New series of children’s books offers personalized tales of the Arab world  

DUBAI: “Crestar and the Knight Stallion,” the recently launched comic book series by Iraqi American comedian Abdallah Jasim and Pakistani American filmmaker Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, started as a concept for a live-action series, born during the coronavirus pandemic.

Almost three years ago, Ahmad approached Jasim with the idea to create a project close to home in the US, and after months of scripting and creating, the duo developed a pilot for a superhero TV series, featuring characters that took inspiration from the two of them. When they eventually dropped the trailer, it went instantly viral, gaining more than 1 million views across many platforms.

However, given that the logistics to create a TV show, especially one about superheroes, can be complex, Ahmad and Jasim decided to explore the story through a medium that is more familiar with telling superhero stories: comic books.

“The initial idea was something like, ‘What happens after the superheroes come home, and they start relaxing and talking about these their day?’ Sort of like a ‘Seinfeld’ meets superheroes idea. And then culture started popping in there, like, what if they were from different cultures, different backgrounds? And I think between the two of us, we started developing this idea,” said Ahmad in an interview with Arab News.

“At first, it was more of a comedy, like almost a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch comedy show. And then … the idea began to form into something a lot more unique, a lot more complicated, and a lot more epic,” he added.

The collaboration has been nothing short of a dream come true and the process could not have been more enjoyable for the duo, Jasim added.

“As soon as we started writing the script, the ideas just started flowing and our energies were matching. It was just the perfect combination of creativity and talent. And looking back at it now and seeing where it is now, it’s honestly remarkable that we were able to create a trailer all by ourselves — not only a trailer, a pilot for a TV show, and then going from that to a comic book. And now we have the second issue coming out in a couple of weeks. The third issue is coming out next month. So, everything is just going up. And we’re having a great time creating it,” he said.

Joining the illustrious team – which also includes … — is Darick Robertson, co-creator of “The Boys” comic series as well at the popular Amazon Prime adaptation of the same, who immediately wanted to be part of the team when he heard the idea.

“It was high praise coming from this guy. And considering that he was also the co-reator of the comic book and the show and executive producer, we said, ‘Wait a second, we’re doing a show with a comic book as well, this could be a good collaboration.’ So, he came on board as a creative producer. And then he did a cover for issue three, which is about to come out. But as we began to talk with him more, it seemed that his style and his his ideas really meshed well with all the things that we wanted to do. And he said to us, ‘Guys, this has really got a huge amount of potential. I’ve seen it happen with my other projects. And this is just like that.’ And so we began to work more and more closely. And now actually, Robertson is managing the entire thing,” said Ahmad.

The characters of Crestar and Knight Stallion — the former a battle-worn vigilante and the latter a young superhero who may be more scared of his Arab mother than the sinister villains of Detroit — were created with authenticity in mind, say the creators.

“We wanted to make sure that we’re not just throwing in the culture and that the culture is part of the story itself … Knight Stallion is an Arab American living in Michigan. So, what would an Arab American experience living in Michigan? That’s what we’re going to showcase to the whole world,” said Jasim.

Ahmad added: “I’m Pakistani American. And he’s Iraqi American. And I’ve grown up next to Arabs my entire life, in Dearborn, Michigan. However, even I don’t know all the intricacies of their unique specific culture. And I’ve been learning about the culture through (Jasim) while making this comic book. And just like us, maybe the audience will learn a little bit more about Arab culture and maybe Pakistani and Desi culture, and maybe even the superhero culture as well.”