Category: Chinese Comics Review

Chinese Comics Review

This quintessential Chinese millennial is a seal, and she is adorable

Posted on by Jason Li

A cute, rotund, cartoon seal clutches things on these two book coveres

Upon first glance, Seal (海豹) looks like just another cute character dreamed up by the internet, lolling about on her futon, joyfully procrastinating with her friends. Seal embodies these positive qualities in her print debut, No Big Deal If You Like Me (喜欢我也没关系), and in the cult favorite Tumblr. But if you dig deeper into the larger…

Continue readingThis quintessential Chinese millennial is a seal, and she is adorable

Chinese Comics Review

Cantonese.jpg: A boisterous, cartoon dictionary of idioms, proverbs and slang

Posted on by Jason Li
Two covers for the Cantonese.jpg books, featuring a cartoon chicken reading/eating Cantonese text

Hong Kong cartoonist Ah To has three claims to fame: as an internet culture expert, political cartoonist, and linguist of the Cantonese language. First, he rose to prominence after creating the Golden Creature Card game that celebrates the city’s internet culture. Then he built a career as a political cartoonist, with provocative comics that frequently go…

Continue readingCantonese.jpg: A boisterous, cartoon dictionary of idioms, proverbs and slang

Chinese Comics Review

An illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

Posted on by Jason Li
Cover image of Open All The Buddha Boxes (excerpt)

This early excerpt from Open All the Buddha Boxes chronicles the rise of two seminal Beijing bands, Hang On The Box and Chui Wan, as they carve out a space for themselves in and outside of China. We follow members of the two bands as they develop their sounds, identities and aesthetics, and we see how they affect and are…

Continue readingAn illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

Chinese Comics Review

Night Bus: journey through the fantastical Chinese countryside

Posted on by Jason Li

Cover image of Night Bus

A young woman with big, circular glasses is nudged out onto the platform by the rivers of the passengers going in and out of the train. She finds herself at an unfamiliar stop, but close to home, and she is forced to take the night bus to complete her journey. The bus, and its inhabitants, have other ideas, taking her on a…

Continue readingNight Bus: journey through the fantastical Chinese countryside

Chinese Comics Review

Ping Pong 4: cataloguing explorations through illustration

Posted on by Jason Li

Table display of candy, caricatures and collected trash objects
Objects and drawings from the Ping Ping Vol. 4 exhibition opening

Ping Pong Vol. 4 marks the Hong Kong publication’s continuing shift away from comics to the world of illustration. Titled Field Guide Collection, this latest volume finds its artists cataloguing various objects, behaviors and techniques through their drawings. As with the previous issue,…

Continue readingPing Pong 4: cataloguing explorations through illustration

Chinese Comics Review

City of Darkness: A macho Hong Kong comic exemplar set in the Kowloon Walled City

Posted on by Jason Li

city of darkness squad illustration

City of Darkness (九龍城寨) chronicles the fall and rise of prominent gangster and martial artist 陳洛軍 (“Lok”) as he goes into hiding in the Kowloon Walled City after a bitter fight with his former boss. Set in a picturesque rendition of 1980s Hong Kong, City of Darkness pays homage to what co-creator Andy Seto calls the most beautiful…

Continue readingCity of Darkness: A macho Hong Kong comic exemplar set in the Kowloon Walled City

Chinese Comics Review

WeChat Cats, Romantic Blunders & Lightning Dogs: Paradise Systems Year 1

Posted on by Jason Li

“Paradise Systems publishes exemplary comics from the United States and China.” This is the story of their first year, broken up into three acts.

I.

Our story begins in Brooklyn, where long-time translator and former China resident Orion Martin sets out on his publishing adventure. Wanting to foment a a cultural exchange of comics, he tests the waters…

Continue readingWeChat Cats, Romantic Blunders & Lightning Dogs: Paradise Systems Year 1

Chinese Comics Review

China King of Fighting: An action graphic memoir that ended too soon

Posted on by Jason Li

Chinese King Of Boxing Covers

China King of Fighting was created by a pro boxer-turned-cartoonist, who tells the life story of boxing living legend Zou Shiming after they befriend one another in the ring. Zou, commonly hailed as China’s most successful boxer, is famous for having won Olympic gold twice in a row, as well as winning and defending the WBO flyweight title for a…

Continue readingChina King of Fighting: An action graphic memoir that ended too soon

Chinese Comics Review

My Beloved Mother: A Comic Book Epic About Human-Android Discrimination

Posted on by Jason Li

My Beloved Mother covers

My Beloved Mother (机器妈妈) is a science fiction tale of dystopia about the frayed relationship between a boy and his android mother. Originally serialized in 漫友·动画100, the comic has won multiple awards, been re-published in Malay and English, and helped launch the career of its creator, Wang Xiao Yang. Today, we turn back to the clock to look at the…

Continue readingMy Beloved Mother: A Comic Book Epic About Human-Android Discrimination

Chinese Comics Review

Original Indie Comic Con in HK #3: A window into Hong Kong’s bustling indie illustration & manga scene

Posted on by Jason Li

Last Sunday heralded the third Original Indie Comic Con in HK (第三屆原創誌交流展). Hosted on the eighth floor of a co-working space in an industrial part of Kwun Tong, Hong Kong, the one-day convention was small but bustling, and showed off an often-overlooked side of Hong Kong, where the comics scene has long been derided as being in…

Continue readingOriginal Indie Comic Con in HK #3: A window into Hong Kong’s bustling indie illustration & manga scene