CAIRO: Indulging in DC's Vertigo imprint for years, Marwan Imam decided that art and illustration were to be part of his future. The recent graduate from the American University in Cairo (AUC) sips his Turkish coffee at a local café as he tells of his journey from comic book lover to now co-owner of what could very possibly become the Middle East's first true comic book publisher, Division Publishing. “In February, we just sat down and decided to start planning and I just thought, let's do this,” the mechanical engineering graduate says, alluding to how Division Publishing was created. He retells the story with enthusiasm. According to Imam, he and his long-time friend Mohammed Reda, were sitting in class one day after Egypt's revolution and just made the decision: they were going to establish a company and bring the comic book to Egypt and the Middle East. “In 2006, I started to take classes in art and illustration and really got into it,” Imam continues, “and the passion really grew and it stayed there.” Imam and Reda simply sat down, developed a business plan and began contacting illustrators and writers to help develop their flagship series “Autostrade,” which in July went on sale, hearkening in the new era of comics in Egypt and the region. The bi-monthly series has already sold a few hundred issues and is currently being distributed at all of Egypt's top bookshops. At 30 Egyptian pounds ($5) the price may be a tad high, but the quality of the book is on par with the trade paperbacks in the United States. Autostrade follows American imprint Top Cow's Pilot Season series that prints one issue and allows readers to vote on the book they would like to see turned into a monthly series. Each issue of Autostrade is published in Arabic and English – each with different stories – with 12-page stories. Each issue aims to develop each story and give readers the opportunity to choose which of those they would like to see developed into a long running series. “Our goal is to have comics in everyone's hands in Egypt,” Imam says, pointing out that by engaging Egyptian-based readers in the development of projects Division Publishing believes they can create buzz and interest in their start-up. For Imam and Reda the art and writing are the most important. As fans of the US-based Image imprint, which revolutionized the comic book world through their creator-owned model of publishing, Division believes that the writer/illustrator should have the freedom to develop their ideas through the genre, much the same manner that Image has been successful in establishing. Fitting that creator-owned model, Imam believes Division can develop a comic book company that delivers unique and diverse content for the Egyptian, Middle Eastern and global audience that is at once international and local. And competitive. “The best thing is to allow others in and develop talent that can be translated across borders,” Imam argues. He points to Lebanon's burgeoning graphic novel industry as a signal that the Arab world is interested in the comic book, but without a true publisher in the region, in the standard issue style, obtaining the latest issues from the United States and Europe has proven difficult and fed the appetite for locally created content. Until 2011, only local Egyptian distributor al-Ahram carried a few foreign comic book series, namely DC's Superman and Batman. It was extremely difficult to obtain the latest happenings in the comic book world. But now that Cairo's first comic book store has opened, Kryptonite in the Heliopolis neighborhood, Imam believes that now is the right time to take the comic book to the next level in the region. “When I was in Colorado studying abroad, I went to a comic book store and bought a bunch of trade paperbacks to bring back because I knew there was nothing available in Cairo,” he reveals. Now, with the Egyptian revolution having removed a government that had had a hand in censorship, Division Publishing and the comic book aficionados have hope. Division is not stopping with Autostrade and plans to develop a number of projects in the near future to bring the proper 22-page comic book series to the region. The Arab world may be saturated with artists and writers who have developed graphic novels in recent years, but the 22-page comic book has seemingly eluded the region. Division plans to change that and already has a number of projects in the works. What those are, Imam says, will be revealed with time. Imam does admit that the company is still going through a learning curve and attempting to develop the industry in Egypt from scratch. The concept, well-established at companies in Europe and the US, of a penciler, inker and letterer is new to the Egyptian context and thus, the first issue of Autostrade does have a few editorial issues, but overall he is pleased. “We all learn from our mistakes and as we continue it will only get better and better,” he argues. “There is a huge hunger for comic books in the Arab world.” One might be able to obtain graphic novels and illustrated magazines in Egypt and across the world, but Division Publishing, lead by Imam and Reda, are planning to revolutionize the industry through professional series that are able to stand toe-to-toe with their Western world counterparts. It's either that or face Ragnarok. BM
