When Did Pangu First Appear In English-Language Comics?

I get a little giddy when myth meets comics, so this question is right up my alley. Pangu, as the cosmogonic figure from Chinese myth who split the sky and the earth, shows up most often in Chinese-language picture books and manhua; tracking his first appearance in English-language comics is trickier because it’s scattered across translations, educational retellings, and the occasional Western myth anthology rather than one big superhero debut.

From what I've dug up over the years, the earliest English-language occurrences are usually translations of Chinese folk-tale picture books and retellings aimed at kids or young readers—these started to appear in Western markets in the mid-to-late 20th century, especially during the 1970s–1990s when publishers began issuing more translated children’s folktales. Those still count as comics or illustrated sequential art in many catalogues, so you’ll often find Pangu in those formats before he shows up in mainstream Western comic-book series. Mainstream American publishers like Marvel or DC only began to broadly mine non-Western mythologies more aggressively from the 1990s onward, and even then Pangu remained a fairly niche cameo or inspiration rather than a recurring player.

If you want to pin down the literal first English-language comic appearance, I’d search library catalogues (WorldCat), the Grand Comics Database, and digitized children’s literature archives for editions that credit both translators and illustrators, and use search terms like ‘Pangu’, ‘P’an Ku’, plus ‘illustrated’, ‘manhua’, or ‘folk tale’. University folklore collections and sinology bibliographies are also surprisingly helpful. I love the tiny thrill of finding an obscure translated folktale tucked in a 1970s schoolbook—there’s a little archaeology to it, and the hunt is half the fun.

I get the sense of adventure every time I chase mythological firsts, and Pangu’s path into English-language comics is more patchwork than parade. He primarily shows up in English through translations—picture books, retold folktales, and translated manhua—rather than a single landmark comic issue. Those translated editions began appearing more regularly in Western markets from mid-20th century onward, especially in children’s literature and educational series, so the first English comic-style depiction of Pangu likely appears in that wave (think 1960s–1990s) rather than in mainstream superhero comics.

If you want to be exact, dig into library catalogs (WorldCat), comic databases, and children’s literature archives for terms like ‘Pangu’ or variant spellings plus ‘illustrated’ or ‘manhua’. University folklore collections and sinology bibliographies often list early translations. I love how small discoveries—an out-of-print schoolbook or a regional publisher’s folktale comic—can illuminate how myths travel, and that’s the fun route I’d take to confirm a first appearance.

I love telling people about myth crossovers, and this one’s a bit of a scavenger hunt. Pangu comes from Chinese cosmogony, so he naturally appears first in Chinese storytelling formats; when looking for English-language comics, you’re mostly chasing translations and retellings rather than a clear-cut American comic first appearance.

Concretely, the earliest English incarnations of Pangu that I’ve seen are in translated illustrated books and manhua-style retellings published for kids and educators through the late 20th century. These were often marketed as picture-story retellings of Chinese myths, and while they aren’t always catalogued as mainstream comics, they fit the sequential-illustration model. Western comic anthologies focused on world mythologies started to include non-Western creation myths later, often in the 1980s and 1990s, but Pangu remained relatively rare in big-name titles.

If you’re trying to find the very first English comic appearance, try searching the Grand Comics Database and WorldCat, and filter for illustrated retellings of Chinese folk tales from the 1960s–1990s. Also check university presses and children’s literature collections—academic translations sometimes predate popular releases. It’s a fun rabbit hole; I’ve unearthed a couple of charming schoolbook editions that featured Pangu art, and those little finds make the mythology feel more alive than any encyclopedia entry could.