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Hong Kong Comics
Asian comics are increasingly popular in the West, where comic and illustration enthusiasts prize them as objects of cultlike devotion. The growing interest in Japanese manga and Chinese manhua-broad terms that refer to cartoons, comics, and picture story books-stems equally from a desire for exotic forms of entertainment and an ever-increasing interest in the artistic, cultural, and political traditions of their originating countries. Wendy Siuyi Wong's voluminously illustrated book Hong Kong Comics examines the history of this genre from its beginnings in the early twentieth century to its most influential contemporary practitioners, and in the process traces the origin of a unique Hong Kong style. Over one thousand color manhua (each with English annotation) introduce the reader to this rich and varied form of Chinese popular culture. Wong examines a wide range of comic types, from political cartoons, to "lighthearted" humor comics, children's stories, and violent kung fu fighting works. Hong Kong Comics is the first comprehensive illustrated survey of the diverse and fascinating world of Hong Kong manhua.
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
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About the author
Wendy Siuyi Wong
6 books3 followersWendy Siuyi Wong is Professor in the Department of Design at York University in Toronto, Canada. She has taught in Hong Kong, the United States and Australia, and has established an international reputation as an expert in Chinese graphic design history and Chinese comic art history.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 19, 2025
I saw this book at my local library and decided to check it out to look at all the comic book covers in here. I am not really interested in Asian comics but I wanted to study the art on the covers, mainly because there are so many of them in here. I have started to color in adult coloring books this past month and I wanted some ideas for possible color schemes: you know which colors go together? And by looking at the art in here one also gets an idea of how to do shading.
But there is a very large variety of art in here, in many different styles. Some is very flat and other ones have shading to create more depth.
I was also interested in how they did backgrounds in some of the pieces. One thing I noticed very quickly is which backgrounds I didn't like! One comic had these lopsided expanding circles of random colors in the background and I sure didn't like that at all. The foreground figure was very nice but I hated that background. I actually was quite surprised by my reaction.
This is a paperback but the front and back covers are extra stiff and strong. The pages in here are also thicker than average.
The book is split into a few different sections: satire + political comics, funny comics, action comics plus there is a section way at the back that gives references plus very short biographies of some of the artists. There is text at the beginning that gives a history of comic books in Hong Kong.
While I was studying the art in here one thing that really struck me was there is very little of the typical "anime" type drawings that we are so familiar with these days. You know the type I mean: the big eyed girls, the long bushy hair in different colors, etc. I only spotted one comic that had a little of that look way at the back. But the majority of the art in here is much older. A few pieces date back to the late 1800s but the majority is from the 1930s and up. There are even a few Disney ones in here. The most modern one is from 2001.
To the right of each double spread page there is a short description of each comic. This info gives the name of the comic, the year, the artist and a short description of the comic. That can include who the target audience was, names of main characters and other information... Reading some of these was interesting. One series was about a fat white cat named Hamburger!
Just by looking at the art style in here you can tell these are vintage. I love the "cute" art style that many of these have. Some covers are very busy and others are more simple.
It was fun to look at these.
But there is a very large variety of art in here, in many different styles. Some is very flat and other ones have shading to create more depth.
I was also interested in how they did backgrounds in some of the pieces. One thing I noticed very quickly is which backgrounds I didn't like! One comic had these lopsided expanding circles of random colors in the background and I sure didn't like that at all. The foreground figure was very nice but I hated that background. I actually was quite surprised by my reaction.
This is a paperback but the front and back covers are extra stiff and strong. The pages in here are also thicker than average.
The book is split into a few different sections: satire + political comics, funny comics, action comics plus there is a section way at the back that gives references plus very short biographies of some of the artists. There is text at the beginning that gives a history of comic books in Hong Kong.
While I was studying the art in here one thing that really struck me was there is very little of the typical "anime" type drawings that we are so familiar with these days. You know the type I mean: the big eyed girls, the long bushy hair in different colors, etc. I only spotted one comic that had a little of that look way at the back. But the majority of the art in here is much older. A few pieces date back to the late 1800s but the majority is from the 1930s and up. There are even a few Disney ones in here. The most modern one is from 2001.
To the right of each double spread page there is a short description of each comic. This info gives the name of the comic, the year, the artist and a short description of the comic. That can include who the target audience was, names of main characters and other information... Reading some of these was interesting. One series was about a fat white cat named Hamburger!
Just by looking at the art style in here you can tell these are vintage. I love the "cute" art style that many of these have. Some covers are very busy and others are more simple.
It was fun to look at these.
December 16, 2023
Very informative overview of the history of Hong Kong comics with some beautiful pictures of comics we can’t really see elsewhere. It kills me that almost nothing talked about in this book is available in English. I want to read this shit!
October 20, 2024
Great informative book on Hong Kong comics, but majority of the book is just examples.
February 27, 2016
I give this a four just because I think the topic is really fascinating--the book itself has some problems. I just thought it was so fascinating to learn about the history of comics in Hong Kong, their influences, their major artists and titles and genres. The quality of the paper is low, and my (admittedly used) copy's cover completely detached after one read-through. Still, the book has a lot of information, and even more pictures, about these comics. Some have complained that there should be a lot more details, a lot more text, which I would love to see... But as is, I still think this is a great introduction. Just wish there was more, and I would love to see some translated comics in the book, too, to give us newbie foreigners a taste.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews