Journey to the West: A Comic Strip - Volume 1/4

Author: Gu Baoxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Recreating the essence of the original, redefining the new realm of Sun Wukong. China's Todd McFarlane, Hong Peiqi wrote the text. American comic book historian Morris Horn once remarked: "Comic strips were merely a popular art form in most capitalist newspapers." I often felt puzzled by this, which became one of the reasons I explored American comic strips over the past ten years. After more than 100 years of development, American comic strips have entered their third period of prosperity. Especially since computer-drawing techniques emerged in the late 1980s, the face of American comic strips has undergone fundamental changes. Led by Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane, the "dark" style of comic strips is harsh, cold, bizarre, and ever-changing, leaving people in awe. To be honest, when Gu Baoxin's comic strip version of Journey to the West first appeared before me, I was deeply moved. Upon careful review, the artwork is grand, desolate, and tragic, with fantastical lighting effects that transport the viewer into a magnificent mythological realm. The protagonist, Sun Wukong, is ugly, cold, powerful, and rebellious, with an inner conflict between good and evil. He tells a thrilling, avant-garde story of Chinese classical literature, clearly influenced by the current "dark" style of American comic strips. However, the author's profound drawing skills, fashionable techniques, and sharp awareness are no less than those of today's outstanding American comic strip artists like McFarlane. I firmly believe that if Chinese comic strips ever enter a period of prosperity, more brilliant comic strip artists and timeless masterpieces will undoubtedly emerge.
Beyond the work itself, another aspect that moved me about Gu Baoxin is the unique belief, qualities, and perseverance of an artist. This Journey to the West series consists of four volumes, and its completion took over five years. This almost obsessive, almost creative desire seems overly romantic for an influential freelance painter, but he believes that doing what you love is the happiest thing in life. In the past, Dong Xinbin's poem "Unafraid of hardship for food and clothing in life, listening to thunder in dreams every night" moved me for many years. Today, Gu Baoxin's actions stem from the same principle. Well, Gu Baoxin, you are erecting a monument!
In the East (Oda Kingdom) of the sea, there is a Flower Fruit Mountain. At the top of the mountain lies a divine stone. Absorbing the spiritual essence of heaven and earth and bathed in the light of the sun and moon, it gave birth to a stone monkey, who was revered by the monkey troop as their king. Five hundred years passed, and the stone monkey suddenly grieved over the impermanence of life and his short lifespan. Guided by an old monkey, he set out to seek immortal mountains and ancient caves. In the Sloping Moon and Three Stars Cave, he was taken in by the Bodhi Ancestor as a disciple and named Sun Wukong. From the Ancestor, Sun Wukong learned the art of immortality, the magic of transforming into seventy-two forms, and the ability to travel ten thousand and eight hundred li in a single somersault.