SOUTH KOREA-BASED JR Comics has begun an aggressive publishing schedule that will introduce English-speaking audiences to the most extensive, graphic adaptations of China’s four great classical novels.

    “Adventures From China: The Monkey King: Birth of the Stone Monkey Vol. 1,” the first of the comics adaptations, was released in the United States in November.

    JR Comics is owned by JR Han and publishes English translations of manhua (comics originally produced in China) created by Shejie & Cunren, the largest comics studio in China.

    The company has a staff of 50 artists and writers and has adapted “Journey to the West” (“Monkey King”), “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” “Water Margin” (“108 Heroes”) and “A Dream of Red Mansions,” which are considered China’s four greatest novels.

    Each series has 20 volumes, each volume is 160 pages in full color and the books are also available in black and white. Shejie & Cunren spent six years creating the adaptations.

    “‘Monkey King’ has already been released in Singapore and is selling quite well there,” says Han in an e-mail interview. “It will also be released in Hong Kong through SUP Publishing Logistics, one of the largest Hong Kong book distributors. We have a Japanese distributor who is preparing for the distribution. We are looking for distributors in Europe and Australia.”

    Diamond Comics is distributing “Monkey King” to U.S. comic book shops.

    Speaking of the reason he tried to sell comics of Chinese classic novels in the United States, Han said: “American [comics] standards have dominated in the world so far. From now on, we may see Chinese standards to an extent in the world. Chinese classics are the basic materials Americans should read to understand the Chinese standard. But it is very difficult for Americans to read Chinese novels. If they read these novels in the comics format, it will be easier and less time-consuming.”

    Han expressed excitement about the Chinese comics market. “It is new and is growing quickly and has a big market. Every comic is in color, so this is good for the digital transformation. There are 1 billion mobile phones in China. They are changing into smart phones very quickly. Comics on the mobile phones are growing also very quickly. Every month 4 million copies of comics magazines are being printed.

    JR Comics has begun selling “Monkey King” on the iPad, and is considering loading it on the Kindle or Nook.(SD-Agencies)