When an iPhone e-reader app for some of Hong Kong’s most popular comics was released last month, it

When an iPhone e-reader app for some of Hong Kong’s most popular comics was released last month, it 

attracted more than 9,000 downloads within two weeks, half of them from overseas. The rapid take-up came as a revelation to Vincent Yeung Sau-nang, senior consultant of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, which helped the Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation develop the app.

But it made perfect sense to Tony Wong Yuk-long, arguably Hong Kong’s most famous comic artist and president of the comics federation.

“I’ve always felt that Hong Kong’s comics, with our dynamic style and mix of Western and Eastern aesthetics, can appeal to an international audience,” Wong says.

Yeung and Wong immediately went to work on an English version of the app (with a third-party developer in Hong Kong), which is expected to be available next month. Meanwhile, the Chinese app has been downloaded to more than 40,000 iPhones or iPads, with much of that traffic coming from the US, Canada and the mainland.

That’s good news for the local comics scene, which has taken a hit in the past decade, with book sales falling by 40 per cent.