Editing Old Master Q (section)

==Format and themes==
The overall theme of the comics centres on humour: with characters usually portrayed in a variety of social statuses, professions and time periods; ranging from beggars and office workers to actors and ancient warriors; which allows for a wide variety of scenarios to explore. More outlandish situations incorporate surrealism, close encounters with aliens, ghost sightings, and the [[afterlife]]. While each comic is typically produced as short strips of four, six or twelve panels, longer comics have been produced revolving around lengthier adventures of the main cast pitted against gangsters in modern Hong Kong or warriors in a [[wuxia]] setting.

While Old Master Q comics primarily focus on humour, they also reflect changing social trends; particularly from the 1960s to the 1980s. The comics would sometimes feature societal problems in urban life, such as poverty, petty thefts and [[secret societies]]. It also poked fun at fashion,<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Master Q Comics #0226 – Helping|url=http://www.oldmasterq.com/comics/226/|access-date=4 February 2012}}</ref> [[contemporary art]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Master Q Comics {{!}} Strip #1252 – Species Differences|url=http://www.oldmasterq.com/comics/1252/|access-date=4 February 2012}}</ref> and rock music. The comic strips sometimes also bemoan the decline of ethical or moral values in modern-day living. Characters often display acts of selfishness or misery; although the comics occasionally display good values like filial piety. The language barrier between the Chinese language and the English language is also depicted in some comic strips; illustrated with Old Master Q's difficulty communicating with foreigners, especially Westerners.

The comics have, on some occasions, expressed complexity in the plots and serious views on major political changes taking place in Hong Kong during the 1960s-1980s. It had previously criticised overly Westernised Chinese, who were often shown in the comic strips kowtowing to Western interests over the local Chinese interests. The run-up to the handover of Hong Kong to [[People's Republic of China|China]] following the [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]] of 1984 also became a point of interest, as a few comic strips were published through the late 1980s and early 1990s expressing the characters' fears of handover, frequently represented in a numeral of the year it would take place: 1997. Some of these comic strips also depict direct assault of representations of the [[Government of China|Chinese government]] and the [[Chinese Communist Party]], occasionally in the form of caricatured depictions of [[Deng Xiaoping]]. The handover was later depicted in more a positive light in the years leading to the actual event; possibly representing a changing perspective from the author.