As a child, Hero's family was attacked and killed by a practitioner of Northern Mantis kung fu. This assassin was tasked, by the affluent head of a local triad, to retrieve Hero's family heirloom - the legendary Blood Sword.
Wing-shing Ma (b. 16 January 1961) is a Hong Kong wuxia (Chinese swordplay) manhua (Chinese comic book) artist, writer and publisher. He is best known for writing and illustrating the Fung Wan (Storm Riders) and Chinese Hero series. He also contributed illustrations to the "graphic novel" adaptations of Jin Yong's wuxia novel Heaven Sword & Dragon Sabre and Zhang Yimou's wuxia film Hero (2002)