When talking about the most representative webcomic artist in Hong Kong in the past decade, “Strange Uncle” Cuson LO (LO Chi-kong) must not be forgotten. His page set up on social media has more than 170 000 fans. His previous work “My (Hong-)Kong-girl Wife” series, as well as “The Chaos of Yellow Glove”, an online competition among illustrators triggered by comic artist Chao Yat and him in 2019, had been hot topics among young Hong Kong netizens.
At first, Cuson LO’s comics featured anecdotes in his life. His bits of life with his “(Hong-)Kong-girl” wife and his cute cat at home were all included in his works. As a comic artist, he is a rare success in Hong Kong who makes himself the protagonist in comics and becomes popular. Cuson LO’s humorous and interesting slice of life comics are loved by netizens. Later, as Hong Kong’s political issues have become more and more severe and shocked every Hong Kong people, Cuson LO said that he, as a “Hong Kong pig” and inspired by politics, had begun to draw comics featuring social disputes. His comics are bold and blunt, in which he includes sarcasm that hit the nail on the head, and also the emotional lessons he learnt from social events, bringing tears and laughter and reaching people’s heart. Many of his works are forwarded and shared by numerous netizens, and sometimes may even reverse public opinion.
This episode is hosted by scholar cum political comic artist Justin WONG, who will first visit the home office of Cuson LO to understand how he gains inspiration for his creations from his daily life, then they will have an in-depth conversation about various phenomena of today’s webcomics culture.
Host: JustinWONG (Political Comic Artist / Assistant Professor, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University)
During the processing of creation, creators keep finding and getting to know themselves. Comic artist LAU Kwong-shing’s experience has all along been like this. Finally, he found the importance of freedom, for being a human and a comic artist as well.
LAU grew up in Japan and later followed his family to move back to Shandong. He was bullied as he was mistaken as Japanese. His first awakening originated from his identity, and drawing comics became his redemption. However, drawing comics also requires the creator’s awakening – how to breakthrough and make himself / herself stand out from others? Being invited to the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France, LAU got inspired all of a sudden. He had broadened his horizons and thus he tried hard to explore his own style.
After LAU has found his own creative direction, he began to think over the freedom and space for creation, and these are problems of immediate concern which one cannot stay aloof from as a Hong Kong person. LAU’s thinking process is still in progress …
There’s less than four weeks to go before the District Council elections, the first electoral contest between pro-government and pan-democrat forces since the beginning of the Umbrella Movement. 935 candidates are running for 431 seats, however 68 of them are uncontested. Not everyone is open about their allegiances, but of those who are 297 candidates say they are pro-government and 178 are pan-democrat. More than 3.6 million people are registered as voters. There’s been a 5% increase in the 18-20 age group’s registration but an 18% increase in voters aged 66-70. This time around far more candidates are declaring themselves to be “independent”, but – as often – all is not as it seems. More on that in part two. First though, a considerable number of candidates are claiming to be Umbrella Movement or Yellow Ribbon candidates. Well some are, and others are so-called “fake umbrella soldiers” which suggests that pro-Beijing organisations are well aware of the votes to be gained from claiming to be democratically inclined.
On Monday, Ming Pao Daily revealed that at least 88 of the 384 candidates in this year’s District Council elections who say they are independent, either belong to, or have close ties to, pro-government organisations. Although election law does not require candidates to declare their political affiliations, one pro-government group with 161 candidates has almost as many as the main pro-government party, the DAB, with 171.