Hong Kong has a new comic book hero. But unlike the usual kind, who kung fu, karate, stab and slash their way through the pages, this one uses kindness. For the hero - or heroine - is the Buddhist goddess Guan-yin, goddess of compassion, capable of manifesting herself in any form, male or female. And the goddess has already worked a publishing miracle, by selling out the initial print run of 4,500 copies. 'The story is built around philosophy and we were really surprised at how well it has sold,' said Law Lai-hung, who teaches English and Buddhist studies at Buddhist Fat Ho Secondary College at Tai O, Lantau Island. 'I find it a big problem spreading Buddhism to young people but some Form Four students have even decided to go to university to study philosophy after reading it.' The comic was the idea of Kwun Tong publishing house Culturecom, and marketing executive Franky Chong was at Fat Ho College with the book's artist, Suen Wai-kwan, and Chief Secretary of Po Lin Monastery, Sik Siu-kun, this week to open the school's 'comics corner' in its library. Mr Chong explained that Culturecom approached Sik Siu-kun for advice about how best to portray the legend of Guan-yin. Sik Siu-kun agreed that the company could use modern media to get the message across and recommended Guan-yin manifest herself as characters teenagers could identify with. After addressing pupils on the need to balance knowledge with wisdom, Sik Siu-kun said the moral of the comic was that the way to approach the world 'friends and foes alike' was with compassion. This, he said, should be 'without bias, prejudice or condition'. 'Students absorb knowledge, but morality, the moral context within which knowledge is absorbed, is more important. Unfortunately society tends to pay less attention to that these days.'