The 99, Nightrunner, Simon Baz, Kamala Khan, Buraaq -Mideast and Islamic comic book markets powering up

The Middle East comic book market was estimated at over $200 million in 2014, representing a modest share of the global $1.5 billion market. However, with UAE-based Al Ahli securing rights to distribute Arabic-language copies of international comics in the region, and with Islamic superheroes such as Kamala Khan, Buraaq, and The 99, there is a growing market for new Islamic comic books taking hold in the Middle East.

The global comic book market was estimated at $1.5 billion in 2014, growing at a CAGR of 5 percent from 2012 to 2014, according to Comichron and DinarStandard estimates.

The U.S. and Canada markets combined accounted for $935 million, or close to 70 percent of the global market.

The rest of the world (excluding U.S. and Canada) was valued at $535 million by Comichron in 2012, with DinarStandard conservatively estimating growth of 1 percent CAGR between 2012 and 2014.

Growth in the market has been driven by the popularity of movies based on comic books, with six of the top 10 grossing films in 2014 linked to comics and graphic novels.

A notable success story is the comic book-inspired Transformers: Age of Extinction, which grossed over $1 billion when it was released in 2014, making it the top box office earner that year.

The market has been further propelled by a rapid growth in mobile distribution of comic books. Leading geek culture industry source ICv2 reported that  digital comic book sales had more than trebled in the U.S., the largest market,  in the two years to 2013.

Further robust growth is anticipated in the global comic book market, with the U.S. continuing to be a major driver and with the two major players, Marvel and DC Comics, announcing plans to release a slate of movies based on comic books.

MIDDLE EAST MARKET

Indicatively, the Middle East comic book market exceeded $200 million in 2014, and the broader Middle East and Africa market accounted for $240 million.

The Middle East is a small player on the global comic book landscape but the region is establishing a foothold in the market through regional events and the translation of international comics into Arabic.

The annual Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC) in 2015 in Dubai was at its most popular since its inception in 2012, drawing around 50, 000 attendees and making the convention one of the highest profile pop culture events in the region.

Middle East audiences are already enjoying iconic titles such as Spiderman, Hulk, Thor and The Avengers in Arabic, courtesy of UAE-based Al Ahli, which was the first company outside the U.S. to have publishing rights for popular international comic books.

Al Ahli also recently entered into an alliance with Marvel to become a primary sponsor for the global red carpet premieres of Marvel Studios’ next five motion picture releases between 2016 and 2018.

ISLAMIC COMIC BOOKS

While international comic books have a clearly established following in the Middle East, the introduction of new Islamic or values-based comic book series and characters represents a significant high-growth opportunity in the region.

There are a handful of success stories. The most well-known of the genre is The 99, which dates back to 2006/7.

Founded by Naif Al Mutawa, The 99 is a team of superheroes each exemplifying one of the 99 attributes of Allah, such as generosity, faith, and wisdom. It is aimed at presenting a tolerant, multicultural version of Islam to the world. The series has steadily broadened its horizons across audiences and media platforms.

From its initial avatar of comic books (published in nine languages and distributed throughout the Middle East and South Asia), The 99 has evolved as a transnational cross-media brand, with associated theme parks, merchandizing, and an animated series broadcasted in 70 countries on six continents.

It earned international acclaim and even praise from the President of the United States, Barack Obama, in 2010.

Recognizing the importance of Muslim characters, in 2013 Marvel comic books launched Ms. Marvel, which focuses on the adventures of superhero Kamala Khan, a teenage Muslim girl growing up in Jersey City.

Continuing this trend Marvel’s primary competitor, DC Comics, introduced Nightrunner, a French-Algerian iteration of Batman, and Simon Baz, the newest member of The Green Lantern Cops, who is Arab-American.

From smaller publishing companies, Muslim superhero Buraaq was created in 2011 by California-based Split Moon Arts.

Discussing the character, Split Moon Arts Co-Founder Ali Imtiaz told DinarStandard, “We were tired of going to the movies and seeing that we are the bad guys, so we wanted to create a comic book superhero that everyone could relate to and was also a practising Muslim.”

Success for Buraaq came quickly with international media coverage and over 140,000 likes on Facebook.

Commenting on the opportunity, Imtiaz said that the comic book market is not that developed in countries such as Pakistan and some parts of the Middle East but, he said, “Slowly but surely everyone is jumping on the superhero bandwagon [in places like the Middle East], which is great, everyone should be able to tell their own story and we should be able to tell our story.”

CHALLENGES

A number of challenges face companies that seek to enter this market.

There is a lack of established global distributors for Islamic-themed comic books. It’s important to establish a foothold in local markets to avoid expensive shipping costs.  “Sometimes the shipping costs are more expensive than the comics themselves, which can defeat the purpose,” said Imtiaz.

Potential censorship in Western markets could limit growth. The 99 series faced accusations from the Conservative lobby in the United States of trying to indoctrinate non-Muslims. This resulted in the unfortunate instance of a U.S. distributor indefinitely postponing a 52-episode series that was meant to feature on the U.S. TV network The Hub.

Protecting Intellectual Property is difficult in non-Western markets. Naif Al-Mutawa, the founder of The 99, commented in a 2010 Ted Talk that protecting IP was next to impossible in Muslim markets, and as a result, the company had a diversified global strategy to generate sufficient revenues.

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