| Hero Hesman |
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| Author | Nguyễn Hùng Lân |
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| Publisher | Hanoi Fine Arts Publishing House |
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| Magazine | Truyện Tranh Trẻ |
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| Original run | 1993–1997 / 2019 |
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Collected
volumes | 159 + 1 |
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Hero Hesman (Vietnamese: Dũng sĩ Hesman) is a Vietnamese science-fiction comic series created by artist Ignatius Nguyễn Hùng Lân and was published by Hanoi Fine Arts Publishing House. After running for four years, with 159 volumes, Hùng Lân was forced to switch to another project. Up until 2019, with support from the young Vietnamese comic creators, he wrote the 160th volume as a gift to his readers.[1][2]
History
Hesman originally is an adaptation of Voltron, a Japanese-American cartoon television series with first 4 volumes based on that cartoon. Hesman name is derived from "He's man" (He is a man, not a robot). The next 155 volumes of the series are Hùng Lân's own composition with many events and tens of characters were created.[3]
Most of the characters and events in the story are based on the author's childhood experiences while living in Saigon. The story is like the resonance of the Western-style sci-fi world and some details in the East Asian martial arts books.
Along the storyline, Hùng Lân added many elements of the real robot genre such as energy sources for Hesman to function or upgrades that alter Hesman's appearance substantially and his status as a cognitive robot.
If Voltron is merely a machine, Hesman grew out of this archetype and has been given a personality, which can be described as serious but occasionally displays cunning and a sense of humor. On the other hand, fantastical elements such as magic, wizzards and ghosts were also recurrent.
Hesman details an adventure of an intelligent and partially autonomous robot and its human companions. Throughout the series, Hesman and the team travel the Galaxy, fight against various antagonists to defend the universe's peace[1].
Until the 2020s, this was still recognized as the most widely consumed comic book in Vietnam.
Plot
In the early 21st century, a nuclear war destroyed the Earth. Only a very few people survived and were able to migrate to the three nearest planets : Arus, Hasley and Garrison. Due to the different environmental characteristics of each planet, humans have evolved into different races.
The main setting is the end of the 23rd century, a group of young people on Arus have the ambition to return to Earth to rebuild human civilization. However, the return journey is very uncertain because forces from other planets are attempting to dominate the universe through brutal and environmentally harmful measures.
Faced with an urgent situation, the king of Arus must cooperate with scientist Kazad to create a lion robot capable of moving around planets to protect peace-loving persons.
List of characters
- Hesman Squad
- Hesman : A giant humanoid robot is made up of five lion-shaped robots. "He" is capable of carrying up to five men, flies like a speedship, and inside its right arm hides a very powerful laser light sword. Hesman's hometown and headquarters is Arus the planet.
- Keith : The captain of the group whom specialize in controlling Hesman. He comes from Garrison the planet. Beautiful appearance, good at fighting, talented in command and judging the situation.
- Gadko : Actually has no name, comes from Gadko the planet. The inhabitants of this planet are intellectually underdeveloped, have somewhat ape-like faces, but are exceptionally healthy. After being infected with dead electricity, Gadko's hair turned red, and he also became exceptionally strong. The image of Gadko was originally suggested by Hercules. This is also the character that wins the most sympathy from readers.
- Hawk : A plump, healthy, good-natured, good-natured young man.
- Huy Hùng : A young man of Vietnamese origin, but grew up on a small planet near Arus. He was given a marvellous lens with the ability to emit very harmful radiation. The prototype of this character is the author of the comics.
- Force of Thirteen Grand Guardians
- Lord of the planet Doom.
- Biden the Wizzard.
- Force of Twenty-Eight Mansions
List of volumes
Culture
In 2019, following the suggestions of fans, author Hùng Lân decided to make the 160th volum to complete all of the series.
