This actually looked to be pretty good, and it was a shame that it came out to be a big disappointment. You're never really sure whether Comic King is supposed to be a comedy or not, and its story leaves you being confused at the end, making you think, what's the point of this?

The film charts the rise and fall of two comic creators, Yip Fung (Cheung) and Mo Wan (Chan). They are both recruited into the huge Big Empire comic publishing house, and work on established comic books by the legendary Mr. Lo. Bored by the continuous outdated work, Fung and Wan asks Lo to let them create a comic series by themselves. They call it "Chung Wah Dil Hung" (a play on the Cantonese name of "A Man called Hero" comic series) which becomes incredibly popular. Lo is indeed happy with this, and tries to force Fung and Wan into signing an 18-year-long contract. Fung and Wan decides to open their own publishing house and create a new comic book series and call it "Knife, Sword, Smile", which stars Nicholas Tse as the lone swordsman.

However, the friendship between Fung and Wan starts to deteriorate when they both fall in love with their accountant, Ah Mung (Lin). Wan wants to create a modern comic book based on Triads, calling it "Goo Wat Grei" (a play on the Cantonese name of the "Young and Dangerous" comic series), but Fung rejects his idea. Wan takes his idea back to Mr. Lo and soon the series takes off, pulling in thousands of sales a day. Meanwhile, Fung's own sales are dropping like stones, and he is finding it ever increasingly difficult to find backers and buyers. After Wan was betrayed by Mr. Lo, he leaves Big Empire, and reunites his friendship with Fung after Ah Mung flies back to her native Taiwan. In the end, they start afresh, creating new and exciting comic books.

People who haven't got a good understanding of the local comic industry would not have a clue about what this film is talking about. There are so many in-jokes, parodies and references that without a degree in Hong Kong Comic studies, you wouldn't have a chance. Even I had trouble understanding some of their references. But as a parody of the comic industry, there isn't anything interesting here to enlighten the audience. You might have fun trying to locate all the jokes that crop up here and there, but in the end, there is a feeling that the film doesn't live up to expectations.

Although the film's premise is focused on comics, the gist of the story is based wholly on the relationship between Fung, Wan and Ah Mung. It is really nothing but a romantic narrative about these three people, and that is why the film suffers as a result. The parodies seem as pointless as the comic characters they create, with many being unfunny. A huge disappointment from these talented young stars.