Chapter 38 Preface to Zikai Comics ①

Preface to Zikai Comics ① ①Feng Zikai's cartoon collection. Brother Zikai: Knowing that your manga will be published is exactly what you want, full of joy. You should always remember that there was a dusk, the dusk on White Horse Lake, in your living room with the ceiling almost pressing down on your head, like a dice, you and I were reading Takehisa Yumeji's manga collection.You told me that the preface was interesting and gave me a rough translation of it.You know best about painting, but I am a complete layman.But when it comes to comics, it is often necessary to nod or shake the head in a serious manner; and there are always more nodding times than shaking the head-although there are no statistics, I know it.Naturally, I turned my head around that day.

After nodding, I remembered that the first time I saw a manga, it was also drawn by a Japanese.There is a picture in it, the title seems to be "AA Viscount B's Tears" (the last two characters have been forgotten), and it depicts a slightly profile bust: he wears glasses on his serious face, and there are three or five double-hooked teardrops, ticking The answers fell from the eyes.I felt great oppression and light pleasure at the same time, a strange contradiction!One of Meng Er's paintings—probably the first one in that collection—made me feel similar.The title and content of that picture, my memory is really not up to expectations, it has become very blurred.I just remember that in the left or right corner at the bottom of the frame, there is a very thick, fat and short "!" and a "?" drawn side by side.It's a pity that I don't remember who of the two brothers is on the upper hand and who is on the lower side.I understood (shaming myself) that they were the enigma of my whole life; and at the same time felt like the two fat kids I used to see there.In my mind, it's syrup and ginger, but I can't tell what it tastes like.In any case, I am always amazed; with a few brush strokes, a small world is created, which makes you sigh and laugh at the same time.Even though the sigh is light, the smile is slight, like a sharp paper knife, if you poke it down your throat, it can kill you.And laughing and sighing at the same time, it's really not a son of man, it's just a joke!

That's a long way off.Now just ask dude, what did I tell you that day? ——Do you think this sentence is a bit menacing and difficult to resist?It doesn't matter, let's read the following-I said: "You can print a copy in the future like Meng Er." You probably didn't say anything; yes, you always don't say anything.When I said this, I didn't just say it out loud, I was really looking forward to it.What's more, in your small living room at that time, the two perpendicular walls were already filled with manga manuscripts that looked like small eyes; when the breeze passed through them, you could almost hear the rustling sound.What I say is more assured."Zikai Manga" will be published now, he can prove that I never lied.

I guess nine out of ten of the pictures in your collection are those I have seen before.When I was in the South and North with a few friends, I sometimes chewed your cartoons.We all love that your cartoons are poetic; each cartoon is like a small poem—a small poem with a core.You reveal the world of poetry one by one, and we are like eating olives, we always feel that taste. "Peanuts Are Not Satisfied" brings us back to our lazy childhood and makes us sink into leisurely silence.Your paintings after you came to Shanghai are different.Your peaceful and joyful poetry is inevitably mixed with pepper; in your small painting, there are welts of life.When I watched "Sick Car", I sighed more than I laughed, just like when I saw Meng Er's painting that day.But, man, you are really there, Shanghai has never wronged you too much after all, look at your "Buying Zongzi" vigor!There are also some of your paintings that I don't like: such as "Twilight Upstairs, Dusk on the Horse", the upstairs and the horse are too close.He also disapproved of the children in "Memory" that you drew.

It's been windy tonight.The winds of the north do not disturb my mind so much as the winds of the south; I shall write no more. On November 2, 1926, Peking. (Originally published in Issue 54 of "Yusi" on November 23, 1926)