Legendary Arab poet Antara reborn as comic book hero
‘Antara’ is the first comic strip to be published by Kalimat, a UAE-based company
In a red cape, dark hair blowing in the wind, he crosses the dunes under a blazing sun: Antara, the famed 6th century Arab poet born a slave, is now a superhero.
A pre-Islamic poet, Antara is celebrated in the collective memory of Arabs as well as in pop culture — a child born to a tribal leader and his Abyssinian slave who rose as a warrior-poet to free himself and demand his father recognise him as his son, and a free man.
Now, he stars in his own comic strip, reimagined as a shield-wielding, cape-wearing superhero by Egyptian writer Mumen Hilmi and renowned Indian illustrator Ashraf Ghuri.
The story of Antara breaks across the class and race lines that frequently dominate society, the “perfect example of what it means to be a superhero,” writer Hilmi says.
“Arabs like the exaggerated personality traits of heroes, and we thought why not transform Antara into a superhero like those you see in the US, Europe, Japan.”
Antara is the first comic strip to be published by Kalimat, a publishing house based in Sharjah that specialises in Arabic translations of Japanese manga and US cartoonist Nick Seluk’s series, The Awkward Yeti and Heart and Brain.
The story weaves a tale of bravery, slavery, freedom, loyalty and love — and co-stars his beloved Abla, daughter of a tribal shaikh and object of Antara’s undying affection.
The comic strip narrates “the beginning of his life as a slave, mistreated by his tribe because of the colour of his skin and the status of his mother, to become a hero on the frontline,” Hilmi says.
Antara’s strength is matched only by his poetry, which has two main themes: his wartime exploits, and his love for his cousin Abla. ■