Alexi Tan, a screenwriter and director who was a protégé of John Woo, has teamed with artist Charles Simpson to launch comic book “Monk Wars.”
The “Monk Wars” universe is a dystopian gritty world filled with martial arts action and a broad array of diverse characters. The first book will follow Monk Ma, who has ancient animal powers, as he assembles his followers to take on the Rat-Men soldiers.
The project is being steered by David U. Lee’s Beijing-based Leeding Media which will manage all media rights to the comic book including film, television and web series. Weston Suh’s Los Angeles-based Final Order Comics has partnered to take print publication rights for the first book and subsequent issues.
“I want to create a world that introduces classic martial arts animal fighting styles from movies I grew up watching and turn them into superpowers for a new generation of young heroes,” said Tan, who has film credits including “Blood Brothers,” which starred Daniel Wu (“American Born Chinese,” “Into the Badlands”) and Shu Qi (“The Assassin,” “Transporter”), and played as the closing night film of the 64th Venice Film Festival.
Tan’s next feature film “Color Me Love” was situated between his two passions action filmmaking and high fashion. In 2021, in association with Vogue, Tan directed short “Cake Bomb,” starring Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”) and Andrew Koji (“Warrior”).
Managed by David Unger and Aleksey Ageyev at Artist International Group, Tan in currently London-based and is currently developing a slate of English language films and series.
Simpson, previously part of the Brisk Tea Creators Class, published “Tomorrow Champion” as his first comic book under his own name and recently delivered the self-published “Zerogravity.” He is also a concept artist working on books including “Last Line” and “Punks of Rage.”
Leeding Media is better known as a film producer, importer and distributor attempting to bridge the gap between entertainment industries in China and the west. Lee was recently executive producer on Netflix’s soccer biopic drama “Baggio: The Divine Ponytail,” which premiered in China on Youku and BiliBili during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the Netflix originals feature “Outside the Wire,” in 2021.