50books_poc 9: Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
in short: A new comics anthology edited by Asians, written by Asians, drawn by Asians, about Asians, for everybody.
in which it is all about me: I am so behind on write-ups. :( Including this, I have five books to post on this week. The obvious answer to this is to read slower.
Anthologies get their own post though. Also, everyone should read this, and then be really loud and obnoxious about reccomending it everywhere, so that they'll make more.
actual analysis: I was swayed to buy this by the motion comics that have been used to advertise the anthology. All of them of are worth looking at, but the first and last are best at explaining what the whole project is about. so:
The anthology is split into six sections (well eight counting prologue and epilogue), all with different themes and each with a one-page intro comics to the section to tie the section together. Because there's too much to talk about without getting over long, I'm just going to talk about my favorites and the ones I want to see more of most.
"The Blue Scorpion & Chung" Gene Yang, Sonny Liew.
This comic takes on the trope of Asians being white heroes' servants/chauffeurs/sidekicks, without ever having the opportunity to be viewed as the heroes themselves. The title is a reference to the real life example in The Green Hornet and Kato (How do you have Bruce Lee, and you let him get away from you because you can't see him as being in a leading role?!)
Chung, a Korean-American, chauffeurs around a blowhard and vaguely racist Blue Scorpion, feeds him beer, and rescues his drunk self when he gets into trouble that he can't handle. Though Chung is frustrated by his job, and it takes a toll on his personal life he keeps with it because the bad guys still need taking care of, and being the Blue Hornets unheralded chauffeur is the best way he knows how to do it.
I don't what direction the writer might want to go with this, but I think it has a lot of potential, and the art is so very pretty.
"No Exit" Naeem Mohaiemen, Gleen Urieta.
This is about the 1940s arrival/wave of Islam in America, which I don't know much about, so it's time for Mr. Google. Instead of the comic being all back story, rehash, and explanation, the reader is ~tantalized with double-talk, and evidence of mysterious powers. Seriously people, bother your local library and book store; I want to know what happens. :(
"A Day at CostumeCo" Jeff Chang, A.L. Baroza.
Ahahaha, I'm not even going to ruin it, even though other places that have been covering the anthology give it away. I'll just say that, not everyone wants to go to superhero school. Sometimes perfectly useful powers are just embarassing.
"Shine" Leonardo Lam, Anthony Tan, Ruben De Vela.
In the second half of the book there is a section of full-color gloss pages, in which there is a story pitch with a very pretty illustration. "Shine" is the story of a high school student, Darren Mo, who is so socially invisble that he literally starts to disappear. When he uses his invisibility to perform some heroic, he finds that attention gives him power. Cue dual-identity emo-porn.
This has so much potential for humor. The illustration is hilarious. Because Shine needs admiration to fuel his powers, he becomes a great giant glory-hog. In the illustration, newspaper cut-outs and posters include such phrases as 'Sexiest Hero Alive' and 'Man of the Year.'
"Parallel Penny" Anthony Wu.
Another full-color pitch, this is about a Chinese metahuman cloning experiment. The program is axed after, oops, the cell they used, and therefore all the clones, is female. All 88 newborn metahuman girls are secretly adopted out by the scientists who created them. 15 years later they start developing powers seperately all over the world. From there I'm sure there is much epicness and drama and kickassness.
"Justified" Ken Wong, Tiffanie Hwang.
At the end of this comic, our hero orcs out and uses his giant kung fu robot claw to throw an ignorant racist would-be-hero across the room and by doing so secures himself a place in the painfully white super league called the Justifiers. It's awesome. If this were a weekly comic where the one thing that happened is that Asian-American Superhero gives people WTF looks, pwns the clueless and ends every issue by orcing out, I would by every issue.
"S.O.S." Tanuj Chopra, Alex Joon Kim.
"S.O.S." can be paired with my weekly "Justified" comic. Two subversive laughs in one!
In this time of economic crisis, even superheroes need to cut expenditures. Call centers in India to the rescue. Heroes in trouble, now just have to connect with an operator who will talk them through their issues. The Fantastic Four was able to cut costs by 25%!
"Peril" Keith Chow, Jef Castro.
Daddy issues! My favorite! (Unless those daddy issues include sexytiems. Intergenerational incest: not my kink.) Mason, raised by his mother after she got sick of his research scientist father's inability to pay attention to his family, gets a mysterious message from his father years later. He's been jailed on trumped up charges of treason and espionage. Mason must now save his research, the research that will give superhuman abilities and turn him into the hero 'Peril.'
in short: A new comics anthology edited by Asians, written by Asians, drawn by Asians, about Asians, for everybody.
in which it is all about me: I am so behind on write-ups. :( Including this, I have five books to post on this week. The obvious answer to this is to read slower.
Anthologies get their own post though. Also, everyone should read this, and then be really loud and obnoxious about reccomending it everywhere, so that they'll make more.
actual analysis: I was swayed to buy this by the motion comics that have been used to advertise the anthology. All of them of are worth looking at, but the first and last are best at explaining what the whole project is about. so:
Click to viewThe anthology is split into six sections (well eight counting prologue and epilogue), all with different themes and each with a one-page intro comics to the section to tie the section together. Because there's too much to talk about without getting over long, I'm just going to talk about my favorites and the ones I want to see more of most.
"The Blue Scorpion & Chung" Gene Yang, Sonny Liew.
This comic takes on the trope of Asians being white heroes' servants/chauffeurs/sidekicks, without ever having the opportunity to be viewed as the heroes themselves. The title is a reference to the real life example in The Green Hornet and Kato (How do you have Bruce Lee, and you let him get away from you because you can't see him as being in a leading role?!)
Chung, a Korean-American, chauffeurs around a blowhard and vaguely racist Blue Scorpion, feeds him beer, and rescues his drunk self when he gets into trouble that he can't handle. Though Chung is frustrated by his job, and it takes a toll on his personal life he keeps with it because the bad guys still need taking care of, and being the Blue Hornets unheralded chauffeur is the best way he knows how to do it.
I don't what direction the writer might want to go with this, but I think it has a lot of potential, and the art is so very pretty.
"No Exit" Naeem Mohaiemen, Gleen Urieta.
This is about the 1940s arrival/wave of Islam in America, which I don't know much about, so it's time for Mr. Google. Instead of the comic being all back story, rehash, and explanation, the reader is ~tantalized with double-talk, and evidence of mysterious powers. Seriously people, bother your local library and book store; I want to know what happens. :(
"A Day at CostumeCo" Jeff Chang, A.L. Baroza.
Ahahaha, I'm not even going to ruin it, even though other places that have been covering the anthology give it away. I'll just say that, not everyone wants to go to superhero school. Sometimes perfectly useful powers are just embarassing.
"Shine" Leonardo Lam, Anthony Tan, Ruben De Vela.
In the second half of the book there is a section of full-color gloss pages, in which there is a story pitch with a very pretty illustration. "Shine" is the story of a high school student, Darren Mo, who is so socially invisble that he literally starts to disappear. When he uses his invisibility to perform some heroic, he finds that attention gives him power. Cue dual-identity emo-porn.
This has so much potential for humor. The illustration is hilarious. Because Shine needs admiration to fuel his powers, he becomes a great giant glory-hog. In the illustration, newspaper cut-outs and posters include such phrases as 'Sexiest Hero Alive' and 'Man of the Year.'
"Parallel Penny" Anthony Wu.
Another full-color pitch, this is about a Chinese metahuman cloning experiment. The program is axed after, oops, the cell they used, and therefore all the clones, is female. All 88 newborn metahuman girls are secretly adopted out by the scientists who created them. 15 years later they start developing powers seperately all over the world. From there I'm sure there is much epicness and drama and kickassness.
"Justified" Ken Wong, Tiffanie Hwang.
At the end of this comic, our hero orcs out and uses his giant kung fu robot claw to throw an ignorant racist would-be-hero across the room and by doing so secures himself a place in the painfully white super league called the Justifiers. It's awesome. If this were a weekly comic where the one thing that happened is that Asian-American Superhero gives people WTF looks, pwns the clueless and ends every issue by orcing out, I would by every issue.
"S.O.S." Tanuj Chopra, Alex Joon Kim.
"S.O.S." can be paired with my weekly "Justified" comic. Two subversive laughs in one!
In this time of economic crisis, even superheroes need to cut expenditures. Call centers in India to the rescue. Heroes in trouble, now just have to connect with an operator who will talk them through their issues. The Fantastic Four was able to cut costs by 25%!
"Peril" Keith Chow, Jef Castro.
Daddy issues! My favorite! (Unless those daddy issues include sexytiems. Intergenerational incest: not my kink.) Mason, raised by his mother after she got sick of his research scientist father's inability to pay attention to his family, gets a mysterious message from his father years later. He's been jailed on trumped up charges of treason and espionage. Mason must now save his research, the research that will give superhuman abilities and turn him into the hero 'Peril.'