Britpop band Blur feature in Hong Kong-themed comic book produced by local artist
British band Blur’s love affair with Hong Kong gets another creative nod this week with the release of a comic book that takes the four members on a sci-fi journey through the city.
The Britpop veterans teamed up with local artist Kongkee to create the comic titled “Travel to Hong Kong with Blur”. It will be available from Friday on the band’s website.
It’s been marketed as a “visual companion” to Blur’s latest album, The Magic Whip, which is heavily influenced by Hong Kong.
“It’s magical how their music brought me many vivid visions and I just let them slip through my pens – the feeling of Blur’s music, the feeling of Hong Kong,” said Malaysian-born Kongkee, who moved to Hong Kong as a child.
The album was recorded at Kowloon’s Avon Studios during a five-day stay in 2013, an unplanned stop when gigs in Japan were cancelled.
The city’s sights and sounds permeate through the album with plenty of references such as Ocean Park, Lantau and being “stuck in the underground”, and this is reflected in the comic.
In a video released this week about the comic, Kongkee said he created a “futuristic Hong Kong” as the backdrop for the comic given the city’s many cultural references in sci-fi movies and cartoons.
WATCH: Travel to Hong Kong with Blur - in conversation with comics artist KongKee
He has yet to meet the band as the collaboration was done through emails and calls, but they were on the same page creatively.
“We both wanted it to be nostalgic and futuristic at the same time,” Kongkee said. “It’s fun to create something from two conflicting elements.”
The artist says he used to listen to Blur during his college days and described hearing the new album as “pure joy”.
“Partly because it is so inspired by Hong Kong itself, allowing us to see what Hong Kong is like in other people’s eyes,” he said.
It’s magical how their music brought me many vivid visions and I just let them slip through my pens
“Some of the elements in the songs might also be the impressions of Hong Kong to many others, given by Bruce Lee, given by 007, given by Suzie Wong. It has a strong foreign atmosphere.”
Kongkee is the co-founder of comic and animation company Penguin Lab, along with artist Lawman.
Blur will return to Hong Kong next month to play a concert at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.
