Every culture in the history of the planet has its own mythology. The stories we tell to explain the world, to inspire and to entertain through the long nights. Ancient Greeks had a pantheon of gods, from Zeus to Hades. The ancient Norse had the nine realms, from Asgard to Jotunheim. And, as many modern cultural scholars will tell you, modern Western civilization has…superheroes. The sprawling, shared universe told over decades of dark knights and men of steel, with an impassioned base of devotees to rival any other.
The world of superheroes is constantly additive, as new storytellers borrow and expound upon each story of those heroes which came before them. And, going back to even the earliest days of the genre, superheroes have borrowed on older mythologies still. The stories of Wonder Woman and Shazam would not exist as we know them without the legends of Greek myth. The tale of the Spectre is directly informed by a Judeo-Christian concept of justice and divinity. But as far as superhero influences go, Asian cultures have always been severely underrepresented. This year, the creative team of Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang are doing something to change that. The time has finally come in the DC Universe for a Chinese legend’s Journey to the West. Let us meet the Monkey Prince.
I grew up watching Sun WuKong stories and Journey to the West cartoons so this adaptation is super exciting for me! I have to point out that Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang, Sebastian Cheng, Janice Chiang, and Jessica Chen are all of Asian descent, and that is phenomenal! A great, positive step forward for Asian Representation!
I was genuinely excited during DC FanDome when Candice Patton announced that Monkey Price would be returning in 2022
I immediately read Monkey Prince Issue #0 that dropped during DC FanDome and loved that, too
So yeah, I’m looking forward to this but I won’t be picking it up at my LCS. Books like this are why I subscribe to DCUI. See you in six months, Monkey Prince, and looking forward to reading all about you and your adventures starting in August.
Having a few comic titles available on DCUI before or at the same time as Comixology and LCS has the following benefits:
It makes a subscription to DCUI in effect cheaper as you don’t have to spend the money to buy it
It gives publicity to these titles, which could increase recognition and thus sales in a LCS rack inundated with Batman related titles.
It allows for
“Try before you buy”.
Many members here prefer to buy physical copies or trades for favorite titles
(The same preference applies to the 6 month lag. If you like issue 1, buy the 6 issue trade instead of waiting for the conclusion of the first arc here)
Gene Yang is a writer
Whose great work on Superman against the Klan was featured in the Book Club
Thus fans would be excited if they knew he was the writer
Having DC Comics and DCUI have articles which link to his other works like New 52 Chinese Superman and Batman / Superman might push fans to his work and to be DCUI subscribers.
It might also give this talented writer more DC work
First of all that’s great news, I’ll happily read that soon! Thanks for the heads up.
Request - when stuff like that happens can it be announced? Can there be a thread created or at least update the What's New on DC Universe Infinite: February 2022 thread with that information? I use that to create lists of books to read and would never have known this was added beyond this post.
Usually they would be announced! This was a last minute addition that slipped through the cracks on the Monday, so it ended up getting lost between 2 ‘What’s New’ threads. I have since updated the ‘What’s New’ thread for this week with Monkey Prince #1 on there!
Sure thing! The moderator team consists of our senior community manager @Jitsu, our assistant community manager @Alec.Holland, and the moderators: @Green.Lantern, @LastSon0fMars, @staticshocks, and yours truly. Besides ensuring that the community is running smoothly and members are following the guidelines, we also have a lot of other responsibilities, like managing fun weekly threads (see: Who Would Win, Music Mondays, Roll For It, Fan Art Highlight Fridays, etc).
If you need to contact the moderator team for any specific issues, you can send a direct message to @moderators or use the blue button labeled “MESSAGE US” at the bottom right corner of the main community page.
Look very interesting.
I’m glad to hear you’ve been enjoying Monkey Prince.
Besides ensuring that the community is running smoothly and members are following the guidelines, we also have a lot of other responsibilities, like managing fun weekly threads (see: Who Would Win, Music Mondays, Roll For It, Fan Art Highlight Fridays, etc).