In the desert, the biggest enemy of travelers is not a sandstorm, but a loss of temperature.
There are barrages floating on the screen, "Can I watch this?" "Two coins cannot be reviewed" "Can this amount of bleeding bet?"
On June 19, the latest PV of the animation of the same name of "Dart Man" appeared on B station, and the screen of barrage appeared on the video playback page, and almost everyone was surprised at the scale of the PV "why can it be so big". Similar confusion and concerns of
also appeared in the promotional PV launched by the "Dart Man" animation in August 2021. The scale of that PV is no lower than this time - a flash of knife light, and the one who should have broken his hand was broken, and the one who should have cut his throat was cut, and the thing that should have been red did not turn black. 1.51 million views, 5,697 barrage, and nearly 120,000 likes. This is the result obtained by the "Naked Test" animation PV in August 2021.
Now, the "Drop Man" animation has launched the latest PV, which is still eye-catching and still large-scale, but the original comic at this time has actually been suspended for a full 204 days.
In 2018, the physical book of "Dartsman" was published. The most eye-catching part of the waist seal is written with "Chinese comics that caused a sensation in Japan", and the rest of the places include "three reports on Japan's NHK TV", " Takahashi Rumiko (author of " Inuyasha ") and Fujisawa Yuki (author of " Spicy Teacher GTO") and "Ichiji Kurihara (formerly editor-in-chief of Fujibashi) and Miki Kihiro (formerly editor-in-chief of Primary School Pavilion)" and "recommended by Kurihara Ichiji (formerly editor-in-chief of Fujibashi)".
Although "sensation in Japan" is somewhat exaggerated, the praise from well-known cartoonists is real and traceable. Therefore, after the "sensation in Japan" on the waist seal, more and more domestic media began to use the "light of Chinese comics" to describe "Drop Man".
Putting aside whether the Chinese comics industry urgently needs such a beam of light that "breaks through the darkness", let's first take a look at what kind of story "Dart Man" tells.
A "martial arts" story.
is different from the usual way of fighting monsters and upgrading, the protagonist of "Dart Man" Dao Ma is already in the "golden period" of his own strength at the beginning. Moreover, from the beginning of the first episode to the suspension of serialization, Daoma has never learned any new skills like "Lingbo Weibu", or has obtained the magic weapon " Peacock Feather ".
From this, it is not difficult to see that if the two most famous masters in the history of Chinese martial arts novels are regarded as two factions, then the author of "The Detachment Man" Xu Xianzhe is undoubtedly more inclined to the "Ancient Series". This is not only reflected in the fact that Daoma is already an "old man" at the beginning, but also in his image as a knight who is different from "tradition".
Xu Xianzhe only used the plot once.
At the beginning of the story, the middle-aged uncle Daoma and his hairy child Xiaoqi walked into the inn in Huangsha. After the opening remark of the sentence "My name is Daoma, whether it is remembered or not, the title is not important anyway", he began to discuss business with the wanted criminals entrenched in the inn and a group of subordinates. "I am here to save you. Your head is worth 800 in the government office, but as long as you pay three times the price, I will pretend that I didn't see you." The plot behind
is naturally developed. The wanted criminal felt that this person had some problems with his brain and decided to close the door and beat the dog. So, broken limbs flew into the inn, blood rose, and the sword and horse easily killed all the wanted criminals' subordinates, and then agreed to the wanted criminals' begging for mercy with money.
is right, he agreed, this is very Gu Long . Why is
very "Auntaka"? On the one hand, because the sword and horse have not killed all the bandits, they are more inclined to the "Auntaka" system, and on the other hand... Gu Long did write such a paragraph.
In the first chapter of "Flying Knife and Quick Sword" in "The Swordsman of the Passionate Sword", A Fei, who made his debut in the world for the first time, had his first line asking the thief of the White Snake in the world, "How much silver can your head be worth?" and hoped that the White Snake would buy his head with the money. The white snake does not believe in evil, so it loses its head.
Photo source: "The Swordsman of the Passionate Sword"
Sword Horse is not A Fei. The young man A Fei in Gu Long entered the world for the sake of his reputation. When the sword horse appeared, he was already a middle-aged uncle. He has no concern for fame and "fame is not important", and he is more inclined to profit-taking in " East Evil and West Poison ", which collects money and does things. He has a casual attitude of "looking at it, but in fact he doesn't care so much".
So, what is the behavioral logic of this role?
Knifema must protect the "dart" to Chang'an.
When the sword horse took Xiao Qi's horse away, a story of "Harvestment" from outside the pass to Chang'an opened, and the corners stood at the feet of a semi-empty Sui stage.
Xu Xianzhe chose to use the end of the Sui Dynasty as the background of the story. Unlike Chen, the author of " Fire Phoenix Liaoyuan ", based on the redesign of the original character of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", a large number of characters in "Drop Man" are purely fictional characters, but while using a large number of fictional characters as the main characters, Xu Xianzhe used a lot of brush and ink to depict a series of stories about famous historical generals such as Pei Xingyan, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong.
fictional characters and real characters are based on the intersection of historical waves. Judging from the current plot trend of "Dartsman", it can only be said to be mixed. The advantage is that the appearance of real characters is itself a way to add to readers' desire to read. Because works such as "Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" are widely spread in China, those stories will naturally arouse readers' desire to read, making them subconsciously look forward to how familiar plots will be interpreted in comics.
Image source: "Fire Phoenix Daoyuan"
This expectation for the established future is a feature of semi-emphasized historical creation methods. Chen created a brave and resourceful general Lu Bu in "Fire Phoenix Liaoyuan". Readers will naturally look forward to the " Baimen Tower story" when Lu Bu fell. Since Xu Xianzhe spent a lot of writing to describe Pei Xingyan, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong, it is natural for readers to look forward to the future Wagang Army Uprising.
But the problem is that the important characters in Xu Xianzhe's works include not only the protagonist Daoma, but also many fictional group portraits of characters such as Ayuya, Shu and Yanziniang. When the number of characters reaches a certain base, how the fabricators should interact with those people from real history and what roles should they play in those historical waves become the most troublesome problem for creators.
's plot design based on character interaction may be one of the reasons why Xu Xianzhe closed the publication of "The Detacher" from December 2, 2021 to the present when the plot developed to the historical tide.
In fact, this long closure has actually been a sign of it. As the background of "The Detective Man" gradually spreads out, the plot progresses gradually slower. It took 82 days between episodes 107 and episodes 108 and episodes 109 and episodes 180 days between episodes 109 and episodes 110 and episodes 110 and episodes 111... As of the time of completion, 204 days have passed, and it will continue to be extended.
In addition to creating "The Detective Man", Xu Xianzhe actually did not do much other work. He only had two appointments from mobile games, " Sword and Fighting God" in December 2017 and "The Legend of Dan Ling" in January 2022. In addition, his biggest "private work" is "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" created by Ayu.
, a comic version of "Assassin's Creed: Us", which no one had ever thought of, has maintained a steady update of 2 episodes of the month since August 2020. However, stopping the publication of his most important works and turning his work focus entirely to other works will inevitably cause some criticism from readers.
So, a strange phenomenon occurred in the reader group of "Dartsman". While people complain that this work has become an "annual issue", they are still looking forward to whether Xu Xianzhe can bring the popularity of "The Detective Man" back to his heyday soon after, when "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" is completed. The contradictory state of "swearing while swearing" in
is not uncommon in the comics industry.If it is not difficult for readers to find meal replacements of the same type when the online articles you like are closed, then in the comics industry, the styles of different authors are very different, and it is almost impossible to find a meal replacement for "Dartsman" in the field of Chinese comics.
The hard-core style of "Dart Man" is almost incompatible with the current domestic comic market. It seems to be more suitable for Japanese hard-core comics like " Beidou Shenquan " and " Blade Ya ".
After all, "The Dartsman" is indeed "very unfamiliar with Chinese comics".
In the early stage of the development of Chinese comics, because of the choice of readers and the mutual "achieving" of magazines "color comics and incest", the creative methods of local cartoonists have gone on a different path from the Japanese comics industry. But Xu Xianzhe not only chose the local path of black and white comics, but also used it in Japan that can be regarded as a "hard-school" style, creating a series of impressive characters such as swords and horses.
In the process of shaping the character, he showed his greatest creative feature - "painting the shape with the spirit".
In the novel, the author wants to set up a character when the reader "first meeting" and will lay the foundation through environmental description. For example, when Gu Long created in "Heroes Without Tears", Zhuo Donglai wrote about the environment like this. "He only takes two steps to sit down and pour out a glass of wine at will." He pointed out that Zhuo Donglai likes everything in control and supernatural wisdom, while in "The Swordsman of the Sensual Sword", he wrote Li Xunhuan . The first sentence is "The wheel of the carriage cannot crush the loneliness between the world", laying the foundation for the protagonist's "single shape" at the opening.
Source: "Heroes Without Tears" "Heroes Without Swordsman"
But in the comics, it is somewhat thankless to try to hint readers with environmental details. Therefore, Xu Xianzhe chose a unique way - to grasp the inner part of the events and characters, and strengthen the readers' impression with the extreme exaggerated picture tension.
At the beginning of "The Desert" chapter 2 of "The Desert", he used the straightforward picture of tiger eating people to show the situation where the ministers in the temple are accompanying the king as if they are with tigers.
in historical events in the history event Yang Guang went on a tour. He directly drew an oriental dragon flying out of the palace in the clouds and fog, and even arranged a more "extraordinary" hyper-space dialogue.
When Yang Guang first appeared, Xu Xianzhe used the dragon and people with a huge proportion of differences to depict Yang Guang in the eyes of the court officials, and then explained to readers silently that the ambergris dripping from the minister's face was just the minister's sweat, as if he was about to pinch the giant claws of the headshot. In fact, it was just Yang Guang gently stroking the minister's head. The painting methods similar to
are more common in Hong Kong comics such as "Fengyun". However, Hong Kong comic works usually only add some images like dragon, phoenix, tiger and lion in combat scenes, emphasizing the power of each move through expression. As for the way of portraying characters through alienated images like "Dartsman", it is indeed very new.
Xu Xianzhe once said in his self-report that he was a creator who became a monk at the same time. Perhaps because of this "born" that "Eat Man" is quite unconventional in its creation form.
However, although "becoming a monk halfway" is free and casual, it may also cause some obstacles to his creation. For example, although he is good at depicting scenes, he is somewhat shorter than the storyline of grass snake gray lines.
Many scenes in "Drop Man" have achieved different styles through different painting methods. When expressing different religious beliefs, Xu Xianzhe will deliberately distinguish prayers from different religions with horizontal and vertical dialogue boxes, so that readers can feel the impact between different religious beliefs.
Xu Xianzhe often pictured poetry. When describing the contradiction between the battlefield and the palace atmosphere, he would directly move the onomatopoeia of fighting on the battlefield into the palace. In the plot of Chen Houzhu's demise, the "Soldiers' army in the first half of life and death, and the beauty's tent is still singing and dancing" in "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty" is vividly displayed on paper, and similar techniques are more direct in "Assassin's Creed: Dynasty".
Sometimes, Xu Xianzhe would choose some video shooting techniques to make a transition. The last storyboard of the comic was the blacksmith who wrought iron beside the stove. Then the camera moved towards the burning flame. As soon as the scene changed, he arrived at a bonfire burning in another desert, and began the narrative of another line. This technique can be reused directly after animation in the future without even having to arrange it.
When you see the various drawing ideas in "Dart Man", you will even feel the creator's techniques, just like a shriveled sponge that is constantly replenishing moisture.
Whether it is the gradual deepening of religious topics, the ingenuity of concreteizing poetry, or the film's mirror-based technique that is constantly trying to add to comic storyboards, they are techniques that were not used in the early stage of "Dart-Man".
But we still cannot ignore the shortcomings of "Dartman".
The current story of "Dart Man" is more like a unit drama after another. In addition to the protagonist Dao Ma, Zhishiro's main line, Xiaoqi's life experience, and the story of Shu and Yanzi Niang, some reveal half of the face under the veil, and some even have no explanation at all.
Xu Xianzhe carved a large chessboard based on the real territory of the Sui Dynasty and placed many historical figures. Readers can see the of Emperor Yang of Sui and Luo Khan of Turkic Nijuchu, learn about the role of Li Yuan in the expedition, see the growth of future generals such as Pei Xingyan, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Gong, and look forward to the huge historical waves stirring up by the "Wagang Army" in the future, and listen to the well-known story of Sui and Tang .
Xu Xianzhe is good at the details of the story. Whether it is a short-lived "small character" or a "big character" with important roles, it contains the profound meaning he wants readers to see. The killer who put down the butcher knife for his family, the constable who lost his original intention for black money, and the Buddhist who went astray for his beliefs, these plots are not completely new, but they are all classic enough. When presented through comic carriers, they have a unique flavor.
The collision between chess pieces, the intersection of characters and characters, and how the long river of history should be smooth, Xu Xianzhe still needs a long time to make the mess into several refreshing long lines.
In terms of genre, compared with the classic martial arts novels of Jin Yong or Gu Long, "The Dart Man" is actually more like what Xu Xianzhe said, and is closer to an era drama, focusing on the collision between characters and the times. Such comics are rare in China, and we can look forward to the future of "Dartsman" when this work resumes serialization and maintains good quality to tell good stories. So what will this "martial arts era drama" be left for local comics and readers after it is put on the screen.
"What to leave behind" is actually enough, and it does not necessarily need to "sensation in Japan" exaggeratedly.
But from another perspective, the "martial arts" works may indeed require some gimmicks. In this era when "martial arts are dead" is rampant, "martial arts" is like a fish stranded on the beach, bringing people some kind of surprises from time to time. These "surprises" have left the "martial arts version". After the once dazzling "new martial arts author" disappeared, they have become fewer and fewer, but it is not impossible.
"Dart Man" launched in the new comics in 2015, "Tianxia Dao Sect" won the championship in the " Douban Reading Long Rally" in 2019, and "The Unknown" online in 2022. If we lament that "martial arts are dead", but we are too lazy to understand these names, it seems that it is not reasonable.
But the popularity of martial arts works is not that high after all, and the attention paid during the serialization of "The Dartsman" is already a thing of the past. Xu Xianzhe said in an earlier interview that he had expected the serialization plan of "The Dartsman" to be ten years. But based on his creative speed in recent years, this number may be even longer.
After all, from 2015 to 2022, Daoma and Xiaoqi took Xiaoqi around the Western Regions, and had just passed Dunhuang, and were more than 1,700 kilometers away from Chang'an.
Obviously, Daoma and Xiaoqi have a long journey, and the same is true for cartoonist Xu Xianzhe.
