Suleiman Bakhit was a Jordanian businessman and best-selling comic book creator. Bakhit served as the CEO of Aranim Media Factory, a comic book company that creatively merged elements of “Arab” and “anime.” Bakhit was motivated to create the company in 2006 after experiencing discrimination and anti-Arab sentiments in the United States following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2010, the company sold a staggering 1.2 million comics. He was the founder of the Hero-Factor project, an organization dedicated to promoting heroism as an antidote to extremism for Middle Eastern youth. Additionally, Bakhit conducted interviews with children in Amman’s poor neighborhoods and in Syrian refugee camps to uncover the motivations behind terrorism. Bakhit focused on developing stories, myths, and heroes that promoted tolerance and countered a culture of extremism and discrimination against women and girls. Suleiman died in 2019.
