Our story
Before kung fu, I wanted to draw comics
I'm James E. Whitley III, creator of the Grandmaster Universe and co-founder of Grandmaster Comics. This is how a kid who wanted to be a comic book artist became a kung fu master, and how the two came back together.
I come from a family of artists
My dad was a painter and a carpenter. He had a draftsman's eye and he could really draw, and I grew up watching him do it.
My grandmother's sister was Georgia Mills Jessup, a Washington, D.C. painter and teacher. Her painting Rainy Night, Downtown hangs in the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and she was the first artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum. Years later, Georgia's daughter, the artist Rose Powhatan, asked me to paint a portrait of her mother. Art runs deep in my family, and I always assumed I'd follow it.
Comics taught me to read
Comics were more than entertainment for me. They're how I learned to read. My mom bought them for me whenever she could, and the comic shop was one of the places I connected with my dad. I wanted to be a comic book artist.
Then I watched The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and everything changed. I started kung fu at fourteen and was teaching by fifteen. From then on, my focus moved from the drawing table to the training floor.
A gift from Hong Kong
In 1995 I began training in Hung Fut under Grandmaster Tai Yim. Kung fu had taken the place of comics in my life, but my Sifu brought them back without knowing it. He gave me some of his original comics from Hong Kong.
Those books lit the old fire again. While I was training under him, I started dreaming up the world that would become the Grandmaster Universe.
From one book to a whole universe
The first ideas came straight out of my own training and my own style. Over the years the universe grew. It now takes in different kung fu styles and very different genres, from space opera to mecha to gothic horror, with each book telling its own story.
In March 2026 I was elevated to ninth-generation master of Hung Fut. Today I run Grandmaster Martial Arts Academy, and I'm working with the artist Sairam Gutierrez to bring Grandmasters #1 to life and to Kickstarter. The kid who wanted to draw comics finally gets to tell his stories.
See Grandmasters #1
Co-founder
Philippe Prosper
aka Rap is a Martial Art
Philippe trained under Grandmaster Tai Yim and was elevated to ninth-generation master of Hung Fut in March 2026. He is building a universe of titles of his own, published under Grandmaster Comics.
He is an international kung fu grand champion, decorated in both sparring and forms. As Rap is a Martial Art, he makes hip-hop and kung fu videos, including breakdowns of the kung fu techniques hiding in plain sight in the UFC. His first titles are in development.
Come along for the launch
Get the free Universe Primer, first looks at the pages, and the Kickstarter link before anyone else.