''The whole is more than the sum of its parts, even if the parts are flawed. I think having a role model that's perfect does a disservice to kids. The moment they have something that is not perfect they think something is wrong with themselves, rather than something being wrong with the flaws in human design.''

Mutawa didn't set out to make the world a more tolerant place thanks to a motley crew of cartoon characters. He wrote a couple of UNESCO-recognised children's books, trained as a clinical psychologist and worked with survivors of political torture from the war in Iraq. Burnt out, he went to business school at Columbia University in New York, and with three masters degrees and a doctorate was poised to make a lot of money. Fate intervened. ''The light-bulb moment happened in a cab in London in the summer of 2003,'' Mutawa says. He was travelling to Harrods with his family when his sister suggested he go back to writing children's books. ''I thought she was crazy. I couldn't say 'shut up' because my mother was there, so I said: 'If I go back to writing for kids, it would need to be something that has the potential of Pokemon.'' In 2001, Saudi Arabian authorities had issued a fatwa against the Pokemon video games and cards, claiming they were based on gambling and promoted Zionism by displaying the Star of David in the swapping cards. Mutawa fell to musing about who made these random decisions that affected his own children and how disappointed Allah must be. He thought of the 99 attributes of Allah and, by the time the taxi reached Harrods, a comic book series was born. ''I gave my sister a small part of the company for asking the right question.''

The story behind The 99 has more plot twists than the comic books themselves. They were first published in the Middle East in 2006, and then translated into several languages and sold worldwide. Although initially banned in Saudi Arabia because of concerns the series may mock Islam, funding from an Islamic investment bank meant The 99 was allowed to be sold in some of the most conservative countries in the world.

In 2009, the first 99 theme park was launched in Kuwait, and Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, signed on to produce the animated series. It was the same year US President Barack Obama reached out to the Muslim world in his seminal A New Beginning speech in Cairo. Mutawa felt The 99 should reflect Obama's vision in the fictional world. With the blessing of Paul Levitz, then president of DC Comics, his characters reached out to the Justice League of America in a comic book crossover. Naturally things start badly, with mutual suspicion and hostility. Superman punches Jabbar the Powerful, but eventually they figure out that only by working together can they promote peace and solve the world's problems.

In a 2010 speech to Muslim entrepreneurs in Washington, Obama said the comic books were the most innovative response he had come across to his Cairo speech. Mutawa was in the audience but had no idea what was coming. ''I was [later] told the proper protocols when Obama calls your name is to stand up - I just shrunk into my seat. It was an amazing thing for us.''