Malaak, Angel of Peace

V44-46 and END

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:20:00 +0000

After this long break due to unexpected life changes, I give you the last 3 pages of volume 5 all at once (with the preceding page again, as a reminder of where we left off.) More discussion below the pages!

So now we know how THAT ended, and that Amer didn't quite tell Malaak the whole story!

Ever since I set the date of the flashback so precisely, I wondered if a history buff would remember it or if someone was going to look it up and call me on it, but that managed to go under the radar for two years. It has been a long time since Lebanon suffered a serious earthquake (1759 and knock on wood!), but it's well-known that the ancient cities were flattened a few times by devastating tremors, and the coastline was hit by tsunamis 14 times over the last 2,500 years. The earthquake and tsunami of 525 B.C. is one of the best-known ones, and destroyed Tyre...
The idea, by the way, took shape while researching for our book Tyre and its History several years back, but the tragedy of the Japan tsunami in 2010 provided visual references I could never have imagined.

With this volume 5 ends, and we have one volume left to go. There will be another long break before I begin posting that, because I'm going to the UK for art courses and it will be difficult to focus on the comic for a while. Also I want to really work on the writing to give this series a worthy ending. The best way to find out when posting resumes is to follow this blog or join the mailing list (leave me a comment for that).

I have also decided not to print single volumes anymore, so I'm afraid this will not be published just yet: I prefer to complete volume 6 and then put out a complete book with all 6 parts of the story. I will, however, publish an ebook with the usual booty of sketches and other bonus material, so people who have been waiting for its completion can enjoy it asap!

Thanks for reading!

V43

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:51:00 +0000

End of part 5! Oh wait, no, I forgot... Just a couple more pages...

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Sunset Grill by Kat Feete

"It's 2426. Earth is a patchwork quilt of squabbling Domains, loosely joined under the mantle of the Empire, which fights to present a united front to technologically advanced, land-hungry alien races. None of which matters particularly to the Sunset Grill, a bar on the shady side of town in the corrupt city of Kieselburg. The comic follows the bar's staff and patrons as they meet the challenges of their imperfect world with humor, determination, and the occasional moment of grace."

V42

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 06:11:00 +0000

Adrian still has a hard time wrapping his head around some of the "psycho stuff." Malaak seems to finally have gotten to the root of the problem... sort of. What happened to the temple in the first place?

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Ley Lines by Robin Dempsey

"Three siblings from a broken family are caught in the conspiracy that claimed their mother's life. To save their family and nation, they seek out ancient gods for answers -- but the gods give nothing for free." It's hard to stop reading this culturally rich story set in a thoroughly fleshed-out world.

V41

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Some of you had already figured this out about Nryz, but I must say I only found out recently myself ;)
Poor Malaak looks so uncomfortable and hardly able to move. It's an unusual spot to put one's superhero in, to say the least. What will she do if she's physically unable to act?

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Footloose byAlice Nuttall and Emily Brady

"Keti Jones is a third generation Primary Protagonist, with some seriously mixed up DNA and a predispotion to Multiple Genre-induced Sanity Dysfunction. In a world where the rules of Fiction control everything she must learn to defend herself... with shoes."

V40

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hospitals! I hate hospitals!! But here's a kind of sweet moment I've been looking forward to drawing. ^^
Yes, that's a different scarf on Adrian. His original one is still in Malaak's possession, remember? Safely back at her place, and probably washed and ironed, too.

Sketch page:

This week's webcomic is Precocious by Christopher J. Paulsen:

Precocious is "a nifty daily webcomic about 9- and 10-year-old kids who are too smart for their own good", based on the author's childhood. "If this comic looks and reads like what would happen if Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Ozy and Millie, Bloom County and Fox Trot were thrown into a blender and distilled– That's because it IS. I'm a huge fan of all those strips, and following them most definitely helped shape me into who I am today." Chrispy offers a useful selection of strips so new readers can get a feel of the comic without going through the entire archive.

V39

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 05:26:00 +0000

The blurs here were quite fun to make, I must say. Always wanted to make a good use of that effect... Hope you enjoyed seeing the open air for a couple of pages, because uh... It's going to be a while till we see them again I think!

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Spare Keys for Strange Doors by Lucy Lyall:

Your local Specialists are:
Toby Hathaway and Marion Sark.
Highly experienced and skilled professionals, experts at handling the uncanny, supernatural and subnatural. Some experience of the natural, but discussion of your exact needs is advisable.

Specialities include visitations, disappearances, compulsions, manifestations, transformations and removal of uninvited guests. We can be diplomatic or more persuasive as the situation requires."

Spare Keys is a delightful and riveting series of short paranormal stories in a crisp art style that makes it beautifully readable. Each story stands alone, and they typically portray small life dramas made highly interesting (and humorous!) by the presence of the supernatural. Well written, well drawn, well paced, a highly recommended read!

V38

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Featuring our new ER double act, Drs Kamal and Jarone, and a cameo appearance by Samer Chehab ;)

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Twilight Lady by Blake JK Chen

"In demonic circles, she is spoken of in hushed whispers… and known only as the Nameless Lady in the Hood.
For eons she wandered the realms of the living and dead, craving solitude, yet compelled to aid any wronged who sought justice… or vengeance.
Two decades ago, this immortal soul found itself born into an earthly body under mysterious circumstances.
Having previously attained near god-like ability and status (worshipped by some, feared by others), the Lady had no desire to endure the limits of being mere flesh and blood. So she created Jen, a separate mind within her own… to experience life in a physical body whenever she didn’t want to… which was most of the time.
Only Jen turned out stronger than her creator imagined, at times becoming the dominant personality in their shared existence. To prevent losing herself completely, the Lady began surfacing whenever Jen was “asleep”. A necessary compromise.

Now a young adult, Jen still has no inkling of the being that dwells within. A budding musician, she just wants to find her place in the world.
But there are those who know of the Nameless Lady in the Hood. Friends, enemies, and those who seek her aid…"

A good jumping point is the current storyline, Occupy Senserealm.

V37

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Finally out in the sun again! I won't be sorry not to have to shade the insides of that thing anymore, grumble. Well, well, looks like there's only a few pages to go for this volume...

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the Week: Chirault by Varethane

A lovely fantasy webcomic with signature use of brushpen and markers, Chirault is "about this weirdo named Kiran and this tiny kid who sits on his shoulder and tells him to do things. Sort of, anyway. There are also demons and imploding cities and the possibility of the world's imminent demise, in roughly that order of mention." What doesn't transpire from this blurb is how completely loveable the characters are, each with a history that is revealed ever so slowly, and how addictive the story is – a good old string of adventures within the central framework of having to get from one place to the other, in a world rich with mages, hunters and demons. The 600-page archive was an absolute pleasure to devour and now I'm waiting for more.

V36

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:20:00 +0000

There's an anecdote regarding this page that involves my quizzing my (ER Doctor) brother as to what kind of injury Adrian could immobilize with only his belt at hand, then demanding he demonstrate how on his (freshly arrived) partner so I could take reference pics... It was worth it for a medically plausible scene!

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Keys by Nicoli Gonnella

"Keys is about a young man trying to find himself in a world that is on the brink of war. The Empire readies to sign a peace accord with the savage Freidheim, but men and women plot and scheme to grab their handfuls of power. While in the shadows there is a whisper, a call from long ago: he is coming. He is coming."

V34-35

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:00:00 +0000

I wasn't sure I'd manage to finish this for today, but I'm not so cruel! Stayed in on this beautiful Sunday to get it done (and to stop myself pillaging Whole Foods, which should have been kept hidden from me.) Something else I managed to do was finish scripting this volume till the end, and start on the next one.

Sketch page:

V33

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Oh crap! This time it's for real!
Just a heads up, I have a fully booked week ahead of me here in London, and though the next page is 80% done, there's a chance I won't manage to complete it before next Monday.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: dream*scar by Heather Meade

First the story, in the author's words: "Set in a post-modern, alternate reality, d*s shows a world where Unhumans, creatures of myth and lore [vampires, werewolves, dragons etc], live openly amongst humans and are therefore known for a fact to exist. It's not something that has been known for many years -- it's new to both humans and unhumans, and so times are slightly chaotic [racism especially rampant]. Amidst all this is a girl named Vix. She knows she is an unhuman, and she knows how they are treated. She is lucky -- she is merely something of an empath. Her powers are rather unnoticeable, so she is able to hide it. But when something goes wrong, and people end up dead, she begins to realize that there's more to her than she can comprehend..."

Now I have to say I have rarely been so gripped by a storyline and art style. Pulling myself away to make it to appointments was nothing short of painful. Maybe it's because characterization is such a large part of the story, and no character in this comic leaves me indifferent. I bloody want to know what's going to happen, and am enjoying all the little moments of the subplots in the meanwhile – moments that tend to be missing from many webcomics.

The art is just beautiful. I find all the manga moments (see 3rd page below) very annoying and faddish, not at all serving the story, but even they couldn't detract from the fact it's a feast for the eyes and I'm very, very jealous of how beautiful and addictive this comic is!

V32

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The end of Nryz??
This is the last page before I'm off to the UK again for 3 weeks, but I've set things up so that there's no interruption in the update schedule – there will be a new page next Monday as usual! (Yes, I discretely changed the update day from Sunday to Monday. More people online, and Malaak Monday has a nice ring to it.)

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: Cetiya by Leah Potyondy

Cetiya is a cyberpunk serial set in a world where magic is technology, with spells downloaded as data into the body and executed using a device known as ADEPT. In the author's words: "Pada, the foremost ADEPT-user in the world, has sacrificed everything—including his own identity—to be the best. This is the story of how a man with no memories and a woman who just wants to forget defy their powerful parent corporation to take out a top international crime syndicate and correct a mistake that was made three years ago. It's also the story of four people who live in an underground bunker and torment the living hell out of each other, alleviated only by visits from their merchant emissary to Euskadi and occasional trips to the supermarket. But it is perhaps foremost a story about how memory, power, love, and trust define the people we are and the people we become."

V31

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:24:00 +0000

Two rather different fighting styles in action... It's fun to remember Wushu techniques for Malaak and go purely instinctual for Nryz.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: School spirit by Daniel VanderWerff

This cute comic strip "is about growing up in the Australian bush, seen from the perspective of the students of Come-by-Chance Primary, somewhere in country Victoria. The school is right next to the local cemetery, which is populated by ghosts and spirits who play a key role in shaping the way the kids see the world."
The author is a teacher and well-placed to observe his subject matter's antics!

V30

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:08:00 +0000

Time for another showdown, but is there any way for Malaak to win??
And with this we've hit page 30, which is at least 2/3rds of the story, if it doesn't go Kudzu on me.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the week: The Only Half Saga by Denise Randall

A post-apocalyptic tale focused on the person and quest of young Cabal: "Cabal is a dhampir, who seeks his father, Renate. The vampire stole his mother's heart, her immortality, and then left her to madness. Determined to track his father and fulfill his revenge, Cabal stalks the nuclear wasteland of the former United States."
Note that this comic is rated M.

V29

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 07:01:00 +0000

I should probably share something. The very first time I read anything about comic theory was by stumbling upon two pages in a school library book that analyzed a comic book spread, showing how the panels related together, how the gaze was led across the spread, and how a page always ended in a
natural pause or a cliffhanger. That was when I fell passionately in love with the medium of comics and what I learned from these few notes remained the most impressed in me.
So you can blame that anonymous writer for all the cliffhangers I inflict on my readers! The lesson's been TOO well learned.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the Week: The War of Winds by KEZ

TWoW is a veteran among comics, being published online since 2004. This means that the difference in art quality between the earlier and later pages is really huge, testimony to KEZ's ceaseless quest for improvement (the current work is of really high quality).
The story is originally a novel and can be read online in either format: prose or webcomic. In the author's words:
"The War of Winds is an epic fantasy/sci-fi story that spans in total, about 3000 years. The current story featured by this site details the end of the war between the Four Winds, hence the title."

We are known as the Four Winds. We were the last creations of the gods, and were made in the futile hope for peace. The Wise One, known as An’soru, shields our world from the devastation of nature. He was the first of us, the South Wind. The West Wind, named by his people as Rahn, preserves life itself in all forms—all death is balanced by birth. He is the youngest, and the most innocent. The East Wind, once known as Kü, was made to defend the souls of the dead from all things seen or unseen. And I, the North Wind, the one called the Tempest, protect whomever and whatever I see fit, sometimes nothing at all.

V28

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Nnnnoooooooooo!!!! (I can't give you a moment's relief!)
I had some fun rendering the backgrounds in this page, the textures of the door with subtle light effects, etc... Glad all the small details appear in print, because they're quite wasted on the screen. In case you're wondering, Malaak isn't actually listening at the door, more like trying to feel for Adrian.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the Week: Between Places by Tiffany Munro (aka Tiana).

In the author's words, "Between Places is a story about places. And the things between them. Specifically, dreamworlds. In this world, dreams become very real places that can be visited at night. Sometimes they are nice... aaaand sometimes they are not."

This webcomic is an enormous undertaking spanning hundreds of pages, full of "the imaginings of humanity". The art style is a painterly approach not often seen in comics, that perfectly evokes a world where dreams and "reality" interpenetrate in increasingly alarming ways. An engrossing read on a topic that never ceases to intrigue. As a foretaste, you can read Tiana's standalone comic Those Who Favor Fire first.

V27

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 06:00:00 +0000

One thing to be said about this interior is that there's very little to worry about in terms of backgrounds, lol. On the other hand, I have 3 different shading layers...

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the Week:

This week's webcomic is LaSalle's Legacy by Jennifer Zyren Smith.

"In the world of the Twelve Seas, the secrets of necromancy have been lost to the Old World for decades. When a young man discovers that his father's old nemesis, who is now a zombie, is out to kill him, he sets out to learn more about this forbidden art. Along the way, he discovers he isn't the only one curious about the secrets and becomes engulfed in a battle for power."

While the early chapters of LaSalle's Legacy are in a none-too-strong art style, it develops tremendously in the ensuing chapters. Adding to this an engaging cast of characters and an entertaining storyline makes it a worthwhile swashbuckling read .

V26

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 05:46:00 +0000

The Hay Festival this week was great fun, with the usual slew of new encounters from around the world and a lot of new interest in Malaak! I'm doing a podcast tomorrow with someone from the crew, I'll post more about it (and the link) when it's online.

Sketch page:

Webcomic of the Week

This week's webcomic is The Cyantian Chronicles by Tiffany Ross.

This is actually an anthology of stories revolving around the world of Cyantzium. The author is currently revising most of the many storylines posted on the website, so the story I'm pointing to here is specifically Darius, which follows the youngest in a line of Akaelae, powerful guardians of the Cyantian Wolves.

Although the anthro/furry genre is not my personal cup of tea, this is a cute story set in a well-developed world. There's even a Wiki to find out more about everyone and everything involved in the world Tiffany created.

Unpublished interview: a feminist enquiry on Malaak

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 05:47:00 +0000

This interview was conducted in 2012 by Washington-based journalist Vicki Valosik for a feminist magazine. It was never published, so I asked her if I could put it on the website, as the questions brought up subjects that have never come up in other interviews, such as the comic's relationship to the feminine and feminism; the following insights, I thought, would be of interest to my readers.

1. What was behind your decision to make the heroine female?

It wasn’t a conscious decision: the female heroine came along with the story when I first thought about it. I didn’t stop for a moment to think about whether I wanted a male or female character. It’s only later, looking back, that I realized that a male character would have required a very different story, and that because of their natural differences in thinking and in doing, male and female characters were simply not interchangeable, unless badly written.

2. Did you base Malaak's personality on any females (or males) you know?

I didn’t want to do this, I really wanted to avoid it, but she ended up based on myself. I guess it’s inevitable, all characters are projections of their author and the main character probably most of all. It was my friends who noticed it before even I did, and some people (including one journalist upon concluding an interview) unconsciously called me by her name a couple of times.

3. How would Malaak be different as a man? How are her reactions to the fighting in Lebanon uniquely feminine?

A male Malaak would be incapable of resolving this situation, full stop. I can’t reveal where the story is going, but we need only look at reality: Lebanon’s troubles were begun, fuelled, and are currently kept up by men. Our (male) politicians are deeply caught in their egos and utterly incapable of taking the steps that could bring peace to the region. I’m not the only one to believe that if women were in power, things would get solved much more quickly (as long as they didn’t ape male behavior as too many women end up doing to achieve a political status in the first place).

At the beginning of the story, Malaak reacts in a more masculine way: she fights violence with violence. She uses her gift to take out Jinn one by one. If she’d been a man, she’d have taken this to a culmination, probably raising an army to do this very thing on a massive scale – likely backed up by research into what destroys the Jinn, so you’d have all these fighters armed with salt-throwing weapons or the like. Instead, her intuition soon kicks in. She realizes fighting can only get her so far, and turns inside to understand what is happening and what she, specifically, can do about it. She does have an advisor, but he’s only showing her the door: note that her male helper Adrian distrusts that advice and would reject it. But she takes the irrational decision to trust it and it opens new doors for her. As the story progresses she relies increasingly on her inner knowledge and less on logical decisions, less on violence and more on fixing things. Her ultimate purpose is healing the country, whereas a male hero’s would have been ridding it of its enemies.

4. How did you settle on such a sexy costume for Malaak? Do you see any conflict between her costume and the larger feminist message? She seems to appear more confident when she is wearing it.

I don’t see why sexiness and feminism should be mutually exclusive. You can look sexy because you submit to the distorted image modern society has of women, or you can be sexy because your natural femininity bursts out of you.

The costume design however didn’t take the above into account. I needed a “second skin” type of suit because it’s the most convenient for the kind of acrobatics and martial arts I had in mind for her (I practice both myself so this is my own experience.) This was also because I enjoy drawing the human body in action so much that I didn’t want to cover her up too much, it would just not be as fun for me. Also, when I first started working on the comic, I was more intent on poking fun at the superhero genre, so I made the costume look typical of female superhero costumes, which are predictable to the point of ridiculous – and made it an in-story point that it was, of course, designed by a man!

That said, Malaak wears her suit the way a gymnast wears her leotard: in a natural, practical, not deliberately sexy way (note the realistically sized breasts instead of the usual balloons.) If she appears more confident in it, it’s because she’s playing the Clark Kent game: pretending to be shy and awkward in real life, so that people don’t wonder why she’s always absent during shelling (she pretends to be hiding in a shelter while in fact she’s out hunting down Jinn). She herself states at the end of the first volume that “nobody would ever guess” the costumed hero is her, because the costume is so not her. There are a lot of subtle subversions going on here that are even more striking when one looks at other superheroines.

5. It is interesting that Malaak's two main advisors are men (and that a man chose her sexy outfit) costume. Was this a conscious decision and if so, what was the reason behind it?

For Malaak to have a male friend, Adrian, was originally suggested by the friend who is the model for that character. He argued that Adrian would serve as the cold voice of reason alongside her more emotional and intuitive character. I suspect my friend just wanted to be in the comic, but this struck me as a very important point. I went with it and the result is a very interesting relationship, complementary but not without clashes. They need each other, though she has the greater strength.
There’s also a twist there: In all of the history of comic books, there is no such a thing as a male sidekick to a superheroine. Male superheroes may have a female sidekick, but not the other way around. Adrian would vehemently deny being a sidekick, but the pairing subverts this unspoken “rule” of superhero comics.

As for the other man, Amer, I can’t say anything about him right now because his role is still largely a mystery and I don’t want to spoil the upcoming volumes.

6. How long have you been designing comics?

I was 11 when I made my very first attempts. I was brought up on reading bandes dessinées and around that age, making them became a consuming passion. Until I graduated from high school, I spent every free moment making comics. Now that I think of it I’m a bit shocked, I really did not spend a single lunch break at school socialising, I just disappeared into the library either to draw comics or to read up on comic theory.
That changed when I went to university in late 98 and suddenly had no time at all to myself. I wasn’t able to touch the medium again till I started work on Malaak in 2006. By then I had a decade of new skills and experience (both worldly and professionally), and that made a huge difference in the new scale I was tackling.

7. What gave you the idea/inspiration for the series?

The first whiff of it came in 2000, while still under Syrian occupation, a very nasty period though the nastiness was kept hidden from the world. I had this idea of a “savior” sent by the cedar trees in the form of a child, and sketched the 2 pages showing her birth, that are now in volume 1. I had no idea what to do with it, though. What will she do, I thought, fight the Syrian army? That sounded wrong on all levels, and I knew I didn’t have the skill for an ambitious story, so the sketches went into a drawer and were forgotten.

Much later, in 2006, the Israeli-Hezbollah war brought us to our knees. Like everybody else I was both angry and disgusted. An online magazine launched the idea of creating “the Lebanese superhero”, just for a laugh, and though I sneered at the concept at first, inspiration just came. I designed her, then got the idea for her backstory that dusted off my two sketched pages, and then more ideas kept coming. Until I realized I was onto something big and I really had to see it through and publish it. It was almost pure catharsis at first, but volume 1 consumed my anger and now I’m flying on pure inspiration.

8. Do you have a conclusion in mind for the series or do you plan to keep it going?

I have a conclusion in mind, though I’m not yet sure how many volumes I will need to finish the story arc. No more than 8, I think. [Note from the future: I have now settled on 6!] I have nothing but distaste for series that go on and on long after they’ve said all they could say, and lose themselves in mediocre plots just to keep going. When Malaak’s story ends, it will end, though there’s always the possibility of then coming back in time for short, experimental storylines that run parallel to the main story arc, and put the spotlight on lesser characters, for instance. I’d very much like to do that and to let other writers and artists do that, if they wish. But after Malaak, I’m moving on to another series that I already started to develop – intimately related, but very different.

9. In making the aggressors jinns are you seeking to make a certain social/political message or is that your way of keeping it politically neutral?

Neither, really: it was a storytelling decision. As one of my readers put it, “a superhero is only as powerful as her enemies are.” You can’t go very far in a story when your antagonists are nothing more than armed men; to us (Lebanese) in particular there is nothing less exotic, more banal, and less threatening as a concept than militias. In the very beginning of my writing the story, they were going to be men, and I was stuck in a rut because I couldn’t see where I could take the plot, what I could possibly do with them to give the story an epic scale. There was also the question of how to discourage my Lebanese readership from trying to guess which of the existing political parties I was portraying as the bad guys, as everything is highly politicized in Lebanon, and there was no way in hell I was going to play that game. Then I had a classic “lightbulb” moment and thought of making them Jinn. That unblocked everything and suddenly the doors of local mythology and the supernatural were open to my plot, and that had never been done in my part of the world. It was a true stroke of inspiration.

I’ll add that I could not have brought myself to make my character routinely killing human beings the way she takes out Jinn. Adrian might, but not Malaak. In the story, Malaak explicitly doesn’t hurt humans who unwittingly help the Jinn, because “that’s not her part.” What she would do if backed into a corner is a pending question and may make for an interesting “moment of truth” in the near future.

10. Are you primarily trying to reach a Lebanese audience or are you hoping to bring what's happening in Lebanon to a larger audience outside the country?

I mainly target the Lebanese. There’s so much about this comic that only they can appreciate fully: the locations, the language, cultural references, and above all the collective memory of living with war. There are elements they have collectively forgotten: our ancient history and mythology, which I dig up constantly for my other pursuits (I co-author educational children’s books about Lebanon) and that I want to remind them of, because national amnesia, short-sightedness and lack of awareness of their identity is a real problem right now. Also, no such story has ever been addressed to them. We have no national fiction character, and no work of imagination taking place within our culture.
However, that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in taking the whole thing to a worldwide audience. I made it in English for that purpose (instead of our usual French) and I include vocabulary notes for the Lebanese words and anything a foreign reader might not get. I’m very gratified by the overseas readership I’ve acquired online. I didn’t expect everyone would be interested in such a Lebanese story, but it turns out it’s precisely the cultural setting of it that makes it fresh and interesting to comic lovers worldwide. I would love to find a way to have it published or at least distributed in Europe and North America, but those circuits are hard to crack.

11. Do you have any rolemodels in doing this kind of work?

I have many, and they are very different from each other. At the top of the list I should place Hergé, the author of Tintin, whose work and innovations in the medium were my leading light when I first began to learn it. Much more recently there’s Benoît Peeters, one of the great comic theorists of today, and in-between a number of artists in the French-Belgian traditions whose styles influenced me: Roger Leloup, Franquin, Hugo Pratt, Tome & Gazzotti... In the English-speaking world, Alan Moore is my absolute hero. I only discovered his Promethea after publishing volume 2 of Malaak and I was bowled over by the intersections with my own story, although I don’t know if I can ever match his writing and epic vision. I also admire and learn from David Mack, Chris Ware (for other kinds of comics), Gail Simone, Mike Mignola...

12. How has Malaak been received in Lebanon? Do you feel that it is filling a need for stories with strong heroines?

Well, Lebanon has no stories at all. I can’t think of a single current storyline that is developed enough to appeal to anyone above the age of 10. The only fictional character we have is one who appears in jokes. As for comics, we only have cartoons and caricatures, very few of which deserve any attention. Few people can draw right now, and even fewer write. [This was in 2010; there's been a clear increase in illustrators turning their attention to comicmaking since, though no rise in storytelling that I'm aware of]. In such a bleak landscape, the question of strong female heroines is not even asked – we have no heroes to begin with. So Malaak fills the need for Lebanese storytelling, Lebanese comics, Lebanon-based fantasy, a Lebanese superhero, serious writing and, finally, the need of the entire Middle East for a female lead character who is real, and not just a writer’s fancy to look open-minded and attract male readers.

The books are very well received in Lebanon both critically and popularly, across all age groups (of people that read comics, that is). They suffer from insufficient exposure, given I’m on my own, but the feedback was encouraging from the get-go. Without a doubt the question I get the most often is why I made my main character female. People are struck by that before anything else, because it’s a first (not even women expect a female action hero) and because they’re aware of our region’s patriarchal complex. I also think that due to Lebanese feminism leading the region right now, they make associations – but I was never on a crusade against men, I’m just writing a story that happens to be based on the feminine...

V25 and Hay Festival!

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Oops, maybe we won't see Amer in action just yet...

Sketch page:

The Hay Festival's coming to town!

I'm excited to be part of this international cultural festival with fellow Lebanese comickers as well as Karrie Fransman, whom I met in London last year – neither of us imagined we'd meet again in Beirut! The full program can be downloaded from the festival's website, details for my event are below:

Thursday July 5, 20:00-21:00 @ Zico House: Visual stories.
Karrie Fransman, Zeina Bassil and Joumana Medlej in conversation with Lana Asfour

Karrie Fransman (UK) came into the public eye with her
autobiographical comic strips My Peculiar Life, published in
The Guardian, and The Night I Lost My Love, printed in The Times,
and who is author of the highly acclaimed graphic novel The House
that Groaned. Zeina Bassil (Lebanon) is a freelance illustrator, editor
of La Furie des Glandeurs, an illustration and comic fanzine that tackles
social related issues in Lebanon, she also has a column in the monthly
French literary supplement L’Orient Littéraire. Joumana Medlej
(Lebanon) is a designer, calligrapher and illustrator that has created
and published her own graphic novels, works with calligraphy and
designs desktop icons and computer games. The three participants will
discuss the wonders of comic writing, picture making and storytelling
with the journalist Lana Asfour.

Attendance is free but you need to book tickets; to do so please call the Beirut Art Center, +961 (0)1 397 018.

Webcomic of the Week

I was prevented from doing this earlier by my long internet deprivation, but starting from now I'll feature a new webcomic every week, beginning with the works of my fellow SpiderForest members (by the way, it's application season if you're looking for a good collective: see here for more details).

This week's webcomic is Spine by Cihan Sesen.

As the author puts it, "The story depicts a post-apocalyptic, distopian future where Spine makes the best of it, and by best of it I mean skydiving half-naked. "

Spine impresses at once with a strong, original art (that I find very organic and personal) supported by a shading style that provides a minimalistic color palette. The result is that every panel is a bold visual statement, almost like a linocut. Cihan seems to love machines and industrial settings like I never will (it's glaringly obvious throughout Malaak) and he makes them look alive, far from the mechanically-drawn-looking technology that is generic in action comics. Kudos also for the hand-drawn speech balloons and lettering, which fit in so seamlessly with the art style.

As far as pacing goes, the author goes the distance to set up atmosphere and build up to the action, which is explosive when it happens. It's an achievement in itself, in a medium where this kind of pacing means drawing loads and loads of pages. And they're not space fillers, either, but deconstruct the setting and action cinematically. (Small advisory note: this comic features adult language and some graphic violence.)

I'll leave you with sample pages to illustrate this comic's strengths:

V24

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 05:17:00 +0000

What's, I won't say funny but interesting here, is that I've had this moment of the story marked down in my script as being the moment "Amer finally breaks a sweat" (he's been playing it way too cool so far) – but what was not scripted, was that in the meanwhile, my real-life friend who's the prototype for the character was hit and badly cut by a flying object. He jokingly suggested I integrate the scar into the story, not knowing I already had the right scene for that coming up. Hope I didn't cause the collision! (remember when Malaak first got hurt in volume 2, and I broke my finger just then? yeah *spooky music*)

By the way, check out my updated Order page as it has a few cool items in addition to the books, made both for fun and to support the comic. I'm always interested in new ideas for DIY things I could add to the store!

Sketch page:

V23

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Page sketch:

V22

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:05:00 +0000

After the longest hiatus ever, we are back on track, and I cross my fingers that there will be no interruption of this sort again – the summer at least looks like I'll be chained to my desk most of the time, catching up on work and comic.

Language notes:
'Eeesss:. Best translated as "craaaaap...."

The state of the comic

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:08:00 +0000

We are not dead. I know I haven't updated in months and it really bothers me, but life has been more challenging than I can say. But I'm finally able to work and draw again, so don't lose hope. Watch this space and thanks for sticking around!

V21

noreply@blogger.com (Joumana) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:35:00 +0000

Answers at last!!
Please note I'm in the process of moving house (yes this comes as much as a surprise to me as it does to you) so there's a chance I'll miss next week's update!

Sketch page:

Malaak, Angel of Peace

V44-46 and END

V43

V42

V41

V40

V39

Your local Specialists are:Toby Hathaway and Marion Sark.

V38

V37

V36

V34-35

V33

V32

V31

V30

V29

V28

V27

V26

Unpublished interview: a feminist enquiry on Malaak

V25 and Hay Festival!

V24

V23

V22

The state of the comic

V21

Your local Specialists are:
Toby Hathaway and Marion Sark.