long-term growth comes from trading with each other and not just from acting as a cheap supplier to the developed countries - important, though this is - as the powerful developed countries are always likely to want to protect their own interests first.

Consequently, new economic formations have sprung up in the last ten years to further this horizontal development - the BRIC formation (Brazil, Russia, India, China), Mercosur in South America, ASEAN in the far east, the A7 group (BRIC + Malaysia, Korea, South Africa) and so on.

The Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is just part of this wider process.

Rafael's PopArt Studio doesn't just do AK stuff, however. They are also responsible for the eagerly awaited 'Rumble in La Rambla' - think 'City of God' crossed with Spaghetti Western and Quentin Tarantino You can find out more here:

http://rumbleinlarambla.com/

There is a great printable gallery of their work, by the way, here:

http://popartcomics.com/galleries.htm

AK Comics is no more - say 'Hello' to AK Entertainment !!!

It's the natural next step following the success of the new Zein animated preview.

Meanwhile, 'Aya' has been successful in its launch in the US and UK - following the distribution deal with Diamond. You can order it from Mile High Comics if you like - here:

http://www.milehighcomics.com/comicindex/nice/March-2006/Title-AYA--2006---1-by-AK-ENTERTAINMENT.html

The artist, Allan Goldman, has been winning plaudits from many people in the know. Allan has also worked on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here's an example of his work:

http://www.guybrush73.com/sequentialstudios_portfolio/samples/sequentialstudios.2006.allan.buffy.02.jpg

Allan's style is typical of the Brazilian style of fluid eyelines, good page composition and characterisation through features. It's extraordinary that he isn't even better known than he is - but his star is certainly rising now after many years in the business. Let's hope we see more of him in the pages of AK Comics.

Ayman Kandeel - the great man himself!

Ayman grew up loving American comic books and wanting to do something similar himself. He worked as an Economics Professor at Cairo University before moving to the US and launching Zein in 2002.

The comic struggled a little in the US at first before Ayman found the natural market for 'Middle East Heroes' in......the Middle East.

Ayman has a modern, pluralistic view of life and believes in drawing a line over the past as much as possible and looking towards a future of peace, progress and security for the children of the Middle East.

One of the best of the most recent articles on AK appeared recently in a BMed flight magazine (that's a branch of British Airways) - here it is:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=ayman+kandeel&meta=

Tim Rees is the great British artist who was the leading artist in AK Comics UK's recent art-and-script competition. He's looking forward to seeing this victory bolster his reputation worldwide.

You can find samples of his work here:

http://www.timreescomics.com/html/news.html

I was particularly impressed by his work for a Taekwondo club magazine which can be seen here:

http://www.timreescomics.com/html/blackbelt_college.html

It takes a little while to become established as a comic book artist - even for someone as talented as Tim - but the secret is to be patient and to keep following up every reasonable lead. Things do eventually happen.

Another alternative is to produce your own comic book and with printing costs in Egypt being so very low - often as little as £900 for 2500 copies, this has suddenly become a very viable route. For more information on this contact dahlia.sobhy@saharaprinting.com

Daniel Brandao is the first-rate Brazilian artist who produced the wonderful art for the latest issue of Rakan.

Daniel is a well-known artist in Brazil who has recently been working on a government campaign against drugs by producing a comic book to illustrate the problem: Here's a useful link to that:

http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/2006/n13012006_06.cfm

More samples of his work can be found here:

http://www.guybrush73.com/sequentialstudios_portfolio/pdf/sequentialstudios.2006.01.daniel.spiderman.72dpi.pdf

And samples of the other AK artists artwork from Sequential Studios can be found here:

http://www.guybrush73.com/sequentialstudios_portfolio/

And Daniel displays his own artwork here:

http://fotolog.terra.com.br/danielbrandao:204

And finally, here's the great man in his own words:

http://www.nonaarte.com.br/autor.asp?aut=18

Rakan is now available in Greece, published on a monthly basis by Christos Koudakis and associates. This is a good choice by Christos as Rakan is a standalone hero in the MEH pantheon and being based in central Asia will be more instantly recognisable to Greek comic book readers.

All fans of AK Comics might be interested to know there's a fan forum available at this address:

http://worldwidecomics.jconserv.net/viewtopic.php?p=16535#16535

Not only in Italy - but also in Brazil.

AK Comics is attracting a lot of interest - especially through blogs - because of the involvement of Brazilian artists such as Albuquerque and Goldman in the manufacture of the comic books.

AK Comics has been making a bit of a splash in Italy just recently - the home of the world's third largest comic book industry - i fumetti.

Recent articles in La Stampa and Il Giornale have - in the Italian style - sought to deconstruct the messages behind the format of the 'fantastic four' but have in the end all ended on an upbeat positive note.

Let's hope this turns into more subscriptions from the northern Mediterranean rim in the near future.

AK Comics have announced that the next issue will be the long awaited Origins issue for Aya - the Princess of Darkness. What is the background of this most mysterious of all the Middle East Heroes??

This is the one you've all been waiting for folks - and you can buy it from your local comic book store in the UK or USA or through the Internet on www.akcomics.com

More news of AK's expansion comes from the Cairo International Animated Film Festival where AK won a first prize for their animated episode of Zein - "The Scarab". This is the preview episode of a planned series and AK are looking for potential scriptwriters for the full series.

If you are interested, try www.akcomics.com

AK also used the festival to pursue their outreach policy amongst the less wealthy children of the city giving away thousands of free tickets to schoolchildren for which they were commended by the Ministry of Education in Egypt.

The new issue of Rakan is now available from www.akcomics.com and it is amazingly good! The upward trend of the storytelling in this comic book over the last few months is continued with a first-class plot that has Rakan continuing his quest to find Reem, the long-lost daughter of his mentor, stolen by bandits in an earlier issue. He thinks he's found her but in fact, the mirage he sees is a beautiful (and I mean beautiful - these Arab woman are wow!) witch with a tragic past.

He helps to release her from her island prison by slaying the mythical snake monster - the louckachas! But is she all that she seems? Time will tell.

Daniel Brandao's artwork is full of depth and vitality, especially in the flashback scenes and the cultural base of 3000 years of Middle Eastern history from which the Middle East Heroes stable grows adds a complexity, sensuality and richness to the ongoing plot that leaves American comic books looking shallow, vacuously violent and really rather conservative.

The character of Rakan is loosely based on a real-life Arab hero at the time of the Crusades who was involved in battles against the Mongols, Persians and Crusaders. In some ways, he is out of step with the other Middle East Heroes who all operate in the near future after the 55-years-war that ends with the creation of a new society tolerant of all religions and cultures in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see whether the writers will at some stage will want or be able to reconcile the two different plotlines.

This is a bog dedicated to the amazing heroes of AK Comics - Zein, Rakan, Jalila and Aya - the best comic book heroes in the Middle East. We would be pleased to hear from you at akcomicsuk@aol.com

Watch out for the great new edition from Rakan - the story is based on a geniune hero from the Middle Ages in Central Asia - a bit of a Robin Hood character.

We are particularly interested in hearing from students and investors interested in the Muslim world, the modern Middle East, Middle Eastern philosophy and development, Ancient Egypt and so on.

www.akcomics.com