Chinese characters are set to join the Disney company's comic book family

Thanks to a recent agreement between Walt Disney and China's internet tech company NetEase, domestic comic artists will work with their top United States counterparts to create the first comics featuring Chinese superheroes.

According to the agreement announced last month in Shanghai, NetEase will cooperate with Marvel, the comic giant and Disney subsidiary that has created more than 8,000 characters over the past 75 years, collectively known as the Marvel Universe.

Marvel President Dan Buckley said the cooperation will allow authentic Asian characters and Chinese stories to join the Marvel Universe.

To continuously expand the Marvel Universe, the company hires local writers and cartoonists to create new heroes, and encourages the authors to integrate their own life experiences into the Marvel Universe to display diverse cultures, said Marvel Senior Vice-President C.B. Cebulski.

"The comics market is growing rapidly in China, but it lacks an iconic hero character in the Marvel style," said Song Lei, director of the development and research department at China Animation Comic Game Group.

Song added that the key to the success of the cooperation is how to create a real Chinese hero that conveys traditional Chinese culture and values, instead of an American hero with some Chinese elements like Kung Fu Panda.

The new project will be drafted by Chinese artists and the Marvel editors will be responsible for quality control on the scripts. Finished works will be published in the same way as all the other Marvel publications.

Zhou Jiajun, a member of the Chinese team, said what impressed him most during the project is how much the Marvel team care about the characters' emotions. "When I submit an edition, they would ask me how the character feels, or what his purposes are," Zhou said.

"They keep digging deeper to make the character more real."

The newly signed agreement has also allowed NetEase to become the first in China to acquire online copyright for 12 marvel comic series, including Civil War, The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America. Civil War and The Avengers have already been made available online.

Besides the introduction of new comics, both sides will also cooperate in the development and promotion of related movies, games and other derivatives.

So far, movies based on Marvel comics have generated more than 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) at the Chinese box office.

Industry insiders said it is not surprising for a Chinese comic book platform to introduce foreign works, as it is a way to attract more viewers and increase the platform's fame.

China's largest comic book platform, Tencent's ac.qq.com, houses more than 20,000 licensed comic book series. It introduced copyright for nine comics from Marvel's rival DC Comics last month, including Wonder Woman, Justice League and Injustice League.

In early 2013, the website acquired the online copyright for 11 comics from the well-known Japanese publishing house Shueisha. It was the largest copyright cooperation in China at the time and the first time for the Japanese publisher to authorize electronic copyright for its comics to a Chinese company.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/03/2017 page17)