Has anybody been reading Justice League/The 99? It’s the cross over mini-series featuring the Islamic inspired superhero group the 99 and DC Comics’ JLA. It’s one of those good old-fashioned “living on the same Earth, but only just met” out-of-continuity crossovers. That may sound disparaging, but it’s not meant to be. Admittedly the first issue was a bit OTT as everybody was dropped into their respective positions, but the remaining issues have been quite good.

Nevertheless, its biggest problem is that the background and origins of the characters are left to the shortest of captions and there isn’t much room for characterisation as such. So the following is a crib-sheet of information on members of the 99 put together as much for my reference as anything else.

There are a series of 99 magical gems called Noor Stones. Certain rare people are turned into superhumans via contact with a Noor Stone. A businessman/philanthropist called Doctor Ramzi Razem is searching for these people and has brought them together as a superhero team called The 99. However, the Noor Stones are also sought by an evil immortal called Rughal. He started off as Razem’s secret backer, but has since begun to openly oppose him.

There is an excellent official website for the 99 at www.the99.org which gives biographies and a lot more background than I’ve got room for here. Their comics are available for purchase as PDF files and there is a special The 99 Origins issue which is free.

Dr Ramzi Razem

• Name: Dr Ramzi Razem
• Origin: Founder of the 99. Dr Ramzi is an internationally recognised philanthropist and businessman. His public goal was the promotion of world peace, but he secretly believed that peace would only be attainable if the Noor Stones could be found and uses to elevate humanity. He is the 99′s “Professor X”.
• JLA/The-99: When he first appears Ramzi is attending the opening of the City of the Future with Jabbar, Noora, and Samda.

Bari

• Codename: Bari the Healer
• Alter Ego: Haroun Abrens
• Place of Origin: South Africa
• Powers: Tactile healing abilities
• Origin: Bari discovered a Noor Stone whilst digging his sister’s grave and used it to heal his sick mother. The stone accentuates his ability to diagnose disease and can even heal wounds.
• JLA/The 99: Met the JLA at the The 99 Steps Foundation in Seville, Spain when they brought Darr back to the 99.

Darr

• Codename: Darr The Afflicter
• Alter Ego: John Weller
• Place of Origin: St Louis, USA
• Powers: Generates waves of a pain.
• Origin: He’s American, the victim of a drink driving accident that left him paralysed from the waist down. He visited a new age healer to help his depression and was given a stone to aid his meditation. You’ve guessed it, the stone was a Noor Stone, and John gained the power to project his pain outwards at other people as a “painwave.”
• JLA/The-99: The wheel chair bound Weller had returned to St Louis, USA to consider his future when he came under attack by the New Madmen. A microscopic Starro spore inside him triggered his superpower causing waves of pain in everybody around him. The JLA attended and stunned John before taking him to the 99′s Seville base for study.

Fattah

• Codename: Fattah the Opener
• Alter Ego: Toro Ridwan
• Place of Origin: Indonesia
• Powers: Teleportation
• Origin: He was just a restaurant washer-up until he discovered a strange belt in a local second-hand shop. It gave him the power to create teleportation portals.
• JLA/The-99: Met Hawkman whilst investigating the source of earthquakes in Brazil. Revealed that they were caused by the awakening of a new Noor Stone gem bearer.

Hadya

• Codename: Hadya the Guide
• Alter Ego: Amira Khan
• Powers: Tracker and navigator
• Place of Origin: London, UK
• Origin: She escaped the constraints of her traditional family by becoming fascinated in maps. Even as a child she could draw maps of places she’d never been and annotate them with details she could never have actually known. Her power is gifted to her by a Noor Stone embedded in a necklace that she always wears.
• JLA/The-99: Met the JLA at the The 99 Steps Foundation in Seville, Spain when they brought Darr back to the 99.

Jabbar

• Codename: Jabbar The Powerful
• Alter Ego: Nawaf Al-Bilali
• Powers: Super-strength
• Place of Origin: Saudi Arabia
• Origin: The first evidence for the survival of the Stones presented itself when a young Saudi man called Nawaf Al-Bilali was forced across a mine field by criminals. An exploding mine shattered a Noor Stone that the youth was unwittingly carrying and embedded its fragments within his skin. The stone gave him vast superstrength and turned his body into an almost uncontrollable hulk. Ramzi convinced the Saudi’s to leave the boy in his care and transferred him to Paris where they removed enough of the fragments to give Nawaf control over his abilities. Ramzi then named him Jabbar, the first of his 99.
• JLA/The-99: When he first appears Jabbar is one of the three members of the 99 accompanying Dr Ramzi to the opening of the City of the Future. He, Noora and Samda tried to settle the crowd during the Starro initiated riot.

Jami

• Codename: Jami the Assembler
• Alter Ego: Miklos Szekelhydi
• Powers: Able to create mechanical constructs
• Place of Origin: Hungary
• Origin: He was an insular child-genius whose abilities were boosted to a superhuman level by the family locket he unwittingly wore (yeah, it was a Noor Stone). He can visualise the blue prints of any device he looks at and can assemble advance machinery by sheer effort of will.
• JLA/The-99: Met the JLA at the The 99 Steps Foundation in Seville, Spain when they brought Darr back to the 99. Created the machines used by the Flash and Atom to diagnose Darr’s problems.

Mumita

• Codename: Mumita the Destroyer
• Alter Ego: Catarina Barbosa
• Powers: Enhanced strength, speed and agility
• Place of Origin: Portugal
• Origin: She is a mysterious runaway who when found by Dr Ramzi was working as a criminal enforcer.
• JLA/The-99: Met Hawkman whilst investigating the source of earthquakes in Brazil. Revealed that they were caused by the awakening of a new Noor Stone gem bearer.

Noora

• Codename: Noora the Light
• Alter Ego: Dana Ibrahim
• Powers: Illumination Powers
• Place of Origin: UAE
• Origin: She was a spoilt rich brat until she is kidnapped from university by men trying to extort money from her father. She was thrown down a deep well where she found a Noor Stone that she then used to escape.
• JLA/The-99: When she first appears Jabbar is one of the three members of the 99 accompanying Dr Ramzi to the opening of the City of the Future. She senses the corruption in Albert Chou. She, Jabbar, and Samda tried to settle the crowd during the Starro initiated riot.

Rafie

• Codename: Rafie the Lifter
• Alter Ego: Murat Vyaroglu
• Powers: Control over gravity
• JLA/The-99: Met Hawkman whilst investigating the source of earthquakes in Brazil. Revealed that they were caused by the awakening of a new Noor Stone gem bearer.

Samda

• Codename: Samda the Invulnerable
• Alter Ego: Aisha Mokhtar
• Powers: Immovability, impenetrable force field
• JLA/The-99: When she first appears Samda is one of the three members of the 99 accompanying Dr Ramzi to the opening of the City of the Future. She pushes Chou away after Noora senses the corruption in him. She, Jabbar, and Noora tried to settle the crowd during the Starro initiated riot.