Tag: comic

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…

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Chinese Cartoonists Grieve, Pray & Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

Posted on by Jason Li
An anxious seal and octopus in a crowded room with their suitcase. Everyone has surgical masks on.
Illustration by Wang XX from Weibo.

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…

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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…

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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…

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Chinese Comics Review

Evading Hong Kong’s self-censors: Ah To’s absurd yet poignant comics about life and politics

Posted on by Jason Li

Fuck It Suck It Up book release gif

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,…

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Chinese Comics Review

The psychedelic art of an Adventure Time-inspired Chinese webcomic

Posted on by Jason Li

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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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Chinese Comics Review

Ping Pong #03: a visually-stunning package of risograph comics

Posted on by Jason Li

Photo of Ping Ping 03 package

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,…

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Chinese Comics Review

A Borrowed Life: a superb comic memoir of a flawed Taiwanese patriarch

Posted on by Jason Li

Cover of A Borrowed Life

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…

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Book Review

Book Review: Understanding China through Comics, Volume 3: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Posted on by Jason Li

UnderstandingChinaThroughComicsVol3

The third volume of “Understanding China through Comics” continues Liu’s epic quest to chronicle all of ancient Chinese history in comic form. As with the first two volumes, the book zips through Chinese history, in this case 907 to 1368 AD, with text and illustrations.

Liu spends more of the third volume explaining Chinese cultural ideology and geopolitical context than…

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