Observing the success of election-related Internet comic titled Tianlung City: Infernal Affairs (天龍無間道), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has recently asked illustrator “Milkman” to draw a serial comic titled The Princelings of the Three Northern Municipalities (北三都太子黨) in an attempt to highlight connections between corporations and three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates in races for northern cities.
The serial was published by a netizen named Jerry Kuo. Its name is derived from the 2002 film Infernal Affairs (無間道) and Japanese comic series One Piece, from which “Tian Long Guo” (天龍國), or “kingdom of the celestial dragons” — a term denoting wealth and lack of knowledge about the woes of real life — has been used by netizens to refer to Taipei.
The Princelings of the Three Northern Municipalities series, to be published on the DPP’s Facebook page this week, is designed to highlight the “princeling” backgrounds of KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and John Wu (吳志揚), commissioner of Taoyuan County, which is to be upgraded to special municipality on Dec. 25.
Photo: Chen Hui-ping, Taipei Times
Lien’s father is former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), and Wu’s father is former KMT chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄); Chu’s father-in-law, Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), is also a KMT heavyweight and the founder of multiple venture-capital companies.
The DPP said the comics will introduce family backgrounds of the politicians, connections their families have in business and political circles, their respective interaction with China and also intra-family relations.
DPP Internet division deputy director Chan Ho-shun (詹賀舜) said the ideas to be shared are serious and would require many pages of text to thoroughly explain, so the DPP hopes to “simplify” the story by turning it into a comic so netizens can “see in one glance” what the KMT candidates’ family connections are.
“The DPP has collected historical data and media reports so the illustrations will be factual,” Chan said.
The serial is estimated to be four chapters in length, with three chapters dedicated to one particular family each, and one being a “foreword,” Chan said.
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