In Taiwan, Men with Man Purses Read Comic Books

I've never really been much into comic books. When I was younger, though, I was a monthly devourer of the cheap-as-free Lego magazine which often included lego-themed comic adventures. However, while a handful of kids around me thrived on the good old fashioned panel-by-panel, especially Japanese anime comics known as manga, I never really advanced into the genre myself or into anime any further than furtively sneaking in an episode of Pokemon each week--on a school night!

Comic books have always seemed so old fashioned to me. You often here the older generation talk of treasured trips to the nearby comic book store to fork over a shiny nickel and catch up the latest exploits of superman or batman. So many aspects of that treasured memory are old news now--going to a brick-and-mortar store, for one, and actually reading something in physical print.

Taiwan is a modern place if there ever was one and Taipei is no exception. But despite the westernization with its Gucci and Louis Vitton invasion, and popularization of western film and media culture, I experienced last weekend something that took me back--to a time I've never known. A couple of my new friends here in Taiwan took me to a local comic book store, helped me pick out a comic book, and we read comic books. We sat down and paid a couple cents to read comic books in corner store before returning them on our way out. 

For Taiwan, this is just another fun Saturday night activity. It is fueled by neither nostalgia nor nerdiness, not even is it limited to people of a certain gender or age. I saw young teenagers and even 30-40 something men and women perusing different comics as well as discussing them at length. The store was packed, and it wasn't easy at first to find a place to sit.

Now, actually reading the comic book my buddy helped me pick out was a challenge in itself. I was amazed with how many characters I could actually comprehend, but I only managed to shuffle top-to-bottom, right-to-left through seven or eight pages in the hour we were in the store while one of my buddies polished off four or five full magazines, and my other friend two novel-thick comics. I give myself credit for trying--it was more a cultural experience than anything, really. Part of the challenge of the comic book was that not only is it written in Chinese characters, but the language of the particular book I was reading was set in an old school regal style--with phraseology equivalent to highly formal, antiquated formalities like "your excellency," and related ancient-sounding lingo. 

This is Manhua. Comics. Loved by old and young, male and female, unshaved fanboys, and even fashionable, skinny-tie-wearing, man-purse holding hipsters like my trendy friend in the cover photo. Happy reading!  LM