Marvel comics court China and Asia with eastern superheroes.

Marvel wants in on the Asia comic scene, and is going for gold with two new Chinese characters, Sword Master and Aero,

 

The stories will be based in China, Marvel’s editor-in-chief Cebulski explained, drawn in the eastern manga style, and will be

 

“heavily based on Chinese culture and Chinese mythology but set in the modern world and they will interact with the other heroes (in the Marvel universe).”

 

Next month Marvel’s African superhero movie the Black Panther is expecting top open to $120 million plus box office receipts.

 

But as I note over at TNPS, Marvel’s biggest “black” superhero characters, the Black Panther and Luke Cage, date back to the 1960s-70s, when Marvel also had its first Chinese hero, Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu.

 

Cebulski’s claim Marvel wants to have “stories that are reflective of every culture” will take more than two new characters set in China and revived characters from the last century if it is to ring true.

 

Read more over at The New Publishing Standard.

NB: Mark Williams now writes daily on global publishing matters over at The New Publishing Standard.