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DC's newest hero Monkey Prince gets his own 2022 title
By George Marston 3 days ago
DC's new hero Monkey Prince gets his own title coinciding with Lunar New Year 2022
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Monkey Prince #1 cover (Image credit: DC)
One of DC's newest heroes, Monkey Prince, will get his own starring title kicking off on February 1, 2022, just in time to celebrate Lunar New Year, as announced during DC Fandome 2021.
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Monkey Prince #1 cover (Image credit: DC)
The 12-issue limited series focuses on the eponymous Monkey Prince, AKA Marcus Sun, a shapeshifting hero with connections to characters from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, who debuted in the DC Universe back in May's DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1 anthology one-shot.
In fact, Marcus Sun is the son of Sun Wukong, the original Monkey Prince and hero of the story Journey to the West. Oddly enough, despite being a hero himself, Marcus was raised by two villainous henchmen of the evil Doctor Sivana, and so carries some prejudice against the concept of 'superheroes' in the DC Universe.
Monkey Prince will be written by Gene Luen Yang 楊謹倫 with art from penciler/inker Bernard Chang 張伯納, colorist Sebastian Cheng 鍾偉傑, and edited by DC's Jessica Chen 陳穎珊. Monkey King #1 will feature variant covers by Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau 劉丕政 and Zao Dao 早稻. DC hasn't revealed any information about the plot of the limited series.
Before Monkey Prince #1 debuts on Lunar New Year 2022, DC is releasing a digital short via DCUniverseInfinite.com and DCComics.com, titled 'Apokolips in the Heavenly Realm,' which is available now. Written by Monkey Prince series' creative team, along with artist Billy Tan 比利唐.
In 'Apokolips in the Heavenly Realm,' Marcus' father Sun Wukong and his classic allies from Journey to the West, including King Bull Demon, Princess Iron Fan, Red Boy, and Erlang Sheng, will fend off an invasion from - as the title implies - Darkseid and the minions of Apokolips.
Here's a gallery of Bernard Chang's character designs for the heroes of 'Apokolips in the Heavenly Realm,' as well as all three covers for Monkey King #1:
Image 1 of 8
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(Image credit: DC)
Monkey King #1 won't be out till February, but you can get a slightly closer glimpse into DC's future with the just-released full DC January 2022 solicitations.
George Marston
I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)
DC-Festival-of-Heroes-The-Asian-Superhero-Celebration-amp-Monkey-Prince
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From Comicsbeat.com -
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Monkey Prince #1 (of 12) by writer Gene Luen Yang 楊謹倫, artist Bernard Chang 張伯納, colorist Sebastian Cheng 鍾偉傑, and letterer Janice Chiang 蒋慧珍 will publish on February 1. DC’s Jessica Chen 陳穎珊 edits Monkey Prince.Quote:
As revealed during DC FanDome last October the Monkey Prince is set to headline is own 12-issue miniseries from writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Bernard Chang, the same creative team who introduced the new character to the DC Universe in this year’s Festival of Heroes one-shot featuring Asian and Asian-American characters from across the DCU. The first issue of the Monkey Prince miniseries is set to arrive on February 1, 2022 which happens to coincide with the Lunar New Year. To celebrate the well-timed release, DC Comics announced that it has has created “Lucky Red Envelope Foil Variants” for the first issue.
Orders for Monkey Prince #1’s “Lucky Red Envelope Foil Variant” are due December 12 and will arrive in stores on February 1! The Lunar New Year Lucky Red Envelope Foil Variant is the only Monkey Prince #1 variant on Final Order Cutoff this Sunday, December 12. The remainder of the Monkey Prince #1 covers, including the main cover, the open-to-order variant cover, and 1:25 and 1:50 incentive covers will FOC on January 9.
Monkey Prince miniseries
The character Monkey Prince is inspired by the Monkey King, the hero of the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West. In his debut story, Monkey Prince teamed with Captain Marvel to battle Dr. Sivana and a Chinese deer demon spirit.
Learn how Yang and Chang shared their insights on the creation of the character and check out preview art below:
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!
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.