We interview Belce, the writer and artist behind the Graphic Novel Kickstarter, Spices and Sorcery, which gives the entire SWANA region a culturally rich and diverse fantasy adventure.
Followers of our work will recognize how starved us fans of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) descent are for good representation, especially in the fantasy space where Orientalist narratives from non-SWANA creators flatten our region and its cultural richness.
Thankfully more SWANA creators are rising up now to tell our stories, and one particular very promising story, with a Kickstarter campaign for the rest of this month, Spices and Sorcery, brings together Turkish (Ayla), Persian (Shireen), and Egyptian (Zainab) spellcasters setting out on an adventure across their region, during the period of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, where they’ll encounter a variety of other SWANA peoples, including Kurdish (Jiyan), Armenian (Maral), Azeri (Leyla), and Amazigh (Tiziri) characters. The artist and writer of the series, Belce, who is based in Antalya, Turkey, has researched her region and its various cultures thoroughly, and her work shines amazingly on the page, such as here where Shireen marvels at the ancient city of Mardin.
It is so wonderful to see SWANA representation like this in comics, and an incredibly diverse representation at that, necessitating that this project receives all the support possible. In the last month of the Kickstarter, which just passed it’s halfway mark, we spoke with Belce on Spices and Sorcery. We asked her about her conception for the idea, the balance of utilizing a magic system with Muslim characters, the need for complex representation of said Muslims as well as all the characters, media that inspired her creativity, how people can support the project, and much more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
The Nerds of Color: Spices and Sorcery: How did you come up with this story in the first place?
Belce: So it started with just an interest in learning about my own culture. It was way back in 2017 I just started researching the cultures of this region, and I start to see the beauty of each of these cultures and nations, and I just felt inspired by it artistically. I started toying around with a concept of heroes who travel the lands and who interact with all the cultures in it. I designed these three protagonists, and I posted them on TikTok, and I got a lot of attention. I realized that there’s definitely an audience for this.
Yeah, definitely. So many of us kids from Southwest Asian and North African background, we just hunger for this representation. You already touched upon it, but why was it important to you to highlight the diversity of West Asia and North Africa?
A few reasons. So first of all, I truly wanted to depict a lot of these cultures just out of inspiration, and also because I want to promote peace and unity for this region through my art. I want everyone to feel seen, yet also see the similarity of our peoples, because division and hatred is to the detriment of the entire region, and yeah, I wanted to promote positivity through my art.
That’s such a beautiful answer. Thank you for that. So, some more details about Spices and Sorcery, what is the time setting?
So it generally takes place during somewhere between the 1500s to the 1700s. I kind of want it to be a little bit loose, so I can have a little bit more flexibility and creativity about that, but generally that is the time period that it takes place in, more or less
And that was just such a time of so much cultural diffusion and interaction amongst all of our people. So, I really love that. How did you approach your magic system? These characters do have powers. The notion of magic in Muslim societies can be frowned upon, but still there’s a way to make it work. So, how do you approach doing that?
So, this is an important thing that I wanted to touch on, because it is primary criticism that I get, the whole “magic plus religion” thing. So I did want to address that. So the first thing I want to say is, religion was not really meant to be the primary focus of my story. It’s supposed to be in the background, but not really the center of it. The reason I decided to include it at all was only because it made sense for the cultures that I’m depicted depicting, because it’s so influential to them. It just felt disingenuous to completely act like it doesn’t exist, but it’s not meant to be the focus either.
I’m not trying to make a statement on religion, either it’s just there. The second thing is, Muslims aren’t a monolith, and various Muslim societies and groups incorporate mysticism into their practice, such as Sufis and Shias. Thirdly, magic is frowned upon in the world that the story takes place in, primarily for this reason. The characters, they are essentially outcasts, and they have to hide their powers, for the most part, they don’t use them unless they have to.
So I do kind of address this tension in the story as well. Lastly, Muslims are humans, and humans do things that are forbidden in their religion all the time, or whatever that religion may be. And my comic is honest about that, not just in magic, but other things as well. And the religious aspect is just because I like fantasy and superpowers, but otherwise I want my characters to be realistic and relatable, not necessarily ideal Muslims. So, if someone is going into that with these puritan Islamic expectations, then I don’t think this is for them.
Yeah, I’m Muslim myself, and I completely agree with everything you’re saying, and I think it’s so important to show Muslims as flawed characters who can stumble, who still hold on to their faith, or their faith is in the background, but are just human and happen to be humans with power. So, I love that, and I can’t wait to read more. In Spices and Sorcery, what other stories would you say inspired spices and sorcery? What kind of vibes does it give for our audiences here in the US?
Absolutely, I had lots of inspiration. One of them is Avatar The Last Airbender, such a masterpiece. Also, the original Teen Titans series. I was also very inspired by that. Another inspiration of mine is The WITCH Comics, and also an animated show, as well as Totally Spies, The Powerpuff Girls, and even anime such as Sailor Moon, they were all very inspirational to me. Generally speaking, just growing up, I always loved the concept of these young people just traveling around and saving people just, that’s always been my interest.
What’s something about each of the main characters that you’re excited for readers to learn and experience?
Well, each character has their own strengths, but they have their own weaknesses, their own flaws, and they all have struggles, and they also have a past. They all come from a certain situation where they had to be pushed out of their societies, their communities, and they ended up in situation that they are in. And I’m hoping that readers will resonate with it, will find it relatable in some form or another. Ultimately I want readers to be able to see themselves in these characters, even if their ethnicities don’t necessarily match up. It could be something else. I just want people from this region and beyond who never really felt seen for their culture and their identities to be seen in these characters. That’s what I want, ultimately, and that’s what I hope for.
Yeah, absolutely. How have you found the audience reaction to the Kickstarter so far? And you have an audience online with the comic, so do you feel like there’s been more momentum recently? Do you think that, for example, more Western audiences, just here in the US, are taking note and getting attention on it?
Yes, my target audience has been the West, always, and the reception has been mixed. There has been a lot of positivity, and I’m so grateful for it. I’m very, very happy to see so many people truly enjoy the comic and the characters. There has been some criticism as well. It is a little bit polarizing, I guess, the way that I portray these characters, not everybody might like it, perhaps, but I think that there has been enough people who enjoy it. My Kickstarter has been going pretty well, actually. We are like almost halfway to the goal, and I hope that we can reach it. Inshallah. It is my hope, but yeah, I definitely, I definitely do believe that there’s an audience for this. It’s just a matter of if I can reach that audience, really.
I read portions of the online comic, I want to read the whole thing when hopefully I get the physical one from the Kickstarter, and just reading the Kurdish characters and Jiyan specifically, like, you got the vibe so right, and I have have been waiting to see a Kurdish character like this in, comics, and to create what I call an ecosystem of storytelling amongst SWANA communities, whether they’re here in the US, whether they’re in Turkey like you, or in the region, obviously. But yeah, I’m curious for your thoughts on that. Have you seen stories from our region representing our peoples, like, do better in mass media or more like visible media? And what do you think the barriers still are?
Well, first of all, it makes me really happy that you enjoyed it. It makes me so happy to hear that, especially from a Kurd such as yourself. I’m really happy to hear that it resonated. That was my goal. As for examples in the media, so a big reason that I wanted to do this comic is because I felt like there’s this huge gap, because this part of the world is so sparsely represented, and when it is it’s often represented in a negative light, or it’s orientalist. The only few examples I could think of is the Disney Aladdin. There are so many flaws with it. I mean, it’s a nice movie, of course. I know some people love it, and that’s great, but one of the biggest flaws that I think that it did is it took all these cultures from the Middle East and South Asia and just mixes it all together. And now everyone debates about Jasmine all the time. Is she Indian, or is she Arab? What is she?
It’s just just a mess. And I wanted to do the exact opposite of that. I wanted to make it clear, you know exactly who they are, where they are, where they’re from. My world is obviously fictional, but it’s heavily based on like the real world and like real places that exist, and real nations that existed. It’s because of this combination of cultures that oftentimes this region of the world is just painted with just one broad brush, as we’re all the same. We’re all Arab, or we’re all Muslims, or this or that, and our individual ethnicities and cultures are just great, and I think that this causes a lot of problems, obviously, because a lot of people in this region don’t want to be painted that way, we want to be known for our individual cultures, and I wanted my comic to do exactly that. I wanted people’s individual cultures to be highlighted.
I really think you do that so well. I just am so excited for more people to learn about Spices and Sorcery. By the way, perfect name just encapsulates so much. And I guess two-part last question, what do you hope readers get out of your story, and these characters that you haven’t said already, and the how can they support the Kickstarter and get the message out there about Spices and Sorcery?
So aside from being seen and also seeing the other cultures of this region, seeing our differences and also our similarities and promoting unity, aside from that, I also want people who are outside of this region to also maybe be educated, maybe see that our cultures are all unique and beautiful in their own ways, and maybe understand that we’re not all Arabs, we’re not all Muslims, or this or that. To understand the diversity of this region, the complexity and layers of history and tradition that this region has, and it’s not all “terrorism” or ISIS or this or that or whatever it may be.
To support my Kickstarter, I kept it pretty simple with my tiers. I just have the PDF version available, and if not, there’s also the physical printed version that’s going to be available, and along with that I will also be sending the PDF version with that as well, and the printed copies are all going to be signed by me as well. There are also a couple add-ons, some keychains of the four characters. So, if you want to have a little accessory, you can also order that. In order to promote and share it, you could share it on all your social medias. I also have it on my pages, on my TikTok, my Instagram, my Twitter. You can also repost my posts, just anything helps. If anyone knows any friends or family who thinks that they could be interested in this, then yeah, I would very much appreciate anyone sharing and spreading the word.
Absolutely. And we will all aim to do so. Belce, thank you so, so much for speaking with The Nerds of Color today, you’re halfway there, and hopefully we get this funded all the way.
Thank you so much, Swara. Thank you so much for having me, and also your support, and having me here. It’s genuinely… I’m very humbled and very honored.
The Kickstarter is ongoing until July 1, 2026, and at the time of this interview you still have a few weeks to back this project. I implore you to do so, to give us SWANA fantasy lovers, as well as everyone else who wants to see a culturally and artistically rich SWANA-set story, a clearly riveting story that pushes the bar incredibly forward.
