Toon Town
Move over, Mickey. With the Hong Kong Comics Festival in town this weekend, Simon Bowring meets the city’s homegrown cast of oddball cartoon characters.
Lily Wong
Creator: American-born cartoonist Larry Feign, who moved to Hong Kong in 1985.
Description: Lily is a curvaceous Hong Kong Chinese woman in a relationship with an American gweilo, Stuart, whom she eventually marries. Through their relationship and reactions to current events, "The World of Lily Wong" comic strip presented a microcosmic slice of the city's cultural and socio-political life.
When and where: Sexy Lily first wiggled into the "Hong Kong Standard" in 1985, but in November 1986 switched allegiances to the "South China Morning Post," and had her legs wrapped around English-language readers until she fell off the radar in 1995 either for being too expensive (according to the SCMP) or too controversial (according to Feign). She made a comeback in 1997 for a 100-day handover exclusive in Britain's "Independent" newspaper, and was brought out of retirement by the short-lived "iMail" newspaper in 2000 before being axed in October 2001 for her "colonialist ties."
Sidekick: Stuart is the obvious candidate, but a close runner-up is Rudy, Lily's drinking, smoking and gambling brother, who curls up in spasms of withdrawal when the horse racing is called off.
Most memorable moment: Lily gave birth to a baby girl in 1993, and local fans deluged Feign with letters of congratulation and gifts. Baby Crystal even got a birth announcement in the SCMP.
Interesting fact: Feign turned down offers of large cash sums for original drawings of Lily naked. "She is naked every time I draw her... how else can I put clothes on her body?" he says.
X-Factor: One of the most all-encompassing representations of Hong Kong, and a favorite with Westerners for its parallel wit. Apparently Lily was also considered fodder for the wandering libido.