AK Comics faces barriers, but meets with some success

California's Metroactive talks to AK Comics publisher Ayman Kandeel and managing director Marwan el-Nashar about their line of Middle Eastern superheroes, which faces some hurdles in reaching an audience:

... AK Comics faces some barriers in reaching a wider Middle Eastern audience. Religion is not discussed in the plot lines, and political strife is referred to vaguely, or cloaked in abstract references. For the Middle Eastern version, Jalila's outfit was modified for a more conservative audience. On getting into the Saudi market, el-Nashar was quoted in Lebanon's Daily Star as saying, "We're trying to negotiate with the Saudis to see if censorship can be avoided. Hopefully, they are getting more liberal."

Still, el-Nashar says the comics have met with success in Egypt, and the four issues released as a test in the United States sold about 4,500 each.