Tue, May 13, 2014 page3

• FEATURE: Manga characters lighten up local elections in comic

  • By Chen Yi-ching and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  With everyone’s eyes on the seven-in-one elections at the end of November, Taiwanese comic book artist Wei Zhong-cheng (韋宗成) has sought to bring a light touch to the potentially intense political event in his new work.

  In Wei’s new comic, titled The Battle of the Six Special Municipalities (六都爭霸), the five special municipalities and Taoyuan County, which is due to be upgraded to a special municipality on Dec. 25, are each personified by a manga character.

  Being Taiwan’s wealthiest administrative region, Taipei is portrayed as a suit-wearing rich boy, while Greater Taichung, which has been notorious for gang-related crime, is represented by a pistol-wielding young female student.

  

  Manga characters portraying Taiwan’s five current and future special municipalities appear on the cover of cartoonist Wei Zhong-cheng’s new comic book The Battle of the Six Special Municipalities.

  Photo courtesy of Future-Digi Ltd

  As a city that takes pride in its rich historical and cultural legacy, Greater Tainan is pictured as a bashful girl clad in a traditional Chinese outfit.

  Greater Kaoshiung, which has drawn tourists because of its constant sunny weather, is painted as a spirited and energetic teenage boy.

  New Taipei City, which is home to Houtong (猴硐) — a small town nicknamed “Cat Town” due to its large cat population — is a naive cat girl.

  Taoyuan, the nation’s biggest Hakka county, is personified as a feisty girl wearing a traditional Hakka costume and a tung blossom — a traditional symbol of Hakka culture — in her hair.

  “My new comic book features a number of four-panel comic strips depicting various manga characters that I think best encapsulate the cities’ respective local features and customs and the lifestyles of their people,” Wei said.

  Wei said any current events could also become the subjects of his new book, such as the Sunflower student movement in March and the antinuclear movement last month.

  “These issues all play a part in the lives of Taipei residents,” Wei said.

  Describing himself as a “citizen concerned about his country and his people in a time of social turmoil,” Wei catapulted to fame in the comic art community about five years ago after the huge hit of his first book, The Arrival of Emperor Ma (馬皇降臨), a political satire manga that mocks President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other political heavyweights.

  The 32-year-old’s subsequent works, such as The Battle of the Five Special Municipalities (五都爭霸) and Taiwan National Army Act Corporation (新世紀國軍戰士), are also bestsellers and have helped him establish a large fan base.

  Several incumbent mayors and mayoral hopefuls are also featured in Wei’s work, including National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), an independent hopeful for Taipei mayor, and former Taipei Easycard Corp president Sean Lien (連勝文), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate.

  Nevertheless, Wei said his goal is to bring out the cultural differences between the special municipalities, rather than drawing attention to the political figures.

  “I want my readers to understand the differences between Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan food, as well as Taipei residents’ favorite cuisines and pastimes,” Wei said.

  “The stars in my book are the six special municipalities and the politicians are often depicted as needing to bring on their A-games to gain people’s support,” he said.

  Wei’s new comic work is to be released in stages on his Facebook starting in the coming weeks, with a full version available on the market at the end of this year.
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