The result was Hijacking, a hugely successful, two-volume comics interpretation of literary works by well-known Hong Kong authors such as Xi Xi, Dung Kai-cheung, Quanan, Liu Yichang, Wong Bik-wan and Leung Ping-kwan.

Kong and Lee, both 32, were in the German city to attend the 61st Frankfurt Book Fair, where they were meeting other comics writers and publishers as well as representing Hong Kong literature in a small delegation of six writers funded by the Home Affairs Bureau.

Lee and Kong both seem permanently on the edge of laughter. In fact so playful is the impression they create that it comes as a shock to hear about their dark, early works.

Lee's, an untitled, self-published work, is about a nameless woman writer who dies - 'of heaviness', he says. Ask why, and one receives a chirpy smile in response. Yet the subject matter seems close to his heart. 'She has a hunchback and feels life is too heavy. It bends her over,' he says.

'A friend suggests she writes to release her pain. But her story is so heavy she can't even mail or fax it to anyone. In the end she drowns because she's so heavy.' And he looks wryly amused.

Perhaps Lee's early dark vision can be understood by his struggle to recognise and express his creative talent in a difficult cultural environment. In a Hong Kong context, where artistry has for a long time been looked down on as time-wasting and parents actively discourage children from pursuing creative careers, being an artist is hard, and the very creative impulse can be a burden, Lee seems to be saying. Neither Lee nor Kong was supposed to become an artist: Lee studied food science and nutrition at the Chinese University, where Kong studied finance.

Malaysian-born Kong came to Hong Kong when he was one and grew up in Tai Po. He began drawing comics while still at university, contributing to a magazine called Comic Teens. 'After I graduated it collapsed,' he recalls. His first work was titled Imperfect Shoes, a 'dark fairy tale about city life'.

'It's the story of a prince and a princess who live happily ever after in the end, but many other characters suffer from their happiness.' In it, he explains, a magician turns a princess into a piano, and the spell can only be broken if someone sits down to play a song that truly comes from the heart. That special someone does come along in the form of a prince, and the princess is freed. But she leaves behind forever her son, who is turned into a piano stool.

Then Kong grins. 'We were both dark in our beginnings. But nowadays we're very different. Now we try to look at the craziness of our city life in happy ways.'

Their main issues are the environment and the need for 'more imagination - what if people can live in more positive ways?' Neither Lee nor Kong can live off their art, so both have day jobs. Lee is a book designer and illustrator. Kong teaches visual communication at secondary schools.

Hong Kong writers lack confidence in their output, they say. 'Everyone thinks there is no literature in Hong Kong and when they see it they are surprised,' says Kong. In Hijacking, the artists focus on a key theme from each of the original works.

So in Quanan's novel Door on the Ground, in which the main character rushes at and tries to change his rigid destiny, Lee puts all the action within strictly constructed boxes. Plot takes place in the background only.

The comics were originally published in the Ming Pao newspaper starting in September 2005, switching to Zihua magazine in 2006. They were published in book form in 2007.

In Going Wrong by Kong, the artist takes novelist Liu's experiments with language in Wrong Number by playing with the form of the comic.

Caught between two comics frames, the main character fails to jump fast enough and is knocked over by a car.

Readers try to find the original works after reading the comics. 'That makes us happy,' says Kong. Lee nods in enthusiastic agreement.