Silver Scorpion, Web Series Created By Disabled Youths, Coming Courtesy Of MTV

So here's an idea: 26 American and Syrian disabled youths got together at a Young Ability Summit in Damascus a year ago and created a comic book called "The Silver Scorpion," a superhero who lost his legs in an accident and bound to a wheelchair, but with the ability to change the world around him. Turns out the comic is being made into a 4-part animated web series on MTV Voices, courtesy of Liquid Comics and Open Hands Initiative, a nonprofit focused on diplomacy efforts. The huge ambition is that a creation like this can help change the world in some way outside the comic book pages and computer screens.

Silver Scorpion Web Series On MTV

You can watch the first episode on MTV Voices here. Here's a preview narrated by Tim Curry:

The Open Hands Initiative hopes that the story behind the series will be an inspiring one for many. Jay T. Snyder, co-founder and chairman of Open Hands, said this:

This is not just a comic book; it’s a breakthrough effort in public diplomacy that helps forge lasting bonds and understanding between the youth of the United States and the Middle East

Baby steps, for sure, but it at least shows Americans working with their counterparts in the Middle East, and creating something positive. The project was recognized by Bill Clinton himself at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative where he said the collaboration, "will help to establish trust and understanding between cultures, to empower young people with disabilities."

You have a lot of awareness going on with this project: people with disabilities and U.S.-Middle East relations are all being thrown into one big melting pot. It's always nice to find these kinds of stories, and it's cool that such a story now takes a stage with online video, where the reach can be so great.