Having launched its Kung Fu comics with the Storm Riders series, Comics One is preparing to add a second martial arts series from Hong Kong artist Wing Shing Ma.  The 120-page full color first volume in the Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre series will ship in August with a cover price of $13.95.  Wing Shing Ma is one of the best-known artists working in Kung Fu comics, and in Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, he adapted a historic martial arts novel by Louis Cha that is set during the Mongol invasions of the Yuan period.

 

Although Hong Kong comics have been influenced by Japanese manga, the Chinese have their own traditions of storytelling as well as a rich artistic tradition that Wing Shing Ma draws on freely.  The subject matter of the typical Kung Fu comic comes from the long turbulent history of China -- and the stylized combat should be familiar to any westerners who have seen Kung Fu films made in Hong Kong.  In fact the novel that inspired Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre has been made into several films, the most recent of which is Jet Li's Kung Fu Cult Master.

 

Unlike the vast majority of manga titles, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre is produced in full color, and the story, art, and style are definitely all in the Chinese, rather than the Japanese tradition.  Therefore interest in Bruce Lee and Kung Fu films is probably a more reliable predictor of how the Kung Fu comics will do in your store than sales of translated manga titles.