You’ve heard of Marvel’s action super hero The Silversurfer, now prepare to be wowed by The Silver Scorpion; the latest comic book super hero to hit the scene. It turns out that he’s wheelchair bound.. and also Muslim.
The new character from Liquid Comics apparently began life when a US philanthropist, Jay T Snyder was inspired by President Obama’s attempt to reach out to the Muslim world with disabled Syrian and American kids. When the children were asked what superpower they wanted, none of them wanted their disabilities healed. The CEO of Liquid Comics suggested how these children were “empowered by their own disabilities, and they should not be seen as a source of weakness”.
The Silver Surfer is still an early idea, but the author has mentioned that he has lost his legs in a landmine accident and later develops the ability to control metal with his mind (similar to Magneto from Marvel’s X-Men comics).
Initially, 50,000 Arabic language comics will be distributed throughout Syria in November, but will be also be published in English and be available for downloading worldwide online.
It’s not the first time Muslims have become comic book characters of course. We ran a special feature on the 99 back in October last year. You can read the feature here and watch the video below>