HONG KONG: In its heyday, Hong Kong was a comics powerhouse.

Local titles commanded a huge following, their characters became household names, and some even made the leap from the printed page to the big screen. 

During the industry's boom years in the 1980s, about 50 million copies were sold annually. 

Martial arts comic Fung Wan, first published in 1989, was adapted into the 1998 blockbuster The Storm Riders, starring Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok. 

Another local comic, Teddy Boy, spawned the hugely popular Young and Dangerous films about the triad underworld. 

But the golden age did not last. Hong Kong comics have been ...