China makes presence at Comic-Con 2016

Global Business

China makes presence at Comic-Con 2016

North America’s largest pop culture convention, San Diego Comic-Con, wrapped up over the past weekend. The event not only allowed heavyweight publishers like Marvel and DC to put on quite a spectacle but also presented a huge opportunity for some Chinese companies.

CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports.

This year’s Comic-Con introduced western audiences to something they knew little about. In a session called “The Superfan Phenomenon,” Chinese company Le Vision Pictures, sponsored an event that explored the Chinese population born after the year 2000, otherwise known as the Z Generation.

Lending insight into both the Z generation and China’s anime and comics culture, is China’s most famous cosplayer, Huang Shan, dressed as a character from the upcoming Chinese movie “Time Raiders.”

Unfortunately, Huang’s costume and tools didn’t make it through U.S. customs, so he showed up dressed in ordinary clothes.

Huang had to settle for showing off his company’s handmade dolls, which he said, like him, break down barriers.

“It is already a trend for us to break the boundaries between reality and virtual worlds” Huang said. “Currently, in China, people are still struggling for whether they can make money or not out of their habits of being comic fans. However, right now, we are trying our best to find a balance between our habits and our lives. I’m very happy and honored to make my dream come true.”

Roam the floors at conventions like Comic-Con in Western countries, and you are sure to find an Asian influence, particularly from Japanese manga comics. Korean K-pop culture has also recently become popular in the West. As for recent Chinese pop culture, however, the influence is far less.

Le Vision Pictures’s Vice President Liu Peiyao is confident that there will be a very big change in that regard. “In 2017, it’s estimated the box office in China will become the largest market in the world,” Le said. “That’s why we think it will be a good opportunity for the Western world to be interested in Chinese culture and what young people in China like.”

Le Vision Pictures has partnered with Dark Horse Comics on a multi-picture deal that would bring Chinese stories to global audiences. Dark Horse is the brainchild of Mike Richardson, an artist and comic store owner, who has turned his operation into the third largest comics publisher in the world.

“China has a rich history of both literature and the national legends and myths,” Richardson said. “So it’s very natural for us to get involved in that and try to bring it to a new audience over here.”

Richardson said at its heart, Dark Horse is a content engine that just wants to find, and deliver, the best material from all over the world.


Mike Richardson discusses comic-book company Dark Horse

Dark Horse is based on the principle of allowing content creators to have ownership in the characters they create. For more on how Dark Horse comes up with its content, CCTV America’s Mark Niu spoke with Dark Horse’s founder Mike Richardson.