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There's a new Prince of Persia comic book out from Disney Comics. They're no doubt releasing this in advance of the big movie release this summer. It's called Prince of Persia: Before the Sand Storm. It is a collection of short stories, illustrated by various talented artists (such as Todd McFarlane, Niko Henrichon, Cameron Stewart, Tommy Lee Edwards, Bernard Chang), all written by the creator of Prince of Persia. I can't wait to read it.

Zahra's Paradise is a new web-comic chronicling the turmoil after the disputed 2009 Iranian elections. It is written by Amir, an Iranian, and illustrated by Khalil, an Arab. The drawing style is very similar to the "Prince of Persia" graphic novel.

Zahra's Paradise is translated in English, Farsi, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch.

I have been a little slow in posting this. The new Rostam comic, "Battle with the Deevs" has been available for a few weeks now over at the Shahnameh. As with the previous comics, you can clearly see the overall improvements in the series, and there are some very attractive illustrated panels in the latest release. The Deev is the quintessential badass villain in Persian mythology, and its appearance in any story immediately increases the cool factor by a couple of notches.I got my copy the first week it came out, but haven't still had a chance to read the story. But anyone who is a fan of comics, Persian mythology, or just wants to support the hard work of the good folks behind this project should definitely get their copy.

I have been extremely lazy in publishing this. Hassan Nozadian, an original contributor to the project 300 gallery told me about his ambitious graphic novel project a few months ago. He also sent me these cool samples to share with you.

Hassan has an MA in industrial design and is currently the art director in a newly established animation company Zagros Film, in Shiraz, Iran.

Here is a bit more about the comic project from Hassan himself:

It is a legendary epic based on a short story we (me and my frien Mojtaba Nik-akhlagh, himself a screenplay writer) wrote together some years ago. last year we decided to make a persian comic-book based on that old short story written by ourselves because we really did believe in it

The legend (so we called it "Hargezian" in farsi or "Neverians" in English) is about grey heroes (if I can say so, that means who weren't so bad or so good) in such a long times ago and so far that no myths and history can remember it. It sounds like never such these things happened and never such those men existed and no one like those people and heroes lived ever after. Or even maybe this title indicates in ever-lasting (eternal) existence of our characters during the time. That's why we called it Hargezian (Neverians), and that's why we applied some Persian motifs or themes into drawings and characters and locations names but didn't mention a specific historical age.

Hassan goes on to say that as classic comic book fans, he and his friends always wondered why there aren't any comics in Iran. That's why they decided to create this very cinematic graphic novel.

The story is now written and the preliminary sketches and character designs have been finished. Hassan is now working on the pencils and the inking. He is also going to do the colouring himself. It looks like they have also found a publisher and if everything goes well the graphic novel should be complete by the end of next summer. It is going to be about 90 pages.

I'm really glad that Hassan and Mojtaba are doing this. Doing all artwork (Pencil, Inking, Colouring) by one person is an extremely daunting task and I admire Hassan for tackling this. I certainly look forward to seeing the finished result. If this graphic novel is published, it's certainly going to be the first graphic novel of its kind published in Iran.

As many other Persians, the first comic book I ever read (in my case, the first book) was a "Tintin" by the great Belgian artist "Herge". It was very interesting for me to notice a "Miniature" painting in one of the pages of "King Ottokars Sceptre". Later I read an article that even compared the characters in the book with Iranian king and his royal guard.
Also another icon of French-Belgian comic book arena, who explored the Persian culture was Jacques Martin. Martin collaborated with Herge on his Tintin Journal. Alix was hero of Martin's stories. In "Les Voyages d'Alix: Persepolis", Alix explores Apadana, the Hall of a Hundred Columns, Naghsheh Rostam and Pasargardae and many other splendid locations that are recreated by Jacques Martin. We are invited to discover what if felt like to live at the time of King Darius and Xerxes not only amongst the nobility but amongst the inhabitants of the great city.

Top: The Legendary Hergé and Jacques Martin creator of Alix collaborated for the Journal de Tintin a weekly magazine. Bottom: The Alix Album by Jacques Martin introduces life in Persepolis.

Gilles Chaillet worked with Martin on Alix before creating his own hero Vasco a medieval knight of the Middle Ages. Two of his adventures are set in Persia at the time of Bahram Gur when Persia and the Byzantine Empire were rivals. Poussière D'Ispahan aka Sands of Ispahan and Les Chiens de Bahram Ghur aka The Dogs of Bahram Gur.

In these books, Gilles Chaillet offers us magnificent and precise reconstructions of the splendid medieval towns of Shiraz and Isfahan. The life and customs, religious and political intrigues and mindset of that distant era come to life.

There might be a reason for this influence of Persian art and history on French comics. In 1873, Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar first modern Persian monarch to visit Europe. After that French Kings, President, diplomats, writers, historians and voyagers traveled to Persia and vice versa.

And the last artist, but not least, is the Persian-French Marjane Satrapi and her Persepolis comics that are explored thoroughly in this blog.

[images and some extracts courtesy of Darius Kadivar, for a more in depth look at Persian influences on French comic books see his great article here]

Editor's Note: Arash is a new contributor to Project 300. He is a computer engineer and he writes from Vancouver. Among his interests, comics probably outrank the rest, which include movies and miniature paintings.

I've breifly mentioned Rostam Comics in the past, but it definitely deserves its own post. Utilizing the comic-friendly stories of the Shah Nameh (see previous post), a team of LA entrepreneurs (Bruce Bahmani, Jamie Douraghy, and Cameron Douraghy) started a few years ago what is the first (and still, the only) action-hero comic book with Persian heros.

I am extremely picky when it comes to comics and there are only about a handful of comic artists in the wolrd whose work I fancy. I admit when I first saw images from the first Rostam comic a few years ago, I was a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the art. I was also disappointed that none of the artists working on the project came from a Persian background.

But it was only after I talked with Cameron last month that I truly realized the great value of these comics. It is easy to sit and pass judgement on some comic screenshots, but when you consider the huge financial burden of producing a comic book, the immense difficulty of finding Persian comic artists who would be willing to take on a huge project such as this, and the generally indifferent attitude of the Persian community towards comics, you realize that this project is to be supported and commended.

Besides that, having bought both comics (there are currently two issues available) and having seen them up close, I was delighted to see the major improvement in all aspects of the second comic compared to the first one (most notably in the area of coloring). I have no doubt that the third issue, which is to be released very soon, will be even better than the second and I can't wait to buy it when it comes out.