THE 99 co-writer, Fabian Nicieza, was recently interviewed by Comic Book Resources about his role in THE 99 creative process.WORLD CLASS HEROES: NICIEZA TALKS "THE 99"
by Dave Richards, Staff Writer
Most of America hasn't heard of them, but in some parts of the world the heroes of ?The 99? are just as popular as groups like the X-Men or the Justice League. American comics fans will get a chance to meet these international superstars as Kuwaiti publisher Teshkeel Comics releases this week the first issue of the U.S. version of ?The 99.? CBRNews spoke with co-writer Fabian Nicieza about the series.
It was an old friend of Nicieza's who introduced him to Dr. NaifAl-Mutawa, the creator of The 99 and his co-writer on the U.S.version of the series. My good friend and publisher extraordinaire,Sven Larsen, had just started working for Teshkeel and thought I'd be a good fit for helping Naif finalize his on-going development of 'The99,' Fabian Nicieza told CBR News I met with Naif and was very impressed by not only his basic working concepts for 'The 99,' but more importantly, his passion for the project and his underlying reasons for wanting to produce superhero comics for a new audience.
Becausehe also serves as CEO of Teshkeel, Dr. Al-Mutawa is a very busy man butstill manages to be an active participant in the creation of each issue of 'The 99.' A lot of it depends on what part of the world Naifhappens to be in at any given point and how much time he has on his schedule, Nicieza said. He is involved in every single aspect of thestory, from initial synopsis to preliminary script to final script,sometimes really involved in the nuts and bolts, dotting i'sand crossing t's, and other times they are broader, philosophicaleditorial notes. There is not a single panel of a single page of asingle issue that he hasn't been involved with, and none of that ismeant to come across as a negative. He is very conscious of havinghired creative and editorial people who have a lot of experienceproducing comics, so he always relies on our judgment, but this is hisbaby, so he wants to make sure we're feeding it and burping itproperly.
Dr.Al-Mutawa's central idea for 'The 99' revolves around the 99 NoorStones. The Noor Stones are fictional, quasi-mystical artifacts thathave absorbed the sum knowledge of human civilization prior to thereal-history fall of Baghdad during the siege by Hulagu Kahn, Niciezaexplained. Naif found a great way to meld history with fiction andcreate a plausible demarcation point during which the history of our universe' can be traced.
Eachgem bestows a specific, positive attribute to its wielder; strength,speed, ability to wield light, teleport, etc. The 99 members, thoughindividually powered, really work at their best when they combine theirindividual attributes to create wholes that are greater than the sum oftheir parts. Working together to accomplish your goals is a veryimportant theme to the series.Thestory of the Noor Stones begins centuries ago but issue #1 of 'The 99'unfolds in the present day. The history-spanning issue in the U.S. is?The 99: Origins', a free preview that we gave away over the summer,Nicieza stated. The U.S. edition of ?99' #1 is 'Welcome to America'which completely occurs in today's era.
Readerswho may have missed 'The 99: Origins' special can pick up issue #1without being lost. Dr. Al-Mutawa and Nicieza work hard to make sureeach issue of ?The 99? is easily accessible and appeals to the tastesof a wide variety of comic fans. ?I think every issue has been verynew-reader friendly and most have been ?done in one' issues withrunning subplots, you know, the good ?old fashioned' way of doingcomics.
Becausewe are reaching out to such a new audience in our internationalmarketplaces, we have made a very conscious effort to try and producean ?all ages' book in the traditional sense of the word, rather thanhow it's perceived now. All ages' meant anyone from 8 to 80 could readthe book, like most every single comic I grew up reading. Now, peoplein our marketplace think it automatically means kiddie comic.' I defyyou to read the first few issues of 'The 99' and say it's a kid' comicor an adult comic.' We've tried very hard to have things in it that works on many different levels.?
Thetitle, The 99, refers both to the Noor stones and their individualmembers but readers shouldn't expect to meet every hero of ?The 99? inthe first issue. ?Maybe if George Perez wants to do a big poster we cansee all 99 characters, otherwise we'll be doling them out through thecourse of a very natural story development,? Nicieza remarked. Ibelieve by the end of the first year we have about 12 characters,though not all of them are actually members of the 99. Not everyone whois offered to join the group does.
Also,besides the comics themselves, I've worked on about nine ?chapterserials' which have appeared as newspaper supplements in the MiddleEast, so some characters have been introduced there as well. Forgive meit's hard to keep track of what's been published where and when, muchless how that will be presented to North American audiences!
?I doknow that our initial character core introduced through the first sixissues consists of Jabbar, Noora, Darr, Mumita and Jami. They are a mixof genders and ages as well as nationalities. I think audiences who are?expecting' this to be a ?Middle Eastern' comic or an ?American' comicwill be surprised -- pleasantly I hope ? when their expectations areconfounded by the fact that it is simply a comic about youngpeople trying to do the right thing with their special gifts Jabbar issuper-strong, Noora controls light images and can see the ?light' ? orlack thereof -- in the human soul, Darr inflicts pain-inducing waves ofenergy, Mumita is a relentless fighter and Jami controls mechanicalequipment.?
Thealiases adopted by the various members of The 99 are associated withtheir abilities. ?They are all Arabic names which connote the aspectsof their attribute,? Nicieza said. ?Darr means ?to afflict,' so he isDarr the Afflicter, Noor means light, so she becomes Noora the Light. Ihave to be honest; I get the basic name and concepts from Teshkeel'speople, then I chew it over, nod my head in understanding, smilebecause I think they have all worked real nicely so far, and then goturn them into fleshed out characters.?
'The99' is a series with many characters but its central protagonist is Dr.Ramzi Razem, who serves as sort of a leader and mentor to the wieldersof the Noor Stones. Ramzi is a psychiatrist whose passion to help makea better world led him to working with victims of torture, thenrealizing he needed to find ways to mend the fences between cultures inorder to prevent the very creation of those victims he had beenhelping, Nicieza said. He created his own foundation and workedthrough the United Nations to create relief efforts and social-worksprograms all over the world.
Dr.Ramzi is the man who sets out to gather the individual Noor Stonewielders and unite them as a group. ?Each character honestly bringstheir own baggage to the table. Each of them has very differentbackgrounds, life experiences and reasons for accepting Ramzi's
Offer,?Nicieza said. ?Some are complicated by the presence of their families;others need to find a way to convince their families to allow them togo, etc. The group is feeling each other out slowly, and every newmember brings a different dynamic into the mix. Some characters are alittle edgier and not equipped with much in the way of social graces;others are the glue that holds them all together. I have worked veryhard to not work so hard on pigeon-holing them. We've allowed thecharacter dynamic to develop as the characters themselves developed.When first planning things out, I wouldn't have expected Noora to takeon a leadership role, but she very naturally does as time goes onbecause of the logic of how her character developed, etc. It's been avery fun, refreshing and open way of allowing the characters to dictateterms for their own development as much as having them imposed by mykeyboard.?
'The99' are a very unique superhero team and every comic fan knows the bestheroes are defined by their adversaries. The main antagonist is namedRughal. He has a long history with the stones and firmly believes thathe should be guiding the fate of any who wield one, Nicieza explained. He thinks he deserves the power of the stones for himself, because heis the only living being who has ever truly experienced the sum totalof what the stones are capable of --all that power at his fingertips --and then it slid from his grasp. He is not a spouting spewingsupervillain, but rather a very smart, very wronged man who fightsfervently for what he believes in. He has a group of super-poweredmercenaries who work for him, each gifted with Noor Stone based powersthat have been scientifically derived from fragments and shards ofstones Rughal had found over the last 100 years. Oh, did I mention heis over 500 years old?
Theopening arc of ?The 99? introduces readers to the initial core cast ofthe series and their various status quos. ?The first few issues areabout power and responsibility, about recruiting people from differentbackgrounds and expecting them to begin working together,? Niciezastated. ?They don't actively go out to act like a superhero team in theleast; it's more about trying to cope with the changes in their bodies,the circumstances which brought them to Ramzi, etc. Each individualissue focuses on a new character until we have a working group.Meanwhile, there are nasty corporate forces that are becoming more andmore curious about the existence of the 99 and are pushing, poking andprodding a bit to see if they really do exist and, if so, what they'remade of. ?The 99' #4 is when the team faces off with Red Shroud andBlackwolf.? Will the team find a way out when kidnapped? Will Raqib theWatcher? find New Blood in #5? And in #6, the new team and the old teamfight together against the twisted genius of Rughal's Pathologist.?
Thefights and various exploits that the protagonists of The 99 findthemselves embroiled in will take them to locales as diverse as theyare. The main headquarters for the 99 is in Paris, but theiradventures are truly international in scope,? Nicieza remarked. ?In thefirst year's worth of issues, we go to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, U.A.E.,United States, Hungary, Canada, Philippines, India, Jakarta...sheesh... I should have brought my passport. This is not aregion or country-specific book; it really is about empowering peoplefrom all over the world to think a bit more about what makes us similarand how we can work together rather than how our differences can driveus apart.
Intone, 'The 99' is just as varied as its cast of characters and itssettings. The tone is drama, comedy, adventure and lesson-learning inthe course of stories that present our characters with personal andmoral conflicts,? Nicieza said.
Bringingto life all the action, drama, comedy, and personal/moral conflicts of 'The 99' is Nicieza's artistic collaborator John McCrea. John is realfun and always surprising. He creates a real sense of kinetic motion tohis panels and his pages, Nicieza said. He can draw light or 'cartoony' stuff in one panel and shift gears to dark and scary in thenext. I think his style has gone a long way towards helping to define avery distinctive look for the series and the universe as a whole.
With ahuge cast of characters, global settings, and an epic, sweeping scopeat their disposal, Nicieza and Dr. Al-Mutawa are in no danger ofrunning out of interesting ideas to explore in 'The 99.' The onlyinevitable end would be utter and total peace on Earth and good willbetween all who reside on the planet, Nicieza stated. ?Sounds nice,but I'm too cynical to expect that anytime soon, which means we'll haveplenty of characters and story material for a long time to come.
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