Benjamin (mature)

[igotthegoods]

Welcome to the Benjamin discussion thread! Benjamin (pen name of Benjamin Zhang Bin) is a Chinese manhua artist. Unlike the biggest majority of manhua/manga, which are mostly black and white, Benjamin's works consist almost entirely of brightly colored paintings. His art is very striking and vibrant and the characters are drawn in a very realistic-looking style. Please make yourself familiar with his works, which are listed below in chronological order:

One Day


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Hainan Publishing House in 2002)
Genre: Drama, Psychological, Romance, Seinen, Slice of Life
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: 1 volume (complete)
Age Ranking: Older Teen

Various short stories from an upcoming Chinese Manhua artist, Benjamin.

Two stories are in black & white, while two other stories are evidence for Benjamin's profound sense for colored illustrations.

The main character of the entitled story, male and contemptuous of how people from his parents generation live their life, spends a day when everything goes wrong. At the end of the story, he realizes that he himself is on the same path as the older generation.

Remember


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Heilongjiang Art Press in 2004)
Genre: Drama, Mature, Psychological, Romance, Seinen, Slice of Life
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Tokyopop, 1 volume (complete)
Online Status: 1 volume (complete)
Age Ranking: Older Teen

The first story is about a young depressed man, who lives a love story which he lets die. The second is about a student coming from a far province, who came to the city to prepare for exams to enter university. But he cannot adapt himself to the surroundings and goes mad.

Narcissistic and dark, Benjamin writes about and illustrates his life as a cartoonist and graffiti artist in Beijing's seedy rock-and-roll sub-culture. Showing a side of China rarely depicted in the West, this book pulses with the rhythm of the new urban Chinese youth

The Basement


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Chunfeng Art Press in 2005)
Genre: Drama, Psychological, Seinen, Slice of Life
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: Untranslated
Age Ranking: Older Teen

This story by acclaimed Chinese comic artist, Benjamin, tells the story of a rock and roll band which ventures forth from the provinces to Beijing to seek fame and fortune. Delightfully dark and gritty, Benjamin's stories are a great balm for a lot of the bubblegum pop culture coming out of China today.

This is the story of a feeble Chinese rock band. These rockers have totally different principles of how they live, love and create from western rockers. The main difference about them where their way of life will lead them. Blazing adolescence without any ideal, only chasing money, their hearts completely empty. Apart from them, nobody needs rock music and, despite their fights and struggles, the story inevitably ends as a fiasco.

Orange


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Xiao Pan in 2006)
Genre: Drama, Psychological, Romance, Seinen, Slice of Life, Tragedy
Chinese Status: N/A
International Release: Tokyopop, 1 volume (ongoing?)
Online Status: N/A

Orange has become so nihilistic about her life - callous parents, shallow friends, meaningless relationships - that she decides the only way out is to kill herself. But as she is about to jump, a mysterious man stops her, convincing her there might be something to live for after all. When, several weeks later, he commits suicide himself, how will she make sense of her brutal, heartbreaking world?

The chinese refused to publish it, saying it was too "depressing".

The actual lineworks was done by CHEN Weidong, while Benjamin colored it and designed the story.

Age Ranking: Older Teen

Where Shall We Go?


Serialized In: N/A
Genre: Drama, Psychological, Romance, Seinen, Slice of Life
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: Untranslated
Age Ranking: Older Teen

In China, a young comic artist falls in love with his best friend's girlfriend. This is the first time he betrays a friend and is part of a real love story. This is how the story starts, and by the end, he will be betrayed in turn by friendship and by love, not because of his friends or his lover, but because of the morals or 'hidden rules' of modern society. Here we can see how a guy without any real social status experiences happiness and difficulties, how, in a life without faith or belief, success, as well as the appetite and egoism of independent workers, turn out to be insignificant and vulnerable. In this novel we find different facets of human relationships, warm or closed, and the 'hidden rules' of Chinese society.

Seven Swords


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Xiao Pan in 2007)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Historical, Seinen
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: Untranslated
Age Ranking: Older Teen

China at the end of the 17th century. The Ming dynasty is suffering from political, economical and militaristic crises. The sword is the traditional symbol of the Chinese army. In that time 7 swordsman begin to fight for the people.

A collection of oneshots by several Chinese artists.

China, middle of 17th century. Ming dynasty is leaving its last moments, surrounded by economic crisis and politic troubles. In that era, the sword was the symbol of the traditional Chinese weapon. Rédemption, Infinite, Transcendance… these are the names of the 7 swords, born in the imagination of the Chinese novelist LIANG Yu Sheng, in 1954, and transformed in a beautiful movie by Tsui Hark, well known Chinese movie editor, who asked to 7 seven young asian talents to imagine a story for each of these 7 magic swords. A graphically amazing book which is a witness of the chevalery mind in China.

Saviour


Serialized In: N/A (Published by People's Literature Publishing House in 2008)
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Mature, Psychological, Seinen
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: Untranslated
Age Ranking: Older Teen

In the middle of an infinity of worlds, which respect the rule of non-interference, there lives a Savior. Holding his guitar, he has a mission: save each world from its own crisis. Almost every time he succeeds, but always feels a little more gloomy. One day, a shooting star brings an illness to the city which turns people into zombies...

Flash


Serialized In: N/A (Published by Xiao Pan in 2008)
Genre: Drama
Chinese Status: 1 volume (complete)
International Release: Licensed in English (publisher unknown)
Online Status: Untranslated
Age Ranking: Older Teen

The first real art book by Benjamin. It collects all the author's illustrations from the past ten years and the experiments in his main works.