INTERVIEW: Into the Immortal Storyverse with Rylend Grant on Fa Sheng: Origins

A bald Chinese monk stands ready to fight or defend

It’s the 19th century and China’s Boxer Uprising forces a young man named Fa Sheng to reevaluate his purpose. Turning attention to those in need and working to empower them to help themselves, he must face the corruption, cowardice, and ruthlessness of many adversaries. Written by Rylend Grant, with art by Dexter Wee, colors by Omi Remalante Jr., and letters by Andworld Design’s Justin Birch, and featuring covers by Wee and Remalante, Jr., Mona Finden, Gene Ha, Megan Huang, and Don Kramer, Fa Sheng: Origins takes readers along on the humble beginnings of a Shaolin Master.

Kickstarting now, Fa Sheng: Origins is the newest series from Immortal Studios. Dedicated to sharing authentic, contemporary Wuxia entertainment, Immortal Studios’ mission is to “awaken the Hero within Everyone” through the beauty and action of one oldest genres in Chinese literature. Led by founder and CEO Peter Shiao’s vision, Immortal Studios is creating a shared universe of Wuxia martial arts fantasy stories to bring a modern sensibility to the genre, while holding on to its timeless traditions. Inspired by the works of Shiao’s own father, Shiao Yi, whose novels have been adapted into film and television many times, the Immortal Storyverse builds its world based on four key tenets:

  • There Are No Radioactive Spiders.
  • Embracing the Ancient Future.
  • Transformative Journies.
  • Welcoming Believers, Purists, and Neophytes.

Many in the Western world have only a cursory familiarity with Wuxia, largely through its influence on media such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, or Star Wars, and other fleeting theatrical experiences that don’t fully allow them to grasp the beauty and poetry of the genre. But this shouldn’t deter a new reader from discovering what Wuxia has to offer in comic and graphic novel form. “Fa Sheng: Origins is a historical drama, first and foremost,” says Grant. “It’s the story of one man’s search for insight, for truth. It’s about the making of an Arhat (enlightened being). As a society, we have this tendency to assume that people like that are just spit out into the world fully formed. But that is never the case. You’re not born into enlightenment. It’s earned. It’s fought for, tooth and nail, over time. It is too often a byproduct of tragedy and strife. In our book, the titular martial hero is forced through the meat grinder of the Boxer Uprising, of China’s Warlord Era. He witnesses unspeakable evil is dealt horrible defeat, but he rises, in the end, from the ashes of the carnage, a changed man, a better man, an enlightened man with a mission, deputized by the powers that be in the fight against all that Dharmically ails us. This isn’t just a Kung Fu book. There is something for everyone. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be inspired. You’ll start asking big questions. ”

“Fa Sheng: Origins is a story about a man, a monk, seeking insight, enlightenment, wrestling with life’s big, hairy questions,” Grant explains, which is something he does every day with his Zen practice. “It’s been really amazing to be able to present all of that to a hungry, eager audience. In a way, I’m kind of teaching Zen with this book, passing on the knowledge that was passed down to me from those who came before me. I’m just doing it in a really fun and heightened way.”

Grant is an ordained Soto Zen Buddhist Monk in the lineage of Gudo Nishijima who “can literally trace that lineage, teacher-by-teacher, back to the Shaolin temple, back to Bodhidharma (a Buddhist Saint and a central character in the book) himself.” Writing Fa Sheng: Origins allowed him to take “a close and enlightening look at a very important link in my spiritual chain and that’s just been fascinating to do.”

That said, Grant’s Hollywood experience is sure to make action fans happy. “We are 100% bringing the heat with the action here,” explains Grant, “but you’re also going to get a very healthy dose of philosophy and spirituality.” Grant’s portfolio also includes about 15 years as an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter, working on action films and television for the likes of JJ Abrams, Ridley Scott, Justin Lin, Luc Besson, and John Woo. Grant joins several other creators working on Immortal Storyverse books, including Tash Huo, the showrunner on the Netflix Tomb Raider series, and Jen Troy, a writer on the Supergirl TV series, with the whole thing shepherded by Hank Kanlaz and Brian Cunningham, who Grant describes as “two very experienced, off-the-charts intelligent comic industry veterans.”

“[B]ringing together an inspired team to execute his very clear and very singular vision,” is one of Shiao’s greatest strengths, notes Grant, who hit it off with Shiao at the Los Angeles Comic Con several years back. “We just had so much in common. I recognized him immediately as a fellow spiritual traveller, as someone with a really unique point of view, as someone with something real and affecting to say… and I think he saw something similar in me.” Working together seemed an inevitability, as Grant was already taken with Immortal Studios’ mission. “[I]t was really just a matter of finding the RIGHT project and our schedules syncing up.” Hanging out, “chatting about philosophy, spirituality, life in general…” one day led to a phone call that would lead to Fa Sheng: Origins, although, Grant admits, he initially hoped this wasn’t THE project when the phone rang. “I was really busy at the time with film and TV stuff and didn’t know if I had the time to take on a new comic book, so I was secretly kind of hoping that this wasn’t truly THE project, but once Peter pitched to me, once I saw what he had down on paper, I was just blown away. Kick-ass, howl-at-the-moon Wuxia Kung Fu epic with a wicked spiritual bent. I had to do it. I had to make time for it. I’m glad I did.”

Not only does Shiao ensure that a solid team is working on the books in the Immortal Storyverse, but he has also made available “an army of historical, cultural, and martial arts experts who strive to keep the final product as authentic to time and place and people as possible.” And Shiao himself works directly with the creatives, “asking questions, shaping the final product, making sure the individual puzzle pieces we’re working on will, in the end, serve the pretty final picture he has painted in his head.” Shiao’s standards are extremely high, but the team is excited to work to reach them. “It’s been amazing to watch — from the inside — Peter carry on his father’s legacy in this very modern way.”

With such talent, dedication, and a long-standing legacy behind Fa Sheng: Origins and the other books in the Immortal Storyverse, it’s not unreasonable to believe Grant when he promises that this will be a wildly entertaining and engaging product that you won’t want to miss.

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Wendy Browne

Wendy Browne

Publisher, mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order.

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