The Chinese comic classic "The Mad King" is coming! A new book sharing session was held in Guangzhou

On May 19, 2021, a new book sharing session of "Crazy King" co-organized by New Classic Culture and Guangzhou Baiman Culture was held in Guangzhou and live broadcast on the Douyin APP.

"Mad King" is the prequel to the famous Chinese animation "Journey to the West". Coinciding with the launch of the third season of the animation of the same name "Journey to the West", the organizers specially invited the chief director of "Journey to the West" animation Mai Zhengle and Yang Liuliu from Tencent Pictures' Pan-Entertainment IP Business Department to share the story of the "Journey to the West Universe" with many readers and uncover the wonderful content behind "Mad King".

The phenomenal comic with a cumulative popularity of 400 million is finally here!

The comic story of Journey to the West is praised as "the most subversive Journey to the West legend in history" and has won many awards, including the Bronze Award for the Best Animation Series at the Golden Dragon Awards and the "Best Online Serial Comic" Award at the annual CCG EXPO. The comic has received over 20 billion hits online and has received over 1.2 million collections; the 3D animation of the same name is ingenious and unique, with a cumulative playback volume of over 2.96 billion.

As the first work of the "Journey to the West Universe" IP, "Journey to the West" has won countless fans, and the third season will bring more breakthroughs and surprises to the audience. As director Mai Zhengle said, this IP has injected new vitality into Chinese animation and promoted the rise of Chinese animation. "The Mad King" is the prequel to "Journey to the West". The core of the story is also derived from ancient Chinese mythology and was created by famous cartoonists Zheng Jianhe and Deng Zhihui.

The works of cartoonist Zheng Jianhe show his unwavering love for local traditional culture. His resume includes many classic works, such as "The Legend of the Gods" (also known as "The Legend of Wu Geng"), but he did not stop there, but actively created the "Journey to the West Universe IP" and its series of works - a story about ancient gods extending from the Eastern mythology universe system.

In 2020, the new work "Kuang Wang" began serialization. Zheng Jianhe and Deng Zhihui, a well-known pair, began to work together to write and depict this prequel to "Journey to the West". The two cartoonists worked seamlessly together to create an Ashura legend full of oriental charm with their brushes, while at the same time giving the current spirit of the times to the core of the story.

Your only way out is to fight!

Tencent Film's Pan-Entertainment IP Business Department Yang Liuliu shared with everyone her interpretation of many characters in "Mad King". Through "Mad King", we can understand the complete setting of the "Journey to the West Universe" in "Journey to the West": In the age of ancient gods, there were eight tribes in the world, including the gods, dragons, and Asuras. The essence of the Asuras is fearlessness and fighting to the end. Because of this, they were expelled from heaven and fell into the mortal world.

"Mad King" tells the story of Luo Hou, the mad king of the Asura clan, and depicts the growth of the Asura king. The young Asura Youyu was born weak and had difficulty walking. One day, the tribe where he lived was destroyed by a mysterious Asura, and he was forcibly taken to the depths of the jungle, undergoing cruel training every day. Under the severe test, the young Youyu overcame all obstacles, grew up, and embarked on the road to becoming a king.

Your only way out is to fight! The weak only believe in fate, while the strong believe in hard work and defeat themselves first! "The Mad King" depicts how a weak boy, driven by fate, relies on his own struggle to become a powerful king step by step. The fighting spirit shown in it is also the main proposition in our lives.

With its legendary setting, constantly reversing storyline, bold use of colors, visually impactful and high-burning images, and smooth film-level storyboards, "Mad King" has attracted the keen attention of many comic fans, and its online click rate has exceeded 410 million times, becoming a phenomenal comic. After its publication, it has also been widely praised by readers. Readers who read it for the first time exclaimed: "The story is wonderful, the pictures are beautiful, and the characters are well-developed. This is the impression that the first part of "Mad King" gave me, and it also made me regain the fun of reading comics day and night when I was young. I look forward to the next one."

Wherever the pen points, there is a new world

Zheng Jianhe has his own style in character portrayal, and readers will never be able to easily define his characters because each character is so full-bodied, like a blade, with personality displayed vividly and unforgettable.

In the comic book "Kuang Wang", you can find a lot of elements of ancient Chinese mythology, and those familiar yet unfamiliar characters bloom with new brilliance. Whether it is the character's body expression, the surrounding environment, or the most important action scenes in the youth comic, they are all vividly outlined by the cartoonist.

At first glance, the "Kuang Wang" series continues the traditional style of Hong Kong comics in terms of painting style. Both characters and scenes are very realistic, focusing on the rich changes in light and dark relationships, and the entire picture is very layered and three-dimensional. However, the realistic style is not all of this comic. Whether it is the use of colors or the variety of painting styles, the two authors can be said to be free and easy.

Dense forests, dilapidated spaceships, the deep sky, and the layers of clouds are all vividly presented in the hands of Zheng Jianhe and Deng Zhihui. With the perfect control of light and shadow, every page contains rich details. The contrast and strong impact of composition and color make the painting style three-dimensional and exciting.

Senior comic fans who have read the book even said that in addition to the exquisite painting style, the storyboards of "Mad King" are like flowing clouds and water, with a well-paced rhythm. The large page spreads are even more impactful, and the design of the wonderful fighting scenes and the background of onomatopoeia make the characters in the paintings seem to be standing alive on the pages of the book. "A large number of fighting scenes are very shocking. The impact composition of the large scenes, the shadow lines that reflect the sense of speed, and the shocking and bright color contrast all present a full sense of power."

In order to better present the author's painting skills and smooth storyboards, the publisher New Classic Culture has put a lot of effort into the binding, using export-quality elegant text paper with excellent color and texture, a comfortable large 32-page format, and invited a well-known designer to take charge of the design. The innovation in paper usage is also the first in China.

The world this comic takes us into is a fresh, open, and infinitely explorable world. In fact, everyone has the shadow of fish in them. Ashura's growth path is a struggle, and our life is also achieved through struggle. Let us, like the protagonist Luo Hou in the book, use our own hands to create a sky that belongs to us.