Comic Book Chinese Classics

The great classic Chinese novels — Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West, The Water Margin, etc. — are all available in picture-strip versions, called lian-huan-hua in Chinese.  These versions offer a very good way for foreign students of Chinese literature to acquaint themselves with the classic novels without having to read the darn things.  As well as reducing the character-count in a typical classic novel from around 700,000 to a much more manageable 100,000 or so, the illustrations — which are beautifully done — fill out the elaborate descriptions of weapons, garments, etc. that you have to imagine for yourself when reading the books.

Here is a page from the picture-strip version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  This is the "Cao Cao discusses heroes" episode from Chapter 21. 

The date is A.D. 199.  The Han dynasty, which has ruled China for over 400 years, is on its last legs.  The Emperor has been reduced to a pathetic figurehead by Cao Cao, an ambitious minister.  Some patriots, notably Liu Bei (a distant relative of the Emperor) are trying to thwart Cao and shore up the dynasty.  Cao invites Liu to sup with him.  He knows what's going on, and Liu knows that he knows, and so on. 

Cao invites Liu to name some of the great heroes of their time.  Liu names a few, but Cao laughs each one down.  This one is a coward; that one is living off his father's reputation; and so on.  When Liu has run out of ideas, Cao says: "The only heroes in the world are you and I!"  (That's the speech balloon in the top frame.)  This is a veiled declaration by Cao of his intent to destroy Liu.  Terrified, Liu drops his chopsticks and spoon.  By chance, there is a peal of thunder at that instant, and Liu pretends it was the thunder that startled him.