Hong Kong comic book artists flew to a global graphic story convention in Europe last week—and drew their images live in front of audiences to get attention.
The city’s comic book artists have got their buzz back, with a series of community support programs keeping them afloat in their home town, and active attendance at international comic book conventions.
For the past 52 years, European readers have gathered at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France—and this year, many visited the Hong Kong pavilion, which showcased 38 works by the city’s artists.
Hong Kong’s once enormous comic book industry has shrunk, and the usual suspects have been quick to blame government censorship.
But people in the comic book sector tell a different tale. They say they the physical comic book has basically been abandoned by readers, who now get their entertainment free on line instead.
Luckily, the arts supremos in the government believe that having a local comic book sector is worth having for the sake of artistic diversity, even if it is not profitable.
COVERING THE BILLS
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade office covered all expenses for the city’s comic book artists to fly to France and display their works.
The government also paid for a huge display of statues of comic book characters that stand in pride of place on the Hong Kong island waterfront.
And the Hong Kong Arts Center in Wan Chai is the home of Comix Home Base, which curates artists’ work.
‘WE’LL PAY PUBLISHING COST’
Best of all, Hong Kong has an official “Comics Support Program” which periodically holds contests to celebrate new talent.
Send in a good draft comic and you get up to US$30,000 to finish and publish your work. You also get mentoring from experts in the industry, and can be flown to international comic book conventions to build buzz.
As for politics, the history of arts sponsorship in Hong Kong shows numerous examples of the government paying for artists whose work criticizes society or the government itself.
These days, that’s not an issue. The new generation of comic book artists in Hong Kong are bored by politics and unimpressed by western mainstream journalists’ interest in stirring up negativity. The artists are much more interested in telling a good story – fantasy, action, romance, comedy, adventure – and of course creating a career.
It’s worth remembering that some of the biggest “intellectual properties” in the world, such as the Marvel “universe” of movies and merchandise, started off as simple, cheap comic books.
Image at the top by the Hong Kong Government Information Service.