Fisfisa Media

OKEN: Childhood Memories of a Taiwanese Poet

Nationally acclaimed poet Yang Mu's classic of self-discovery
Rising comic artist Wu Shih-Hung's international award-winning breakout work

Preview

For the first time, the poet’s life story was translated into comic, giving graphic reading a new poetic meaning.

About the Comic Book

Fisfisa Comics’ latest literary adaptation!

This comic is based on Taiwan’s celebrated poet, Yang Mu's literary autobiography, Mountain Wind and Ocean Rain. In the comic, the narrator perceived the spiritual events in his childhood from an innocent viewpoint, and meticulously recounted with matured insights. Bit by bit, these memories revealed his artistic enlightment and pursuit.

The Comic Artist, Wu Shih-Hung, is a renowned animator. He’s an astonishing artworker with trans-regional and cross-cultural potential in Asia. The book is packed with delicate drawings and profound interpretations, surely worthy of private collections.

After the comic received the Raymond Leblanc Prize in 2021, Fisfisa invited famed French author, Loo Hui-Phang to join the team, setting off an international, in-depth cooperation.

"What if I also choose to pursue artistic creation? What then?"

After experiencing bombing raids during the Second World War, the Nationalist government’s Mandarin Movement, Hualien Earthquake, and the White Terror Period filled with taboos, Yang Mu looked back his childhood with insights from his forties. The considerate and sensitive boy, Oken, one day ran into a master woodcraftsman of deity statues.

Oken watched the master skillfully and elegantly raise and lower his hands to carve the statue, and carefully outlined its lips and nose. Oken asked himself if he was afraid of the deity statues. Contrarily, he was drawn to them, mostly because they were all beautiful artworks…

OKEN: Towards the Completion of a Comic preview sample

[Literary Guide ╳ Regret from Loss ╳ Behind the Scenes]
Three appendices combined at once!

OKEN: Towards the Completion of a Comic is the preview for OKEN: Childhood Memories of a Taiwanese Poet. We invite you to take a peek at the behind-the-scenes production of this literary adaptation comic!

In addition to sneak-peak at some of the content, since the comic took three years to complete, the production and the team are all well-grounded, so you can see amazing appendices including Literary Guide, which are exclusively collected in the preview sample. Reading together with the comic, the preview sample will surely provide a complete reading experience.

Read sample

About the Author

Yang Mu / Original Author

Yang Mu is a taiwanese writer born in 1940 in Hualien. During childhood, he went through the end of Japanese colonial period, the Pacific War, and the early era of Nationalist government rule. He was a major poet of first generation in post-war Taiwan. He was also an essayist, literary critic, translator, and scholar.

Wu Shih-Hung / Comic Artist

Wu Shih-Hung is a visual artist. He masters in both Eastern and Western traditional painting skills and adepts at creating animations. He participated in the production of several documentaries, animated series, and advertisements. His works have gained recognition from various domestic and international film festivals.
Having brought two other animated creations to life (his kids!), OKEN: Childhood Memories of a Taiwanese Poet is his third creation, he's happy to have them in life.