They both are heroes, they’re battling for the fate of the world, they’re both dressed up in fancy, colorful costumes, and they both have these fantastical, superhuman powers. There’s a lot of overlap between the Monkey King and the American superhero genre. For all of us, it’s tied in with our love of superheroes. All three of us have childhood memories of hearing Monkey King stories from our parents. But even beyond that, there’s something about the Monkey King.
We all are heavily interested in seeing Asian representation within the DC Universe. (DC Editor) Jessica (Chen), Bernard Chang and I, we talked about how this was kind of a bucket list item for us. Gene Luen Yang: It’s not that that there’s not that many Asian characters-it’s that there’s not that many that aren’t problematic. What did you see that this character adds that wasn’t there before? How important was it to introduce a new Asian DC character, specifically an Asian-American, in this story? If you look at Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair’s great cover to DC Festival of Heroes, you realize we had to go fairly deep on the bench to fill it up with characters. The Monkey Prince is a unique addition to DC’s roster of characters, taking direct inspiration from the Monkey King, the mythological character from the 16th-Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, but given a modern spin and firmly rooted in the DC Universe of today (down to attending Fawcett High School alongside Billy Batson).īoth Yang and Chang spoke in-depth about the Monkey Prince, and how their childhood affection for Monkey King stories helped shape the character-who, given how his introductory story ends with “the adventures of the Monkey Prince continue later this year,” appears to be sticking around DC far beyond this initial tale. The Monkey Prince debuts in “The Monkey Prince Hates Superheroes,” the final story of DC Festival of Heroes, written by Gene Luen Yang ( Superman Smashes the Klan, Batman/Superman and so much more) and illustrated by Bernard Chang ( Teen Titans, Batman Beyond and, again, so much more). But along with familiar heroes and villains including Cassandra Cain, Emiko Queen, the New Super-Man and Katana, the issue also introduced a brand-new DC character: The Monkey Prince. This month, DC celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in style with DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration, a one-shot anthology featuring 100 pages of all-new material starring DC’s Asian characters, written and illustrated by Asian creators.
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