There's more than one way to fight for truth, justice and the American
 Way.

While America's armed forces battle in the mountains of Afghanistan, one
 idealistic New York businessman believes it's time to call in another
 group of American heroes.

Or, more accurately, American SUPER-heroes.

After all, who better than Superman, the original defender of "truth,
 justice and the American Way," Batman, the original caped crusader, or
 Spiderman, the original half-man, half-spider crimefighting freakazoid,
 to demonstrate the worthiness of American values?

"These superheroes believe in universal rights and wrongs, they don't
 lie,  and they defend the defenseless," said Sharad Devarajan, president
 of Gotham Entertainment Group, which has deployed America's superheroes
 throughout India and is now poised to do the same in Pakistan.

After that, who knows, maybe even Afghanistan.

"Some people in those parts of the world have negative impressions of
 America, mostly because extremists spread a message of hate," Devarajan
 said. "We want to counter that with a message of what America actually
 stands for."

Devarajan has been distributing America's best comic books -- in English
 and the Indian languages Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam --
 throughout the subcontinent for almost two years. He's been successful,
 mostly because India is already awash in powerful -- albeit, not always
 positive -- images of American culture. MTV, Hollywood and giant
 conglomerates such as Nike, Coke and Microsoft have already exposed
 young Indians to the American way of life.

Devarajan always had his eye on the Muslim world, but since Sept. 11,
 this capeless crusader has shortened his timeline for getting
 Urdu-language comic books into the hands of kids from Herat to Lehore,
 Karachi to Kunduz.

This is not just a business plan for Sharad Devarajan, a
 first-generation, comic-book-mad son of Indian immigrants. This is a guy
 whose apartment is just as covered with Captain America posters as it
 was when he was 11 ("My girlfriend doesn't like it," he said). This is a
 guy who dresses for work every day in a suit and tie -- as long as the
 tie has either a Superman "S" or Gotham City's famous "bat signal."

This is a guy who really believes that no matter how bruised or bloodied
 Good finds itself, Evil must always be destroyed by the last frame on
 the last page.

Devarajan is so committed to the cause that he's offered his services to
 the government's propaganda effort. No, he doesn't want to drop comic
 books instead of leaflets, but Devarajan wrote to the White House with a
 plan to distribute free comic books throughout the Muslim world.

"I can't think of better spokesmen than our superheroes," Devarajan
 wrote. (Well, they beat Ari Fleischer, that's for sure.)

As an example, Devarajan showed off a Marvel Comics special edition
 released shortly after Sept. 11 that depicts Spiderman trying to come to
 grips with the horror of the World Trade Center attacks and the hate
 that inspired them.

"Do not as [the terrorists] do or the war is lost before it is even
 begun," Spiderman (not his real name) warns America. "Whatever the root
 of our surname, we remain a good and decent people."

"I can't WAIT to put this out in Urdu!" Devarajan said.

Comic experts aren't sure how well his vision of America will be received
 in the Muslim world. Storytelling is a slightly more complicated medium
 than dropping humanitarian meals, after all.

"And our comic books tend to be violent," said comic book writer Scott
 McCloud. "Seeing one character beat the crap out of a villain is not
 automatically going to convince someone that America is a decent
 country. Especially if the house down the street just got blown away by
 an American missile."

But Devarajan will not be deterred. In fact, his resolve strengthened the
 other day when the government released the videotape depicting Osama bin
 Laden gloating over the destruction of the Twin Towers.

"It just made me think that no fictional villain in a comic comes close
 to the evil these men displayed," Devarajan said. "Their actions and
 attitudes represent the worst of mankind. Our superheroes stand for the
 opposite."

So perhaps soon, when Pakistani kids look up in the sky, it won't be a
 bird or a plane they see. It'll be Superman.

--30--

email: gersh.kuntzman@verizon.net