When writer/artist Ahmed Amin decided to create a comic dedicated to his nephew who has autism, he didn’t have to look further than his Mesopotamian roots to find a hero resembling his nephew’s goodness.
When writer/artist Ahmed Amin decided to create a comic dedicated to his nephew who has autism, he didn’t have to look further than his Mesopotamian roots to find a hero resembling his nephew’s goodness.
When the renowned archeologist Austen Layard hired Hormuzd Rassam as a paymaster on his excavation, he did not know that he had set in motion the events that will lead to the discovery of the story which the National Geographic History magazine called “The World’s First Action Hero”. That story is none other than “The Epic of Gilgamesh”. So when writer/artist Ahmed Amin decided to create a comic dedicated to his nephew who has autism, he didn’t have to look further than his Mesopotamian roots to find a hero resembling his nephew’s goodness.
The Epics of Enkidu is a comic book that features a superhero who happens to be autistic, in what could be the sequel to the oldest story ever found in human history, The Epics of Gilgamesh. The story follows Enkidu who is brought back from out of time and does not remember who he is. Being autistic, his brain works so fast, that everything around him moves too slow, which makes him socially odd and interacts with the world differently. But it does help him analyze everything, and it allows him to see the patterns of things; things that can happen before they happen. It can be handy when he is in danger, but not when you try to communicate with him.
In hopes to raise awareness about autism, Ahmed teamed up with artist Felix Torres to revive the legend in a modern setting, and is winding up for a crowdfunding event on Indiegogo. You can visit the Pre-launch page now to learn more, see the campaign’s video, and sign up for when the comic comes live on Indiegogo. If you want to get involved, you can visit the site’s page here.
The campaign will be live on May the 15th, and it will run for 30 days. If the campaign is successful, Ahmed will be the first Muslim comic book creator to be crowdfunded by Indiegogo, which might open a new door for other Muslim artists to tell their own stories to the coming generation.
To find out more, you can follow this initiative on Twitter: @HeroAutistic and on Instagram: @Hero_Autistic.
