We recently got the chance to speak to Patrick Wang, a second degree BJJ black belt under the legendary Mendes Brothers and the creator of Zoo Jitsu Fighters. We wanted to know everything we could about the ground-breaking Jiu-Jitsu comic book, from how Wang actually got into the industry to what we can expect to see in the future. The first issue is already fully funded on Kickstarter and expected to release next month, but the campaign is still ongoing for just a few more days and you can click here to support the Kickstarter campaign. We first wanted to know how Wang found Jiu-Jitsu and it turns out that he’s been training since the earliest days of BJJ in the United States:
“I actually started Jiu-Jitsu in 1997 with Relson Gracie in Hawaii and I think it was around 2000 or 2001 after I got my purple belt that I stopped for a while. A lot of things happened in life, and I just couldn’t train, I had too many things taking up my time. Back then when Jiu-Jitsu was just kind of first coming out even just getting a purple belt was an achievement, we never even thought about getting a black belt.”
Although he took some time away, Wang came back to the sport after a while: “Fast-forward to about 2013 when I moved to California, and I had an itch to get back into Jiu-Jitsu. I wasn’t even really up to speed on the Jiu-Jitsu scene as to who were the people to train with, but a lot of my friends were like ‘Oh you gotta train with the Mendes brothers!’ I had no idea who the Mendes brothers were but I was close to Costa Mesa, so I gave it a shot and after the first day I was hooked. Their academy is beautiful, the people are great, the techniques are amazing, so I never looked back since then and went full speed ahead. I am so fortunate to be a part of that academy.”
While Wang couldn’t train Jiu-Jitsu; he was able to grow his business, Icon Heroes, into a powerhouse in the world of pop culture. He explained a little about how much that’s grown over more than a decade now:
“We’ve been around since 2008. We were always in the business of producing collectable products, but it was always licensed products. Pop culture stuff. Collectable products ranged anywhere from toys, action figures, bobbleheads, to even office supplies. But these were all licensed stuff, so we were doing things with DC Comics, Transformers, Power Rangers, G.I. Joe, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, Karate Kid, all these different licensed products.”
Although Wang has been involved in pop culture for quite some time now, it was actually a connection he made at Art of Jiu-Jitsu that brought Zoo Jitsu Fighters to life:
“I always wanted to do a Jiu-Jitsu story, and it just so happens there was someone right in the academy to help. Christopher Long is one of the guys that trains at Art of Jiu-Jitsu, he’s also a black belt but it turns out he’s a comic book writer. He’s written comics for Deadpool, 30 days of Night, and a bunch of titles. Wetalked and crafted a story together, and then I got this comic book launched on Kickstarter. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve already surpassed our funding goal so it’s definitely coming out, but we’re trying to get more pledges and get it to even a higher funding level. That would get it in the hands of more people.”
That meeting with Long is what set him down the path of turning his passion into a viable project, and it’s something that has been on Wang’s mind for a long time:
“For me, of course I love Jiu-Jitsu, and we know how obsessed the Jiu-Jitsu community is. I’ve always wanted to do something with Jiu-Jitsu. I’ve always had that in the back of my mind, there’s something I want to do with Jiu-Jitsu. Taking my experience with the pop culture background and merging the two worlds. I didn’t want to do another gi line or another apparel line, there are so many out there and so many good ones out there that I just didn’t want to jump in and try to compete with all those good brands that are already established. I wanted to do something fresh, something new.”
When we got Wang talking about Zoo Jitsu Fighters itself and how the story he crafted with Long was going to work, you could immediately see how much this means to him. He was happy to explain a little about the work in his own words, but the first 8 pages are also available to preview on their Kickstarter page:
“I came up with this idea: ‘What if there were animals doing Jiu-Jitsu tournaments?’ But I wanted it to have some stakes. Not where animals just compete in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments freely but something with a gladiatorial/Spartacus-type story behind it. These anthropomorphic animals are forced to compete. They were genetically experimented on by these scientists and they were bred to fight in these tournaments. So, it’s a zoo but it’s not a typical zoo where you go and just watch these animals in their habitats, you go to the zoo and you watch the animals fight. There are some stakes involved in the story too, in addition to the fighting.”
“The comic is rated 15 and up. We decided not to make it like a kid’s book, but more like a PG-13 movie. There are some mild violence and mild sexual situations.”
“It’s a high-octane Sci-Fi Thriller story but we want to incorporate Jiu-Jitsu in it.” Wang continued; “In our first issue that’s coming out next month we’ve got armbars, bow and arrow chokes, rear-naked chokes, heel hooks… We’ve got so many different moves and it’s not like your typical martial arts story with just punches and kicks. Obviously, there are some of course, because it’s like a MMA tournament. We’re trying to stay truthful and loyal to Jiu-Jitsu techniques as much as possible but of course we have a little bit of Judo and some other martial arts too.”
He wasn’t overselling it either, in the first 8 pages that are already available one of the characters hits a Tomoe Nage immediately and finishes the fight with a flying armbar shortly after. That might sound unusual for an MMA fight, but that’s because the characters in Zoo Jitsu Fighters all wear gis as well. We wanted to ask Wang about that as well, and apparently the answers are coming soon:
“We went back and forth on them wearing gis but we are having them wearing gis and we’re going to delve a little more into that in the second issue. The first issue is about introducing some of the characters and giving you a look at what the tournaments are like. Giving you the vibe that these aren’t your regular tournaments, the animals don’t really want to be there, and they’re being forced to do this. In the second issue we’ll delve more into why they’re wearing gis, why they wear different color gis… There’s a lot more that I can’t talk about right now.”
The first issue of Zoo Jitsu Fighters is already on the way, so Wang gave us a breakdown of his plans for the initial series:
“We’re launching a four-issue mini-series. The first one is coming out next month already and we’re actively writing the second issue right now. Each issue is about 28 pages. We plan to have, at the rate we’re going, about a three month gap between issues. Hopefully less if we can get it out sooner, but I would say by Spring next we should have all four issues already out in the market.”
Although Wang and the team at Icon Heroes have already got a lot of work ahead of them, they’ve also got one eye on the future beyond that too:
“I was just talking to Chris the other day. We have some ideas for other mini-series and one-shots. So maybe we have a oneshot story on one character, like an origin story or adventure on their own. We’d love to do some crossovers too, if there’s any big tentpole properties out there interested. I’d love to see Zoo Jitsu Fighters crossover with Street Fighter or something like that, that would be cool!”
Wang has clearly got a great vision for the future of the project and it’s great to hear his plans for the next few years already starting to take shape. He was clear about the direction he saw it going in too:
“After all these years of making products of other people’s brands, I wanted to do my own brand. My goal is to have Zoo Jitsu Fighters become a mainstream tentpole property.”
The fact that the first issue already found funding from the Jiu-Jitsu community is a great sign that Zoo Jitsu Fighters is on the right track. Wang’s already gotten attention from the wider public too, and the response has been equally positive:
“I did this convention in July, San Diego Comic-Con, it’s the biggest pop culture convention out there. I was so happy to see many people there from pop culture, who were martial arts practitioners or even professors. Not just Jiu-Jitsu but Judo, Tae Kwon Do, and other martial arts. We had a lot of good feedback and talked to a lot of people; I was so excited!”
Wang wasn’t alone at Comic-Con though, he had a visit from one of the elite competitors that inspired a character:
“We have a character that we named after Cole Abate, whose nickname is ‘Ice Cole’. So, we have this character Shadow, his nickname is ‘Ice’ and he’s a snow leopard. That character’s being introduced in the second issue. In fact, Cole, his girlfriend, Mia Funegra (also an elite competitor), and his dad, Jeremy, came down to San Diego Comic-Con to look at the stuff.”
Abate isn’t the only one who will serve as inspiration either:
“I talked to my professor Guilherme Mendes and I’m creating a character based off his son, Ace. Those are the two official ones that I came up with, but we have so many great guys and girls, and we’re definitely going to introduce more female characters as well. Obviously, my heart is with Art of Jiu-Jitsu and it’s easier for us to base characters off them because we see them all the time, but we’d love to collaborate with whoever. We’re open to things, but our main goal here is to create a great story.”
The parallels between Zoo Jitsu Fighters and the actual world of BJJ don’t end there either, as one particular element of the sport is a pretty important part of the plot:
“Similar to how we have Jiu-Jitsu academies, and everyone has their own patches, that’s how the scientists who created this zoo were by separating animals into different tribes. So, for instance the main one we focus on right now is the Claws tribe, which is comprised of a lot of the feline characters like the Tiger, Leopard, Jaguar, and Cheetah. We have the larger animals as part of the Stampede tribe, like the Elephant, Hippo, and Rhino. We have some other tribes we’re going to introduce but, in this comic, right now we’re focusing on these two.”
With the interesting characters in Zoo Jitsu Fighters and Wang’s pop culture background at Icon Heroes, he’s been able to take things a step further than just the comic book as well:
“I developed a line of action figures to coincide with the comic book, so I’m just trying to get the news out to the Jiu-Jitsu community. The action figures are already finished, and they’ll be in stock mid-late October. We did 6 action figures for the first line and as far as other merch, we have a bunch of apparel on our website like T-shirts and hoodies. That’s another cool thing about the Kickstarter too, once we reach our stretch goals anyone who backs the physical comics will get free stuff. We already reached our first stretch goal so everyone is getting the Claws tribe sticker.”
The action figures are already available for pre-order at Icon Heroes and they can be purchased here. Wang is clearly working overtime with so much to do over the next few months but again, he’s got an eye on the future and making the brand even more widely available:
“We’re talking about introducing some plush dolls next year, so that’s going to be pretty cool.”
I spent about half an hour with Wang was it was genuinely fun to see someone clearly getting to bring their passion to life. It’s always great to see someone bringing Jiu-Jitsu to a wider audience anyway, but Wang in particular is pouring a lot into this venture. He wanted to sign off by showing some appreciation to the people who’ve supported him so far:
“We’re just thankful for everybody who’s already supported and all the good feedback we’ve had. Even though the Jiu-Jitsu world is like a little bubble we live in, I just want to get this out to as many people as possible. I want to thank everyone who has supported us so far and even if they haven’t, just those giving great feedback. That gives us the confidence to keep moving forward when people are genuinely happy to see something that we’ve come up with. This is totally brand new, and nobody has seen a story like this. I just want to thank all those people, and everybody who’s given us inspiration. Everyone at Art of Jiu-Jitsu, my professors Gui and Rafael (Mendes), Cole, and just the Jiu-Jitsu community for even taking a look.”
You can find Icon Heroes at @Iconheroes and Zoo Jitsu Fighters at @zoojitsufighters on social media, or click here to visit their official website. If you like the idea and want to help fund the project, you can click here to support the Zoo Jitsu Fighters Kickstarter campaign!
