-aka "engeys"

-source and source2

-French writer whose engraved literature becomes wildly popular

-Railways allow for the transmission of his literature across French Republic

-because this is a country where the population only semi-knows French or knows dialects which are in the process of being derogated

-allows for France to get a substantial portion of this genre

-source

-kicks off properly after British Wars > Popular Revolution (1827-9) as something with a national range and published in Lodon

-and in aftermath of Töpffer's work

-in chaotic Headless State era it leads to it being extremely influential but scandalous publication

-with its parodies making it something on sort of par with Gillray

-and free speech means it has free range to publish so long as mobs don't attack it

-which isn't a 100% given in this chaotic era

-particularly important in Anglo world in 1830s-60s

-and inspires copycats across British Empire and also the US

-Rodrigo Jangue is son of Chinese father and Filipino mother (a common pairing) in San Francisco in United Provinces of Buenaventura

-within SF's oldest and original Chinatown

-writes an influential engraved novel as an adaptation of Journey to the West in 1892

-with a special focus on Sun Wukong after whom it's named

-released serially

-intentionally written to avoid accusations of paganism but gets them anyways

-Jangue fiercely disagrees and writes an open letter in the newspaper declaring himself a good Independent Catholic and firmly not a pagan

-and compares his use of Sun Wukong to the use of Greek gods in western culture

-beyond this doesn't respond, he accepts that in the Buenaventura of his time he'll get a certain level of racial hate anyways

-massive success published in both English and Spanish

-editions spread across North America and even beyond

-with some editions even crossing back into Asia through networks and notably in India where Sun Wukong is viewed as the Chinese form of Hanuman

-it is this above all which puts engraved novels on the map

-a direct reaction to the Monkey King's "paganism"

-a bunch of Christians (of many denominations) seek to write counter-engraves to combat it

-published in 1895

-features Santiago, a good Christian (of malleable denomination) who fights against the forces of Satan with weapons blessed by God

-enemies going the gamut between full-blown bigoted and normal baddie such as

-a bloodthirsty monkey named Sun Wukong who leads an army of bloodthirsty monkeys to wreck cities

-Juggernaut, a paraplegic (but levitating) "Hindoo" with a rictus smile who commandeers a huge wheeled contraption (based on Jagganath at Puri) powered by black magic fuelled by human sacrifice before its deadly spiked wheels

-Dr. Jacques Bloumenstein, a French mad scientist clearly coded as Jewish (but writing is unwilling to go all the way b/c might be too far for some audiences) who engages in extreme schemes with mad inventions to defraud and control people to attain wealth and power

-despite extreme bigotry, and the anti-Judaism considered extreme in the environment of San Francisco, it's written quite well

-and successfully achieves widespread publication and informal serials

-eventually adapted over and over again

-and though adaptations try to downplay the bigotry, it's still there