Filling the Taiwan void
Old Master Q was introduced to Taiwan in 1970. At that time, a policy of strict government censorship had been in place in Taiwan for over two decades, and cartoonists accustomed to writing satire had lost their will to write due to the restrictions, turning to other professions. Old Master Q filled a void in Taiwan's comic industry, capturing Taiwanese readers. At first, Crown Bookstore published the unauthorized Old Master Q Magazine, and later released them as the Old Master Q Compendium. The comic swiftly became a fad.
Come 2000, Shang Yan Publishing was designated the official licensee, publishing the Old Master Q Compendium, which now sells around 20,000 copies per issue amid intense competition from the Japanese manga market, to the envy of other Taiwanese publishers.
Comic critic Hung Teh-lin notes that 1970 presented a window of opportunity in Taiwan's comic industry. Old Master Q arrived at the right time to fill a spiritual void in readers. Alfonso Wong was particularly adept at grasping the readers' changing moods and at exaggerating major events in his comics. His off-the-wall humor and depictions of people creating trouble for themselves started a new trend in the comics.
Old Master Q differs from the dream-like, violence-ridden aesthetic popular in American and Japanese comics, devoting a great deal of space to depicting Hong Kong's people and society. This pleasing, realistic portrayal is a noteworthy attribute: readers can better come to appreciate Hong Kong from Old Master Q, experiencing the diverse and admirable vitality of Hong Kong's social strata from its witty plots.
Hung Teh-lin believes that Alfonso Wong's Old Master Q is like Chic Young's Blondie, in that "its name is world famous. No other Chinese comic can make this claim."
Having gone from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia to the US, Old Master Q is now embarking upon the mainland Chinese market, with distribution starting four years ago. To better understand the market in mainland China, ZMedia authorized the Chinese company Modern Publishing to issue a 30-part series of Old Master Q. Current annual sales stand at four million copies. With such good results, Old Master Q is set to keep charging ahead, its business partners and outlets enjoying continuing growth in sales.
After Old Master Q entered mainland China, Wong Chak stirred up a dispute over plagiarism in Chinese cultural circles, given the similarities in name, style and character with early mainland Chinese cartoonist Peng Di's series Old Master Q. To be fair, despite the parallels between the two versions, when Peng Di was silenced during the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution, it was Wong Chak's Old Master Q that continued to delight readers, a contribution that cannot be erased.
Wong Chak founded OMQ ZMedia Limited in Taiwan, where he has digitized vast numbers of the comics so that Old Master Q will be more easily accessible to the reader.