Breaking Through in Beijing
China, comics, clothes. Rising Beijing artist Benjamin on these and bureaucratic pigs.---------------
By Althea Chia
Jan 12, 2005 | There is manga, there is manhwa, and there is China’s manhua, virtually unknown on this side of the Pacific. Things are only slightly better back home. Pitted against domestic indifference and foreign dominance, it’s been an uphill battle for Chinese comic artists even as interest in comics reaches a frenzied high. And it's not just about eking out a living, it's about holding onto their Chinese heritage when everything is drenched in Western and Japanese hues.
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But
while most settle for ancient history and kung fu stories to avoid government
censure, a new generation of artists seeks to tackle relevant, contemporary
issues. Benjamin leads this bold minority. His comics are unapologetic,
dealing out brusque social commentary, exposing today’s urban Chinese
society in a stark, neon atmosphere loaded with dust.
Born to a school teacher and a military officer, Benjamin grew up in a village but always craved the city lights. He left for China’s metropolises soon enough. The next few years were a whirlwind of cities, jobs, hellos and goodbyes, and he finally wound up in Beijing disillusioned. Now dedicated full-time to creating comics, Benjamin may have finally exorcised his restless state of mind. Benjamin’s first graphic novel One Day was published in 2001, and he contributes to art compilations and comic magazines regularly.
What have you been up to since the Io book project?
Mostly some personal stuff, but in terms of work, I’ve been working on a novel. The submission is now delayed by two months, though, since I have to take care of my personal affairs first.
Is this a graphic novel?
No, what I’m writing now is a lengthy novel of over a hundred thousand words that tells the story of an underground band. It’ll first be published as a novel and then made into comics for serialization in a domestic comic magazine. If compiled and published in a book, it’ll also be my first lengthy graphic novel. God bless, I hope I won’t desert on the eve of this battle…
How did you first conceive the story?
Oh, it’s from my own experience. When I first arrived in Beijing I lived with a group of other kids who also liked to draw comics. Everyone’s destiny turned out to be different -- one of the kids went on to form a band. Ah, a very emotional period. So I channelled these emotions into the novel.
I just saw a page from your recent comic. Is it autobiographical in nature as well?
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Ah,
my comics are all portrayals of my own life. That’s why they’re
a little pessimistic.
The drawing you mentioned is one of the plots in my new book Remembered. This incident really happened and I treated it as material for my story, one that I use to express the problem with domestic comic magazines.
What’s this problem?
The story takes place towards the end of the 1990s, when domestic comic magazines and their ideas were extremely obsolete. The protagonist encounters such conflicts and quits drawing comics in the end. I give up on comics in this alternative dimension.
Our domestic comic magazines have fresh blood now after a period of takeovers, leaving the outdated, conservative magazines either exterminated or on their last legs. The new comic magazines are all steadier and more specialized in terms of thinking and publishing management. Things will definitely improve after a few more years.
In reality I persevered through the most difficult years of the 1990s, and I now have more confidence in domestic comic magazines. The above scenario of ideal deconstruction and takeovers certainly does not refer specifically to domestic comics -- it’s only a weaning period everyone goes through.
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