DC Comics has announced that Monkey Prince #1, in a lucky red envelope for peace, prosperity, and good fortune, is scheduled to arrive on February 1, 2022.
Marcus Sun moves around a lot because his adoptive parents are freelance henchpeople, so this month he finds himself as the new kid at Gotham City High School, where a mysterious man with pig features asks Marcus to walk through a water curtain to reveal himself as who Marcus really is…someone who has adventured through The Journey to the West, can transform into 72 different formations, can clone himself using his hairs, and is called…the Monkey Prince!
The Monkey Prince is from Gene Luen Yang and Bernard Chang.
With the release just around the corner, there was time for a quick Q&A with the creators
What is the personal importance of introducing this character?
Gene Luen Yang: It’s a thrill. There’s a lot of overlap between the Monkey King and the American superhero genre. They both are heroes, they’re battling for the fate of the world, they’re both dressed up in fancy, colorful costumes, and they both have these fantastical, superhuman powers. It felt good to bridge that gap between those two loves—American superheroes and the legend of the Monkey King.
Bernard Chang: My family immigrated to the US when I was six. Immediately, I took a liking to American comic books like Batman and Superman. They helped me learn English, but also taught me a lot about values. So, when my dad saw I was consuming a lot of superhero stuff, he wanted to introduce me to an original Chinese superhero and got his hands on a Monkey King book. He would read to me a few pages each night, and I would go to sleep dreaming about these amazing and fantastical adventures.
How did the Monkey Prince come to life for you?
Yang: We wanted to firmly ground our character in the DC Universe. We wanted it to feel like a story that couldn’t be told anywhere else. The main character isn’t the Monkey King himself, he’s actually his son—that’s why he’s called the Monkey Prince. Second, we wanted to tie him into DC heroes and DC conventions. We wanted a relationship between the character and the heroes and villains that already exist in the DC Universe.
Chang: Monkey Prince is all about attitude and character. My initial reaction to the original Monkey King character is that he’s a rebel, a mischievous figure who defied the gods and wanted to do things his way. So, bringing that element into the design was a key factor.
Are you looking forward to the Monkey Prince?
