The Monkey King in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing: Where else have I seen him?

Cafe Society
1

I’m reading Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing and when I got to the story arc with the Monkey King he was extremely familiar. The way he looks, the way he eats fear, the way he licks that kid’s hand. All very, very familiar. Was he in Sandman, or Constantine? Or is he a popular legend?

2

Yes, I believe it’s popular. In fact, it was going to be an Indiana Jones movie at one point.

Indiana Jones and the Monkey King

3

He’s a hugely popular figure in Asia. If you play video games, watch anime, or are into almost anything over there i can guarantee you you’ve seen him at least a few times there.

4

Born from an egg on a mountain top…

5

Monkey Magic! Masako Natsume, who played the monk Tripitaka, wasunbelieveably smoking hot. Sadly, she was only 27 when she died of leukemia.

6

I don’t think the Monkey King in Swamp Thing was related to the character from Indian mythology. The Indian Monkey king was a warrior god, the Moore Monkey king was a demon that fed on fear.

7

Jet Li did a wonderful role as the Monkey King in The Forbidden Kingdom, even stealing the slapstick and comedy spotlight from his screenmate Jackie Chan.

8

There was a Monkey King in an early issue (5?) of Jack Kirby’s The Demon. I forget if it’s the same one.

9

No matter. It’s just nice to have a chance to talk about all things Monkey. And complain that, near as I’ve found, no English translation of Journey to the West is available online for free. :frowning:

10

Likely. Moore did quite a bit with the Demon in his Swamp Thing run.

11

For a more recent homage to Sun Wukong, Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka, check out the BBC’s series of advertisements for their coverage of the Beijing Olympics. (These were done by Damon Albarn, of Blur/Gorillaz fame, who also wrote a full operabased on the Monkey King story.)

Seriously, though, *Journey to the West *is a really fun read, if you get the chance. There are a few good English translations out there.

12

Wow, that was brilliant!

I think you’ll find Jamie Hewlett’s contribution was somewhat significant.

13

Since the story I saw the monkey demon it also featured Etrigan, it’s pretty clear they are connected.