Reviewed by Jay Scott Kanes
ANo cartoonist has presented Hong Kong’s foibles to the world more humorously and often than Larry Feign. His 2003 book, Attack of the Diced Chicken, Cartoons From 21st Century Hong Kong (Stvdio Media Ltd, Hong Kong, 104 pages) sees his long-time ‘toon star Lily Wong return together with her husband Stuart, daughter Crystal, deadbeat brother Rudy and their supporting cast.
Introducing these latest cartoons about rigged politics, misguided tycoons, the Beijing Olympics, shopping, evil cults and more, Feign says, “You get the idea. Hong Kong’s still the craziest place on Earth.”
The unusual title, Attack of the Diced Chicken, emerges from a cartoon on page 65 when Stuart unveils Hong Kong’s new city logo, intended as a stylized dragon, at his media agency. The first employee to remark says, “Er… cool. A diced chicken.”
Most of the almost 200 cartoon strips first appeared in the Hong Kong iMail newspaper, now called The Standard, in 2000 and 2001. Until the mid 1990s, Lily Wong starred in the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s largest English newspaper. Together with a witty Lai See column by Nury Vittachi, she made the SCMP worth reading. In retaliation for Lily and Nury’s departures, I still refuse to buy copies of the SCMP.
On occasion, Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Fortune, Business Week, The New York Times and Pravda have featured Feign’s cartoons. Born in the United States, he also has lived in Germany, England and for two decades in Hong Kong.
Fearless in jabbing at authority figures, like the property tycoons, triads, politicians and officials in China’s Communist party, Feign frequently incurred the wrath of would-be censors. Twice, Lily received Amnesty International’s Human Rights Press Award. Later, the censors prevailed and her appearances became infrequent.
Feign has stayed busy by directing The AlphaJets series for Walt Disney, helping out the Cartoon Network and toiling on TV commercials and Web animations.
Maybe Attack of the Diced Chicken isn’t the best among Feign’s 14 books. That distinction likely goes to an earlier title, perhaps The World of Lily Wong or Banned in Hong Kong. But any book with the wit and wisdom of the lovely Lily, her family and their creator hits the mark.
More than ever, Hong Kong’s civil servants, business honchos and tower-dwellers view themselves and the neighbors much too seriously. With help from Lily and her cohorts, Feign can provide an antidote. People in Hong Kong and elsewhere would enjoy themselves much more and live richer lives if only Lily and Larry still teamed up each day.
Approval rating: 81 per cent.
For more information: www.humorist.net or www.lilywong.net.
(January 9, 2007)
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