Old Master Q
Old Master Q (; Wong's romanization: Lo Fu Gee) is a Hong Kong manhua created by Alfonso Wong. The cartoon first appeared in the newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong on 3 February 1962, and later serialised in 1964. The comic is still in publication today, and is the oldest Asian comic series in publication. The comic is copyrighted by WangZ Inc, a company established by Joseph Wong Chak (Alfonso Wong's eldest son) in Taipei, Taiwan. Joseph Wong still continues to create new volumes. Name Alfonso Wong explained that ("Lo") means "old", is "a rather ordinary, but respectable title" over two-thousand-year old which denotes a "learned one" "who can become a teacher ('Fu Gee') or, or one who has studied a lot"; the English title "Old Master Q" "sort of" translates the Chinese title, with Q being abbreviated from earlier "Cute". Wong additionally noted the similarity between his main character's English title "Old Master Q" & the name Ah Q of Lu Xun's character, whom Wong considered to be "rather and satirical". Characters The series' cast is led by Old Master Q (), an elderly, lanky man dressed in a distinctive traditional Chinese attire. The character is created to satire Asian cultures in particularly backward conservatism, hubris, showing-off attitude, ungratefulness, rash, irresponsibility, weak-will, and even delusion. Most of the time, he is depicted as a person who keep living in the past in the ever-changing and brutally unfair world where money is the absolute power. To highlight this, Q is depicted in many short stories to mostly gets his rewards for being a good person in the form of being backstabbed; wrongfully accuse of wrongdoings as well as being hated for no apparent reasons. Kelvin Chan of the South China Morning Post described Q as "eccentric". Supporting characters include: Big Potato () Old Master Q's identically-dressed friend with a stumpy, big-headed build. Mr. Chin (, 'ordinary Joe' character, good friend with Old Master Q and Potato. Miss Chan (), Old Master Q's love interest. Vain and gold-digging, she always see herself as the most beautiful woman alive and has a tendency to ditch W every time she gets her hands on some rich individuals. Mr. Chiu (), main antagonist to Old Master Q, often pranking each other). He often depicted as an arrogant rich individual who looks down on people as well as being incredibly petty. Format and themes The overall theme of the comics centres around humour, with characters usually portrayed in a variety of social statuses, professions and time periods, ranging from beggars and office workers to actors and ancient warriors, which allows for a wide variety of scenarios to explore. More outlandish situations incorporate surrealism, close encounters with aliens, ghost sightings, and the afterlife. While each comic is typically produced as short strips of four, six or twelve panels, longer comics have been produced revolving around lengthier adventures of the main cast pitted again gangsters in modern Hong Kong or warriors in a wuxia setting. While Old