As Fluid Friction prepare to publish their second comic volume, Clare Morin takes a look at the new DevaShard phenomenon

A revolution is ablaze in the offices of Fluid Friction. With a first comic book, DevaShard: At First Light, in bookstores and the second instalment due out this October, the Hong Kong-based comic publishers are all now hard at work hatching their further plans for world domination.

Their headquarters can be found two floors above tattered Sheung Wan streets, in the brilliantly named Chao’s Building. But make no mistake; a shabby outfit of bohemians with Batman dreams this ain’t. This is a large, slick, open plan office that looks more advertising agency than beatnik writer’s domain.

Fluid Friction is the brainchild of Simon Squibb and Helen Griffiths, the up-and-coming power couple who is also behind the Fluid Design and Marketing agency.  Fluid Friction is their fledgling comic empire – and their recipe for success is to draw upon their business savvy to create global super-brands.

Earlier this year they launched DevaShard: At First Light and like all good marketers, they knew their product had to be the first in its category. DevaShard is thus the first international comic book from Hong Kong – written initially in English with the Chinese version now hitting newsstands and bookstores.

Hong Kong-born and raised Helen Griffiths explains that the initial idea came from one of their customers: “A client of ours was talking to us about working on a comic book, the conversation developed, and we decided ‘why not do one together?’” The client had become obsessed with the Mahabharata, an ancient Sanskrit epic and one of the major texts of Hinduism (yoga enthusiasts will be familiar with the Bhagavad Gita, which forms part of it).

Griffiths and her team read the immense story and set about launching Fluid Friction, employing an entire team of artists and writers to create a comic inspired by one character in the Mahabharata, Karna, son of the Sun God, Surya. “His origins are talked about in the Mahabharata,” explains British writer Benjamin Hall AKA Zen, a hipster-looking character who was hired by Fluid Friction to bring the story to reality. He explains that Karna is first mentioned in the text as a child and then reappears as a fully fledged adult. “Our entire story is how he becomes the super powerful half-God guy that he is,” explains Hall. “In this series of 25 books, we’re going to make up our entire story of who he is, who he fights, who he befriends.” Hall and his fellow artists have even gone as far as creating the entire world of Bhumi , in true Tolkien style. 

 They also employed some key Hong Kong talents to work on the visuals. Colourists Johnny Tam and Ken Cheung earned their stripes through 11 and 13 years of respective work for Jade Dynasty, one of Hong Kong’s dominant comic book companies. Working in collaboration with British penciller Keith Burns, the team have undoubtedly created a beautiful looking comic, spending more than seven months drawing and colouring the designs to make sure that every detail was perfect.  This is a creative process utterly unlike most comic publishers’, who often will release a new title every week or month, spending less time on the artwork and more on pumping out the story to keep readers hooked. The team at Fluid Friction, however, believe that these beautiful designs set them apart from the rest.

The plot to DevaShard: At First Light is not quite as gripping as the images. On first reading I was lost as to what actually happens in the book – this is the first in a 25-book series, so a lot of the plot is spent introducing the different characters who will appear in the stories to come, resulting in a somewhat confusing initial storyline. There is also a remarkable lack of text – only a few lines are uttered on most pages, with illustrations usually explaining the course of events. It’s a bold departure from text-heavy comics.  

Spencer Douglass, business development manager for Fluid Friction, explains that being different to other comics in Hong Kong and worldwide is entirely the point. “There hasn’t been any innovation in the comic industry here for 30 years,” he argues. “Everyone produces variations on the same thing. That’s not to say they’re great comics. But they’re all in one particular niche area.” Douglass has just returned from the San Diego Comic-Con – a massive fan convention of all things comic, anime, and video game in the US. Douglass was at work meeting film companies, the gaming industry, and members of the press. He says that people were immediately drawn to their Hong Kong story: “The whole idea is that there’s been a Hong Kong comic industry for 30 to 40 years, but it’s been mainly Asia focused and has never really tried to reach out to England or the States. That was something that interested people. They were genuinely surprised and interested.”

The debut book has been doing remarkably well. According to Douglass, in just six weeks after its publication in June, DevaShard: At First Light sold more than 2,000 copies, with the title frequently hitting the Bookazine top ten bestsellers list. The Chinese translation of the book comes out this month in Hong Kong, and the book is being launched in the US, UK, India, and Singapore in September. Meanwhile, momentum is kicking in with the second instalment DevaShard: Dark Before Dawn coming out in Hong Kong this October.

Douglass concedes, however, that it hasn’t been an easy ride for Fluid Friction to launch their first publication. “A comic book is not an easy product to knock up, put together, and send out,” he admits. “People say print is dying; comic books are a niche product. There are a lot of things standing in your way, big companies standing in your way. I would say it’s a hard business. But we have sought to do this properly and we’ve put a lot of effort into it that’s had amazing feedback from all over the world.”

Fluid Friction have meanwhile set out to market the hell out of their brand, with a website with blogs, games, and merchandise. There’s even an exhibition of large paintings of characters who star in the comic currently showing at the Epoch Bar and Desserterie in Wing Fung St, Wan Chai. “It’s a challenge, and you have to really know the market and know how to push it out there,” suggests Griffiths of their relentless drive to promote the product. “The problem for a lot of smaller publishers is they do a comic book and they really don’t do much with it. They might push it out to a distributor, but they’re not really active in promoting it. Really marketing it properly makes a huge difference, our marketing really does help. We’re very active.”

They’re a small team with big dreams, but does Fluid Friction have what it takes to be Asia’s Marvel? As in all good comic books, this story is to be continued. We’ll just have to wait and see…