The Great Ten #2

[arbre_rieur]

This issue, the spotlight is on the Celestial Archer.



He's sort of the Don Blake/Wonder Woman of the Great Ten.

Tai'an, four years ago:

Xu Tao and his family make a living selling trinkets and snacks to tourists visiting historical Mt. Taishan. He's uncomfortable "watching them trample the places where emperors once prayed."

Also, crime's been rising in the area recently, a by-product of an increase in tourist dollars. One day, while trying to hide from a gang, he gets magically swallowed up by the tree he's crouching behind and deposited underground.



He becomes the Celestial Archer, capable of shooting an arrow into the sun to turn it from day to night, or hitting a target on the other side of the glob.









The main plot of the series is about how the gods of China have returned to the mortal plane to destroy the Chinese government and liberate the people, so that causes some divided loyalties in the Celestial Archer, as he is an agent of the gods but also a member of the People's Rupublic's Great Ten.

Comments

[baihu]

FYI, I have absolutely no problems with the mythology being used. Half of manga everywhere is like that, and I grew up on Chinese serials that was yet another interpretation of the Sun Wukong story.

Truth be told, this depiction here is waaaaaay more traditional than some of the stuff Chinese serials come up with.

[darkblade]

That makes sense. While I know next to nothing myself about Chinese mythology I do know that usually mythologies are often not entierly internally consistent with themselves and once you pull that into an already established universe some details end up changed. I do agree with you on the name change though. That seems arbitrary.

[baihu]

Talk abt inconsistence, China has at least 3 creation myths, of which there are several variations, not counting the creation myths of the minority ethnic groups. If they are going to touch on that, it will get messy,

[majingojira]

Or we could mention how the Japanese treat Christian symbolism and mythology.

Which is pretty much how Hollywood treats Vodun/Voodoo/Vodou.

[da_reap]

'Oh, I'm just a nun on afternoons/until I get married!'

Just the TIP of the iceberg.

[baihu]

I swear they just use it as a motif for angels. And I thought Evangelion was at least, dealing with the source materisl crearively. With mechas.

At least you don't have the 'adaptation' of a literaary classic that is Dragonball.

[galateus]

Yeah, Dragonball just sort of.. snowballed into its own thing, didn't it?