Lai Tat Tat Wing tells Lau Kit-Wai about his triumph in the overseas market
Local comic artist and illustrator Lai Tat-wing, alias Lai Tat Tat Wing, is finding his feet in the international market with his comic book Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is a tribute to local comic master Wong Yuk-long's Oriental Heroes series.
The French version of Lai's graphic novel was recently launched in France, at the Angouleme International Comics Festival - one of the biggest comics festivals in Europe. This is a leap forwards in Lai's career as an independent comic artist.
'Maybe because the story is loaded with Cantonese culture, the European readers see my book as something exotic with a rich ethnic flavour,' says Lai, whose work caught the eye of representatives from Belgium-based Franco-Belgian comics publisher Casterman at a Hong Kong exhibition two years ago.
'Yet in France my book isn't categorised as an alternative comic [as it is in Hong Kong]. In Europe the alternative comics are very experimental ... at least my book has a plot and characters.'
Lai created Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - a quirky kung fu fantasy - almost three years ago with the support of the Hong Kong Arts Centre. At the time he saw the project as an opportunity for self-indulgence, a celebration of his 10th anniversary of being a cartoonist.
