British illustrator Martin Handford plans on following the success of his Where's Waldo children's books with a new series called Where's Osama?.
The Where's Osama? books will follow the format of the hugely successful Where's Waldo series and consist of a series of full-page illustrations of hundreds of Muslim people typically depicted during a frenzy of activity; each illustration depicting a unique location, time period, or activity in political hotspots such as Western Africa, Pakistan or the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan.
The intent is for the reader to find a character named Osama hidden in the group. Like Waldo, Osama is distinguished from the crowd by always being dressed in a red and white horizontally striped military jacket with, blue pants, and bobble hat, carrying a wooden walking stick and wearing glasses. Osama is somewhat different from Waldo however and sports a long flowing beard, an AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a handheld microphone.
Early success with the British editions has sparked interest in publishing the books in the United States where they are now being used unofficially as CIA training manuals.
