Following the massive success of Immortal Studios’ inaugural comic book, The Adept, in late 2019, the leading wuxia storytellers are back with the second issue — The Adept #2 — and an accompanying Kickstarter campaign.
The new Kickstarter launched on January 25 and, incredibly, hit its 10,000 USD target in a single day.
But the campaign isn’t over yet: Fans still have 28 days to support the project, until February 25, with various rewards — from digital bundles to limited-edition cover art — awaiting project backers.
Written by Tasha Huo and Charlie Stickney, with illustrations by Yishan Li, The Adept tells the story of Amy, a young Chinese-American woman with a dark past. In her dreams, Amy meets a Shaolin kung fu master who trains her and prepares her to face evils in real life.
The original 42-page comic was the first in Immortal’s interconnected and ever-expanding wuxia storyverse. The first Kickstarter campaign raked in 35,165 USD with 1,205 backers, well exceeding the 10,000 USD goal.
Amy’s saga continues in the highly anticipated follow-up: Reunited with her estranged sister Ali, the pair are left to deal with the aftermath of the attempted kidnapping of a famous pop star, Sasha True.
Immortal founder and CEO Peter Shiao has a personal connection to China’s legendary Shaolin Temple in Henan, where he previously held a position working on global content.
The Adept series pays homage to the Shaolin tradition — said to be the birthplace of modern kung fu — at its most accurate and authentic, from depictions of signature Shaolin choreography to Zen Buddhist elements and mystical folklore.
For Immortal, it’s as important to share a “real understanding of the spirit of Shaolin” as having an ass-kicking lead character.
“We are course-correcting from this trend with a modern story that delves deeply into authentic Shaolin spirituality and moral precepts as the foundation of superhuman feats,” Shiao said in the press release.
He added, “Amy’s journey from a disempowered young woman into full Zen warrior is laden with the Shaolin secret sauce that has been missing for too long.”
The Adept even has an action choreographer on board — Gene Ching, former publisher of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine and a 32nd-generation disciple of the Shaolin Temple.
“Despite the 1,500-plus-year legacy of the Shaolin Temple, pop culture and comics have seldom represented its kung fu authentically,” Ching said in the press release. “We’ve imbued The Adept with real applications, filling it with Shaolin Easter eggs for fans and practitioners to discover.”
Peter Shiao is the son of celebrated Chinese-American wuxia novelist Shiao Yi, whose novel Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsman was released as a comic by Immortal late last year through Kickstarter, bringing in 300% of its funding goal.
For fans who haven’t read the first issue of The Adept, Immortal Studios is sharing one page from the comic on its Instagram story each day to let them catch up before reading the second issue.
Wuxia (武俠), literally meaning ‘martial arts heroes,’ is a wildly popular genre of books, film, and television. The stories often center around martial artists, or swordsmen, as they are referred to, redressing wrongs or bringing justice to the oppressed or the marginalized. The settings of these stories typically take place in ancient China.
Immortal Studios is on a mission to “awaken the hero within each of us,” producing unique, nuanced, and interconnected stories in the first-ever storyverse dedicated entirely to wuxia, one of China’s most enduring literary traditions.
All images courtesy of Immortal Studios
