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SCMP Reporter

COMIC books were the cause of pandemonium on the opening day of the Hongkong Book Fair.

    An overwhelming crowd of young people, mostly students on holiday hunting for the latest comic features in town, shattered a four-metre glass door at the entrance of the Hongkong Convention and Exhibition Centre where the fair was held.

  Fortunately, there were no serious injuries among the visitors. A 14-year-old boy who suffered minor wrist injuries was taken to Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, while four other teenagers were slightly hurt.

  The annual exhibition, rated as Asia's largest event for the publishing and printing industry, is the fourth of its kind to be organised by the Trade Development Council (TDC).

  A queue started forming even before daybreak. The number surged to about 6,000 by the time the fair opened.

  What was on the mind of most of the visitors was the latest cartoon feature God Machine , produced by local publisher Jonesky. It is about two ultra-powerful men in search of a mysterious miracle.

  As soon as the doors were opened, teenagers flocked to the Comics Corner and in no time there was a seemingly endless line stretching around half of the hall.

  By contrast, things looked quiet for most other book exhibitors who were displaying their books on another floor.

  Jonesky's stall was bursting with customers, even outnumbering the booths of Freedman and Jademan comics, although they too were crowded with enthusiasts.

  One table at the Jonesky booth caved in under the pressure of the shoppers who shouted demands for their favourite comics and posters of the hero of the new Black Leopard series.

  Roars of complaints rang through the hall when the organiser decided to divert the queue to purchase those items outside the hall.

  This year's five-day fair had a record 400 exhibitors and 530 booths. The largest section was again the China pavilion, represented by 80 publishers. The Taiwan pavilion came next with 56.

  Exhibitors also came from Britain, the US, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and Vietnam, as well as a group of 20 German publishers.

  ''Such international participation is especially important for the copyright trading at the fair,'' said Mr Dennis Yau, TDC's deputy executive director.

  Besides books, stationery, back-to-school items, arts and crafts, office supplies, compact discs and stamps, this year featured electronic publishing which displayed books on small CDs that could be easily read on monitors.

  There was also an attractive exhibition of colour brush paintings used in children's books from China.

  More than 260,000 visitors were expected during the fair.



6,000 gathered even before doors opened on the first day of HK Book Fair, where