(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Two grade XII students of The Sultan's School have created a superhero, Omani.
Omani, in the comic book T wears a black costume, has his face covered by a mussar, is armed with a khanjar and fights evil men. The book, written in English, is a result of a great deal of research and analysis on the Omani identity by Ammar Jamal and Abdullah al Rawas, the two students.
The story revolves around a happy-go-lucky Omani teenager named Nasser, who climbs the mountains, explores the wadis, loves Suntop juice and Chips Oman. His life changes when he learns from his father's friend how his parents were killed by evil men. Later, Nasser's alter ego, Omani, takes on ‘bad men to protect society'.
The two friends say they were inspired by the comics of US company Marvel Publications.
''We wanted our comic book to be distinctively Omani. So we included elements such as the khanjar, saif (sword), kumma and mussar,'' said Ammar, who has written the script.
Other Omani elements used are deserts, aflaj, Omani rial, as well as cultural elements such as the greeting salam alaikum, and references to a Land Cruiser pickup as abu shanab.
''Whenever we asked people who their favourite hero was, they either said Batman or Spiderman. But they live in Gotham and New York City.
''We wanted to create a superhero who lives in Oman,'' he added
Around 100 copies of the comics have been printed and distributed at the school. The boys are now looking for a publisher.
Abdullah, the artist of the comic strip, said, ''There are many factors we took into consideration when we conceived the idea. We wanted the entire nation to relate to him.
''He is the first Omani superhero, and it's an honour to have created him. The characters in the comic also wear Barcelona football club T-shirts that are popular in Oman. I did the artwork first with colour pencils, but it lacked quality, so I used a mobile app for it.
''Once the script was ready, we showed it to our teacher, Zaheer Siddque, who gave us a positive feedback. We then got it printed. We are now expecting feedback from people. We hope the book is soon available in bookstores. We also want to come out with the second book in the se
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