Alfonso Wong Kar-hei created Old Master Q, one of the best-loved and most enduring Chinese comic book characters ever. Yet the former Hong Kong resident tried to dissuade his children from following in his footsteps, saying comic artists get little respect and have poor prospects.
'He discouraged me from entering the field but it's contagious, you just can't help it,' says the cartoonist's eldest son, Joseph Wong Chak.
The younger Wong made some concessions - he became an architect and now serves as a professor at Shih Chien University in Taipei - but kept the Old Master Q strip going when his father retired 11 years ago because of ill health.
'I thought it would be a great loss if the comic had to grind to a halt because my father couldn't draw any more. The comic has brought laughter and happiness to readers for more than 30 years,' he says.
So the 58-year-old academic set up a company in Taipei to produce the comic instead.
'My father's teachings were a total failure,' says Wong, who is on a visit to mark the 45th anniversary of the comic series. The celebrations include an exhibition at local malls featuring comic book covers, photos of its creator and other memorabilia.