"Overflowing with old world prejudices, international intrigue, gangsters, high finance's beasts of the bourse and assorted secret and magical societies" is how 1920s Shanghai is described by the vivid pen of Samuel Porteous, a Shanghai-based Canadian who wrote and illustrated the graphic novel The Cat with the Telltale Tattoo! under the pen name Nathaniel Scobie.

The graphic novel is the first of the author's planned five-book series named Constable Khang's Mysteries of Old Shanghai. It was published September by the Foreign Languages Press in both Chinese and English.

The book follows an investigation by the feline Constable Mee Mee Khang of the late 1920s Shanghai Flower and Bird Market Constabulary into a mysterious case involving a kitten tattooed with the Chinese characters for murder.

Porteous' inspiration for the anthropomorphic detective came from his own cat. "One day, my cat ran up on the easel while I was working. I sketched his head and humanized it," said Porteous, who also dressed his character in an indigo uniform with white piping and buttons.

Shanghai-based Canadian author Samuel Porteous and his first graphic novel The Cat with the Telltale Tattoo! Photos: Courtesy of the author

The 'purrfect' crime

The book draws upon the author's extensive reviews of thousands of archival notes, newspaper clippings, ads and films from old Shanghai. "We strive to make the story line as historically and visually accurate as possible without getting in the way of the plot," Porteous said.

The book depicts aspects of the city's history, including the different concessions managed by foreign powers, the complex relationships between the city's three different police forces, and the dispute over the "extra-settlement" roads built outside the International Settlement boundaries. An actual map of 1929's Shanghai is also included in the book.

According to Porteous, the basis for the character Ahrmand Ahriman in the book is the famous old Shanghai tycoon Victor Sassoon (1881-1961) and the book's Hungry Ghosts Gang was inspired by the secret societies of that time. In addition, the inspiration for an old Ewo beer advertisement featured in the book came from a real 1930s Shanghai beer ad.

The book's colorful artwork also depicts the city's historical street scenes, such as tiny stalls packed in against each other, ragged newsboys hawking in the streets, idlers gathering to watch cricket fights, and mysterious fortunetellers.

"The thing about old Shanghai that was so special was it was the place where a modern West first met a modernizing China. I think we can learn a lot from what happened in that period," Porteous said. As he wrote in the book, the 1920s Shanghai was "a place where the provincial collided with the cosmopolitan and the ancient slammed into the modern."

 

 

 

Wise words

In the book, Porteous also integrates interesting Chinese idioms with English explanations, such as "A gem cannot be polished without friction nor a man perfected without trials," and "Tree falls monkeys scatter, when a great leader tumbles his subordinates abandon him." "The idea was to introduce readers to the Chinese language and culture," Porteous added.

The book's target audience ranges from children who will be attracted to the animal characters to adult readers who will appreciate the graphic style and the depiction of old Shanghai.

Khang's next adventure, Constable Khang and the Black Angel, will feature a once iconic Bund statue which was made to commemorate those who left Shanghai to fight in World War I, and was then torn down by Japanese troops when they occupied the city. The book is scheduled for a March release in 2015.

The Cat with the Telltale Tattoo!  is the first physical book to be published by Drowsy Emperor, an independent design studio founded by Porteous four years ago. The name of the studio came from a line from the poem Sailing to Byzantium by Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

Porteous is fascinated by the sophistication of old Shanghai and how the Chinese were presented in Western media from 1870 till the end of World War II. "We look to create things that will keep a drowsy emperor awake. It means something very special," he said.