Fung Wan
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Fung Wan

Cloud (left) and Wind
風雲
(Wind and Cloud)
Genre Action/Adventure
Historical
Author Ma Wing Shing
Publisher Flag of Hong Kong Jonesky
English publisher Flag of the United States ComicsOne
Flag of Vietnam nxb Trẻ
Original run 1989- ongoing
Volumes 528 issues

Fung Wan (traditional Chinese: 風雲) is a manhua series in Hong Kong. It was the first manhua released by Ma Wing Shing in 1989 with the help of assistant Siu Kit under his own company, Jonesky Publishing. The title translates to "Wind and Cloud". Before the 4th story arc, the comic was originally titled Fung Wan (Chinese: 風雲), until the two main characters of the story, Nip Fung and Bou King Wan became secondary characters and the comic was renamed Tin Ha (Chinese: 天下).1

The story has been adapted into other media a number of times most notably the 1998 film The Storm Riders, as well as the game Fung Wan Online and the Wind and Cloud series of Taiwanese television shows.

Contents

Story Summary

The (fictional) story takes place in China when still under the ruling of Ming Dynasty. It revolves around the 2 genius martial arts practitioners, Nip Fung (nicknamed Wind) and Bou Keng Wan (nicknamed Cloud), as they learn their ways in martial arts and moved up to become legendary figures in the martial arts world. As the comic progressed, more and more characters are introduced (and died) in plenty of engrossing story arcs filled with excellent battles, especially swordplay.

Tin Ha Wui Arc

In this first story arc, the two protagonists were inducted into the most powerful martial cult of that time, Tin Ha Wui and becomes the right-hand men for its leader Hung Ba. Hung Ba does so to follow a prophecy, and recruit them since they were children. With the aid of Cloud, Wind and another lieutenant named Frost, Tin Ha Wui managed to become the most powerful martial arts cult in the whole of Ming Dynasty's China. This is where Cloud and Wind learned their palm (Cloud Palm Stance) and kick (Kick Stance of the Wind God) martial arts techniques from Hung Ba, respectively. Although it is to be remembered that Hung Ba did not teach the last stance of each style to them for his own selfish reasons.

At the peak of his power, the Buddhist prophet who gives the first half of the prophecy appeared and tells Hung Ba that Cloud and Wind will bring about his downfall just like they bring him up to the peak of power, completing the prophecy. Learning that prophecy, Hung Ba has started to secretly plotted a plan to kill Cloud and Wind by using a beautiful servant girl named Kung Chi and manipulating them in a love triangle soap opera. Hung Ba then arranged a marriage between Kung Chi and Frost as provocation to Cloud and Wind when suddenly an obstacle comes up to foil the plan.

That obstacle, is the Sword Saint I who reappear from retirement after his older brother's martial arts cult were wiped out by Wind, under the command by Hung Ba a few years ago. He easily defeats Wind and Cloud, and issues a publicly-announced challenge for a duel between him and Hung Ba. The wounded Cloud and Wind desperately wanted to return to Tin Ha Wui mainly because of Kung Chi, before the duel is about to take place.

Meanwhile, before the duel, Sword Saint I issues a private challenge to Mou Ming before the duel with Hung Ba, to settle an old grudge that forces him into retirement in the first place. Mou Ming did not appear, but instead his pupil Kim Sun takes his place. After duelling for a short while, Sword Saint I knows that he will not be able to defeat Mou Ming if he shows up, and retreats to prepare for his duel with Hung Ba.

When the duel day arrives, Saint Sword I, Cloud and Wind arrives at Tin Ha Wui independently. Cloud kidnaps Kung Chi, but was stopped by Wind. As Hung Ba duels with the invincible spectre of the dying Saint Sword I, Cloud and Wind duels against each other. The winning Cloud tried to kill Wind, but was stopped by Kung Chi at the cost of her life. Cloud then ran away with her corpse, and attacks the standing corpse of Saint Sword I in the process. That, indirectly saved Hun Ba from certain death at the hands of Sword Saint I.

A manhua cover of Tin Ha

Insane from the death of his beloved Kung Chi, Cloud tried to find methods to preserve her decaying corpse, which he eventually succeeds with the aid of a mysterious artifact called Snow Soul. He then brought her corpse to a royal mausoleum, which is under construction for the royal family of the emperor. He evicts the construction workers, buried Kung Chi inside the magnificent tomb and sealed the mausoleum. He then vowed to return to her after he killed Hung Ba.

He returns to Tin Ha Wui, and tried to kill Hung Ba but failed, mainly because he has mastered a new martial art stance (3 qi in one). Cloud lost his right arm, but still managed to escape with Sword Saint I's Peerless sword with the aid of Jokerman, an aide of Frost. He was saved at the riverbank by a blacksmith who have a beautiful daughter named Chu Chu (an important character for much of the series).

The blacksmith then decided to donate his right hand, which is tainted with the fire kirin power, to Cloud. The blacksmith then dies at the hand of a royal inspector from the capital, who hunted him for a murder case that happened a long time ago. Cloud then eventually defeats the inspector, surprisingly with a Mou Ming sword technique, and then went back to the mausoleum alongside Chu Chu. He tried to destroy the stone slab that seals the mausoleum with the Saint Sword I's sword, but the sword broke, thus he has failed to fulfil his promise to Kung Chi.

Meanwhile, Wind returns to the cave where his father has died, retrieved the Blizzard Sabre and tamed the Fire Kirin beast. The devastated Cloud received an invitation from a mysterious martial art cult to become a witness to the birth of the most powerful sword ever. Many of the powerful swordmaster in the martial arts that has powerful swords are also invited, such as Kim Sun who has the Hero Sword and also Duen Long with his Fire Kirin sword.

After much fighting, where Duen Long managed to break Kim Sun's Hero Sword, Cloud managed to get his hand on the sword. The black-coloured sword, named Ultimate Superior Sword, has a soul of its own and will only serve under the command of the chosen master which would be Cloud. The Failure-Death sword, a golden-coloured older sibling of Ultimate Superior Sword forged at the same place and which master is Yi Fung, also sports the same characteristics. All attempts by the mysterious cult to take away the sword failed, mainly because separating the sword from its master is a curse by itself.

Cloud tried to leave the island where the cult is located, an only succeeds after Wind appears and helped him. But at the sea, a fleet of ships block Cloud's party way to the mainland China. The fleet is led by Hung Ba, and Cloud and Wind battles with Hung Ba which results in Hung Ba's loss. Hung Ba lost his fingers, and he has to escape, and subsequently betrayed by his new subordinates. Hung Ba then was saved by Mou Ming, providing that Hung Ba canceled all his martial arts stances, and Mou Ming agreed to save his daughter from Tin Ha Wui HQ away from the betrayers.

After saving Hung Ba, Mou Ming then started to deal with Cloud and his new sword because his pupil has failed. He managed to take away the sword from Cloud and puts it in a Buddhist temple. They then agreed to a duel for the sword, and Cloud just barely managed to win that duel. Mou Ming returned the sword back to Cloud and takes him to see Hung Ba.

Upon the meeting between Cloud and Hung Ba, Hung Ba offered that Cloud can kill him as long as he spared his daughter. Cloud, who was nervous at that time, hesitates whether he should spare the defenseless Hung Ba. Eventually, Hung Ba commits suicide by throwing himself at the Ultimate Superior Sword, after his daughter died when Kim Sun pushed her into the path of Cloud's attack. It was at this time that Cloud learns how pitiful revenge can be. With Hung Ba's death, this arc draw to a close with the newer one coming.

The Japan Invasion Arc

In this arc, Cloud, Wind and Mou Ming has to stop the Japanese Juet Mou San and his sons from conquering China. Juet Mou San is the strongest warrior in Japan, and even the Japan government are afraid of him.

Protagonists

As the name suggests, the main protagonists of the series are:

The next most important character is Cloud's master Mou Ming (無名, Wu Ming) (Translation: Nameless).

Arc Villains (in chronological order)

  • Hung Ba (雄霸, Xiong Ba) ("Conquer" in the American translation) First arc villain and leader of the Conquer Clan
  • Juet Mou San (絕無神, Jue Wu Shen) ("Godless" in the American translation) the number one Japanese fighter
  • Kei Ling Mo/Nip Fung (麒麟魔), actually Nip Fung but half-way under the influence of both the demonic stance (魔道)and the distorted aura of the shattered Holy Dragon Bones (龍脈), almost on par in power with Duen Long's final form
  • Dai Seik Tin (帝釋天, Di Shi Tian) the phantom menace
  • Duen Long (斷浪, Duan Lang) - the most powerful arc villain

Good characters

  • Hiro (慕應雄, Mu Ying Xiong), Nameless' foster brother
  • Po Kuan (破軍, Po Jun), Nameless's elder brother in martial arts
  • Ghostly Tiger (鬼虎. Gui Hu), Nameless's faithful servant
  • Kim Sun (劍晨, Jien Chen), former pupil of Nameless, inherited the Hero Sword
  • Dai Yi Mong - Second Dream (第二夢, Di Er Meng), Wind's wife
  • Frost (秦霜, Qin Shuang), Wind and Cloud's elder brother in martial arts
  • Wie Hung (懷空, Huai Kong), former wielder of the Heaven's Sin blade
  • Royal Shadow (皇影, Huang Ying) former wielder of the Lonely blade
  • Shen Feng (神鋒)- Duen Long's kind-hearted son, current owner of the Lonely sword
  • Xiao Wu (小武)- Invincible Wu's son, owner of the Heaven Path War Weapon
  • Huai Mie - Wie Hung's elder brother and the first master of Yi Fung

Neutral characters

  • Invincible Wu (武無敵, Wu Wu Di), the legendary master of all 10 martial arts stances
  • Sword Saint I (老劍聖, Lao Jian Shen) owner of the Peerless sword
  • Shen Yi (神醫, Shen Yi), the highly-skilled but mischievous medicine man
  • Yi Fung (易風, Yi Feng) - Wind's son, and current master of the Evil King sword
  • Xin Jian Shen (新劍聖), reincarnation of the first Sword Saint, owner of the Tien Ha sword
  • Bou Tin (步天, Bu Tian)- Cloud's son
  • Wu Tien Ha (武天下, Wu Tian Xia)- Older cousin of Xiao Wu, and the master of Evil King's arch-nemesis, the Destiny Sword

Other Villains

  • Shen Wang (聖王), an arrogant and highly ambitious aristocrat from Korea
  • Juet Sum (絕心, Jue Xin), son of Juet Mou San, former master of the Evil King sabre
  • Lan Wu (蓝武) - Shen Feng's evil twin brother, wielder of the Giant Saber sword

Publication

Critics praise the swordplay

The English version of the manhua is published by the now-defunct ComicsOne.

Criticism

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Since its near 20 year run, Fung Wan has gathered much praise as Hong Kong's number one comic. Critics praised Ma's artwork as sort of the pioneer of computer inking. They also praised his excellent use of story and swordplay. Negative criticisms have come up as well. Some critics and fans see Fung Wan existing longer than it should: with almost 500 issues, some think it's time that the series end. Others see the continuation of the series as purely business instead of a work of creativity and passion, providing a regular income by its loyal fan base. There are criticisms about how there is almost too much computer inking and it can no longer be considered hand-drawn. Some have been saying how the newer issues don't capture the magic as the earlier ones did and the storyline is beginning to become dull and unexciting, unlike its first days. There have been issues with too many characters and with the continuity. But even with these criticisms, Fung Wan still has a solid fan base.

Spin-offs

There is a spin-off of Fung Wan called Shenwuji that deals with the descendants of Nip Fung and Bou Keng Wan. It is also written by Ma Wing Shing and has been met with mixed reviews.

Adaptations

In 1998, the series was adapted into a film entitled The Storm Riders.1 The film will be followed by a sequel titled The Storm Warriors, which is set for a 2009 release in Hong Kong. The series also spawned an MMORPG titled Fung Wan Online. An upcoming animated feature film titled Storm Rider Clash of the Evils is currently in production by Puzzle Animation Studio Limited for release in the first quarter of 2008. A 5 minute animated short was released. It had no voice acting at all and it consisted of a duel between Wind and Cloud vs. Duen Long after his absorbing of Dragon Pills.

There have been two Taiwanese TV series based on the Fung Wan. Wind and Cloud was released in 2002 and Wind and Cloud II was released in 2004. Wind and Cloud III is expected to begin filming soon.

References

  1. ^ a b Wong, Wendy Siuyi. [2002] (2001) Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua. Princeton Architectural Press. New York. ISBN 1-56898-269-0

External links
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