For martial arts comic book fans, Immortal has been a game changer. They launched their breakout graphic novel, The Adept during the pandemic and it blew up immediately. The Adept Kickstarter campaign reached its goal within a few short hours, and by the end of the fundraiser, it surpassed its goal by over three times its ask. With a mission to promote Wuxia (Martial arts fantasy genre 武俠), Immortal is all about heroism, fantasy action & empowerment, as well AAPI inclusion.

We spoke to Immortal’s founder and CEO, Peter Shiao, for The Adept (see Peter Shiao on The Adept from Immortal Comics). Peter is the son of noted Wuxia author Shiao Yi (蕭逸 1935-2018), as well as a long-time personal friend (Full disclosure: I served as Martial Arts Advisor for The Adept).

Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen is the latest graphic novel to come from Immortal. We caught up with Peter to chat about this bold new work, as well as the recent inclusion of his father’s work at UCLA’s prestigious library.

GC: How does Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen differ from The Adept?

PS: The simple answer is that Chronicles dives into Taoist practices and lineage and The Adept explores Shaolin and Chan/Zen practice while being both grounded in our world today - Los Angeles to be exact. These two properties are also representative of different Wuxia subgenres. Shaolin has always had its own wing within Wuxia, and Chronicles is representative of the immortal hero/cultivation/Xian Xia genre that has proven to be especially popular with gamers. 

GC: You’ve alluded to Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen being derived from your father Shiao Yi’s work. Can you elaborate on this?

PS: Chronicles was first introduced as a daily serialized series via about 14 daily newspapers throughout Asia in the early 1970's by my father Shiao Yi, and this eventually became a whole series of novels later to be called The Legend of the Immortal Swordsmen. We basically took the core characters, concepts, and main thru line of a "chosen one" Immortal in the making against an approaching "Reckoning" where all of them are being put to the test, and modernized the backdrop, introduced nuanced character traits, along with technology and all of our modern-day problems. This also became the primary backdrop for the entire Immortal Storyverse that all of our future stories -- including additional adaptations from the Shiao Yi Library -- will stem from and/or feed into. So in a very big way, this is the genesis vehicle for the Immortal Storyverse. 

GC: You’ve mentioned that Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen and The Adept share the same storyverse. Granted, these first issues are creation stories, but when do you think we might see some crossovers?

PS: Ha ha! Great question. As a matter of fact, just this morning, our team just delivered the first scene of Ironpond Du from Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen, and Amy of The Adept, meeting randomly on the streets of Los Angeles. So do expect many crossovers. This will be the case with every Immortal story so do look for all the easter eggs coming!!

GC: Given that your company is called “Immortal,” I figured this one was pivotal. Speaking of your dad, how did the Shiao Yi Wuxia Collection at UCLA come about?

PS: I was approached by the head of the East Asian wing of the UCLA Library, and she had been interested in landing Shiao Yi's works for quite sometime, and as a Bruin and member of the larger UCLA community, I did not need too much convincing to house the collection at my alma mater, after seeing their passion and understanding the depth and breadth of what this collection can do to support the resurgence of Wuxia globally, and add to it something authentic and uniquely Chinese American.

GC: Have any of Shiao Yi’s books been translated into English?

Several of my father's works had been "setup" in Hollywood -- including the Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen - to be made into films, TV or games, and the books had been translated into English for those purposes. But those translations have never been publicly released because it was hard to convey his unique aesthetic. Having said that, we are now revisiting translations and do plan to release the original Chinese novels into translation in regular intervals so stay tuned!

GC: With Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen delving deeper into Chinese mythology, do you plan to reference figures like the Eight Immortals, the Monkey King, and so on, or will you be creating a new unique mythology?

PS: That is a great question -- I would say that we are carefully referencing all of those classical stories that you mentioned, including other such as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異) - that really form the basis of core Eastern/Chinese mythologies, and plan to include them in archetypal form, but not necessarily being very specific. Having said that, I will reveal here that Bodhidharma, the patron of Shaolin Kung Fu, is playing a pivotal role in the backstory of Fa Sheng (the master to Amy of The Adept) so we are establishing something that may blossom into more such homages. I'd be interested to hear from readers on whether this is something that they would like to see more of?

GC: With the increased interest in AAPI issues in comics, what does Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen bring to the table here?

PS: SHANG-CHI, MULAN, and many other recent Wuxia stories that have come out of Hollywood have been creations of Hollywood who aren't really connected to the Wuxia lineage and where these stories really come from -- and I think what Chronicles and frankly all Immortal stories bring to the table is authenticity and a connection to the source of Wuxia. That makes us very different.

GC: If someone proposed to make a movie out of Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen, what might your elevator pitch be?

PS: Ha ha. We are making this movie ourselves, and I will save the elevator pitch for our first unveiling. But how about GOOD WILL HUNTING meets THE MATRIX?

GC: What do you think Wuxia can contribute to the western fantasy genre today?

PS: Wow I love these questions.

As much as many aspects of Wuxia do comfortably sit in many aspects of mainstream fantasy today - its uniqueness lies in the fact that there is a lot of "there-there" to all dimensions of Wuxia that are correlated to actual practices, ideas, personalities. So Wuxia actually adds a big grounding to fantasies and that blurring of reality and fantasy, with powerful glimpses into the potential that we have within ourselves, is the beating heart of Wuxia.

GC: How has Immortal Studios been progressing? Has it met with your goals and expectations so far?

PS: Well, as a founder and startup CEO, my goal is to constantly push the boundaries of what is possible and achievable, and our vision to "Awaken the Hero in Everyone" is a pretty big calling. We have only begun to make a dent in that mandate. There has been plenty of fits and starts, unexpected twists and turns, along with many learning opportunities. As 2021 comes to a close, however, I am heartened that we have now a very solid team, and our core Immortal Storyverse is resting on very strong foundations. We are now ready to go to the next level and scale.

GC: What’s next for Immortal?

PS: A LOT MORE STORIES in 2022. NFTs! Our Influencer team called the Immortal Squad!

 

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About Gene Ching :

For more information on The Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen, visit Immortal Studios.

Gene Ching is the Publisher of KungFuMagazine.com and the author of Shaolin Trips.

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