A group blog about Chinese tech, media and design
David is a graphic novel that explores what it means to be different, a misfit caught between two worlds, and it does so through its half bird half man protagonist. The story opens with David as he goes about mundane human activities. These bird-man gags are mirthful and witty. It helps that author-illustrator Yi Li uses a delicate touch, ever…
Continue readingDavid: a comic exploration of a hybrid identity
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
Continue reading21 Chinese Cartoonists Unite in a Dragonball Fanfic to Fight the Coronavirus
As Wuhan and other nearby cities in China remain in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the normally festive Lunar New Year season is now beset with anxiety and grief. People across the country have taken to social media to share messages of concern, to share tips on…
Continue readingChinese Cartoonists Grieve, Pray & Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak
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
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
It was nearing the end of May. With less than two months to go before the Hong Kong Book Fair 2016, Ah To’s book still hadn’t yet hit the presses. In fact, it was looking like the book might not be published at all. Talks had broken down between the author-illustrator and his unnamed, major Hong Kong publisher. Despite a promising start,…
Electrocat and Lightning Dog is an indie webcomic set in a futuristic world of talking animals, aliens and psychedelic strawberries. Inspired by Pendleton Ward’s Adventure Time, it follows the tried-and-true formula of two best friends going on random adventures, except that Electrocat and Lightning Dog is even more zany and non-linear than its progenitor.
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Continue readingThe psychedelic art of an Adventure Time-inspired Chinese webcomic
Ping Pong #03 is all about the printed, physical object, and the results are stunning. Eschewing the convention of a single, bound book, Ping Pong #03 comes as a lushly-packaged set of seven booklets, written and illustrated by seven different artists. While every booklet looks visually distinct, they all bear the mark of the risograph printing process: bright,…
Continue readingPing Pong #03: a visually-stunning package of risograph comics
In A Borrowed Life, esteemed Taiwanese writer-director Wu Nien-jen pays tribute to his working-class father by telling the latter’s life story. His story was made into an award-winning movie way back in 1994 (also called A Borrowed Life), and now it has been retold in comic form. The graphic novel has a grand, sweeping, filmic quality…
Continue readingA Borrowed Life: a superb comic memoir of a flawed Taiwanese patriarch