Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword

Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword
Cover of Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword vol. 1 (1980). Art by Ma Wing-shing.
中華英雄 (Zhonghua Yingxiong)
Genre	Wuxia
Author	Ma Wing-shing
Publisher	Jademan, Culturecom Holdings
English publisher	Jademan DrMaster
Magazine	Golden Daily
Original run	1980
Collected volumes	8

Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword (Chinese: 中華英雄) is a wuxia manhua series created by Hong Kong artist Ma Wing-shing. It is also referred to as Blood Sword, Blood Sword Dynasty, A Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword and A Man Called Hero.

Background

The artwork and drawing style of Chinese Hero is responsible for the modern day characteristics of manhua.^{[citation needed]} It was a breakthrough in terms of using high levels of details, realistic style, clear cut action scenes and skillful use of color in combination with an engrossing plot.^{[citation needed]} The manhua turned the artist from rags to riches.^{[citation needed]} Ma Wing-shing became Hong Kong's most popular artist at that time.^[1] The story was an immediate hit selling 45,000 copies when first released. At the peak of its popularity, sales hit peaks of 200,000 copies.^[1] It is famous for having characters that are physically imperfect, such as missing an eye or limb for the sake to express the realism that real life people are not perfect.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

After seeking vengeance on the Westerners who murdered his family, Wah Ying-hung (aka Hero Hua) flees to America to start a new life. Throughout his adventures in America, he meets new friends such Ghostserver and Gold Dragon and gradually becomes a powerful martial arts master. Once in Chicago, Wah is up against gang wars, murder, treachery and racial discrimination.

Publication history

Original release

Chinese Hero was first published in Golden Daily in 1980 and was a supplement to Wong Yuk-long's Drunken Master^{[citation needed]} It then later became its own separate manhua.^{[citation needed]} The first issue of the Chinese Hero periodical was published in 1982^{[citation needed]}

Jademan comic releases

In late 1988, Jademan started publishing Chinese Hero in English under the title The Blood Sword,^{[citation needed]} which was criticised for its poor translation.^{[citation needed]} Jademan later published a second series entitled Blood Sword Dynasty which followed the adventures of the Hero's son, Kim-hung (aka Sword). By 1989, Ma Wing-shing left Jademan.^{[citation needed]}

The Chinese manhua Blood Sword Dynasty is part of the same series as Chinese Hero and not a spin-off. Despite its popularity, the series was eventually canceled in 1993.^{[citation needed]}

DrMaster releases

In October 2006, publishers DrMaster announced that they were planning to release a new English translation of Chinese Hero. These new releases included an all new English translation as well as new digital re-coloration. The re-release started from the beginning of the second series, with the plot alteration of Hero's parents being murdered by a "rival martial arts clan" instead of Westerners in the original version, due to the first series use of anti-Western sentiments. The reprints at the point of volume 8 do not extend beyond the original plot of the original Jademan comics.

Collections

The collections are:

• Chinese Hero:
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 1 (April 2007, 260 pages, ISBN 1597960411)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 2 (September 2007, 260 pages, ISBN 1597961167)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 3 (August 2007, 280 pages, ISBN 1597961175)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 4 (November 2007, 280 pages, ISBN 1597961183)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 5 (February 2008, 240 pages, ISBN 1597961248)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 6 (May 2008, 224 pages, ISBN 1597961310)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 7 (August 2008, 224 pages, ISBN 1597961485)
  • Tales of the Blood Sword volume 8 (November 2008, 224 pages, ISBN 1597961493)

Adaptations

Television

Year	Region	Wah Ying-hung	Title	No. of episodes
1990	Hong Kong	Kenny Ho	The Blood Sword	25
2005	Taiwan	Peter Ho	The Legend of Hero	40

Films

Ekin Cheng starred as Wah Ying-hung in a 1999 Hong Kong film called A Man Called Hero (Chinese: 中華英雄) that was directed by Andrew Lau. Although the plot differed largely from the original story, the film was popular and became the highest grossing Hong Kong film up to that time.^{[citation needed]}

Video game

"A Man Called Hero" video game

A video game based on the manhua was produced by Acebrock. The game was initially scheduled to be released in both Chinese and English on the PC platform. Although the game shared the same English title as the film, it remained faithful to the original story as opposed to the changes introduced in the film. As of 2007, Acebrock fell through and the game existed in either scrap or beta form only.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Wong, Wendy Siuyi. [2002] (2001) Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. ISBN 1-56898-269-0