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Man, I wish I could go to this.

The First-Ever Asian American ComiCon
Comes to New York on July 11, 2009!

Event gathers top mainstream and alternative comics creators, including
FRED CHAO, BERNARD CHANG, SEAN CHEN, CLIFF CHIANG, DEREK KIRK KIM, CHRISTINE NORRIE, GREG PAK, KHOI PHAM, MISAKO ROCKS! and many others;
comics legend LARRY HAMA to be honored with special award

June 15, 2009 –

SIUniverse Media, the company behind the groundbreaking graphic novel Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, in association with the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW), Asian CineVision, AsianAmericanComics.com and Diamond Comic Distributors have joined forces to organize the First Annual Asian American ComiCon (AACC), a celebration of the unique contemporary role and historical legacy of Asians and Asian Americans in the world of graphic fiction.

The event will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the brand-new, Maya Lin-designed home of the Museum of Chinese in America. The Asian American ComiCon—the first of its kind—will be the first major event to take place at MOCA’s new two-level, 14,000 square-foot facility at 215 Centre Street in Lower Manhattan.

The day-long event will bring together leading Asian and Asian American creators, fans and readers of mainstream and alternative graphic fiction, and creative leaders of the larger Asian American community for a one-of-a-kind gathering, incorporating education, dialogue, spontaneous creativity, intergenerational outreach and the chance for established and emerging talent to show off their work. Tickets for the nonprofit event are $15 for students, $25 for adults (18 and older), and $75 for a special VIP Pass, entitling the bearer to priority reserved seating at all panels and workshops, a complimentary Asian American graphic novel, signed by its creators (courtesy of Diamond Comic Distributors), and an original sketch from one of the artists participating in the event’s Artists Alley.

Registration will be limited, and is available in advance through the following link: https://www.nycharities.org/event/event.asp?CE_ID=4187  

Note: All passes may sell out before the day of the event.

“The thing that makes this different from traditional cons is that it’s designed to bring down boundaries,” says Jeff Yang, co-chair of the event and Editor-in-Chief of Secret Identities. “We’re bringing together creators from inside and outside of the comics world; exploring how film, literature, and history interact with graphic fiction; looking at the connections between Asia and Asian America, and we’re giving attendees ways to meet, interact and engage with creators as they never have before. For this event, ‘con’ doesn’t stand for ‘convention’—we like to think it’s short for ‘conversation.’”

“Central to the Museum of Chinese in America’s mission is its goal to promote dialogue that transcends generational, geographical and cultural boundaries,” adds AACC co-chair Beatrice Chen, MOCA’s Director of Education. “The Asian American ComiCon, with its focus on exploring culture, identity and history through the world of comics, offers a compelling and accessible way to foster that dialogue.”

In addition to an exhibition room and an Artists’ Alley, the Asian American ComiCon will feature three concurrent programming tracks:

¡P         The SPOTLIGHT features high-profile comic creators in one-on-one settings discussing some of the ways in which the comics and non-comics worlds are overlapping and interleaving. Scheduled to participate in these sessions are Derek Kirk Kim (The Eternal Smile, Same Difference & Other Stories) and Larry Hama (G.I. Joe: Origins, Barack the Barbarian).

¡P         READING COMICS, curated by AAWW Executive Director Ken Chen, explores comics as literature, as texts, and as cultural artifacts, with speakers including non-comics creators and critics as well as comics artists and writers.

¡P         Finally, MAKING COMICS, programmed by Marvel writer Greg Pak, allows creators to share their insights on the industry and profession with those wanting a behind-the-scenes look at comics or advice on how to pursue a career in the field.

“Everyone knows that Asian Americans love comics, but no one’s ever asked why” says Ken Chen. “That’s why we organized the First Annual Asian American ComiCon as a mash-up of a fan convention, an Asian American Studies conference and a literary festival. The ComiCon will be a one-of-a-kind event that’ll put superhero comic artists, professors, and novelists at the same table to discuss how we read comics today.”

“I love the fact that Asian Americans are doing amazing work in every corner of the comics industry,” says Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak. “The Asian American ComiCon will give fans the chance to hear from indie superstars and superhero fan faves alike about creative choices and the practical reality of building a career. We’re also hooking in a few behind-the-scenes comics executives who’ll provide unique perspectives that I can’t wait to hear!”

Among some of the top comics industry professionals scheduled to attend the First Annual Asian American ComiCon include:

–BERNARD CHANG (Wonder Woman)
–FRED CHAO (Johnny Hiro)
–SEAN CHEN (Iron Man)
–CLIFF CHIANG (Green Arrow/Black Canary)
–LARRY HAMA (G.I. Joe)
–DEREK KIRK KIM (The Eternal Smile)
–JERRY MA (Burn)
–CHRISTINE NORRIE (Breaking Up)
–GREG PAK (Incredible Hulk)
–KHOI PHAM (Mighty Avengers)
–MISAKO ROCKS! (Biker Girl)
–CHRISTINA STRAIN (Runaways)
–TAK TOYOSHIMA (Secret Asian Man)

The officials behind the launch of the AACC feel that the time is ripe to celebrate the contributions of the Asian American community to the comic book industry. To that end, the event will climax with the presentation to G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama of a special award recognizing his incredible career and the influence he’s been on his peers and a generation of rising creators. “I’m honored,” says Hama, “as long as you don’t call it a ‘lifetime achievement’ award. I’ve still got a lot to do!”

For more information, please visit www.aacomicon.com
For general inquiries, please contact education@mocanyc.org
For press inquiries, please contact media@aacomicon.com

Ticket Information:
VIP Pass: $75*
Adult: $25
MOCA or AAWW Member: $15
Student (with a valid ID) and Senior (65 and over): $15
Child (age 10 and under): Free with Adult

*The tax-deductible VIP Pass not only helps to support MOCA, it also guarantees the richest possible experience at this event! Including:

¡P         Priority reserved seating at all panels and workshops

¡P         One Original Sketch drawn by an artist from the AACC Artists Alley—artist availability based on first-come, first-serve basis

¡P         One classic Asian American graphic novel, signed by its creators—choose from:
Secret Identities: The Asian American Anthology (The New Press),
Same Difference & Other Stories (Top Shelf Publishing), or
Johnny Hiro Volume 1 (AdHouse Books)

¡P         Admission to the invitation-only, post-Con VIP Reception

The First Annual Asian American ComiCon is presented by:

The Museum of Chinese in America (www.mocanyc.org): Founded in 1980, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history, heritage, culture and diverse experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. Through innovative exhibitions as well as educational and public programs, MOCA promotes dialogue and understanding among people of all cultural backgrounds. 

SIUniverse Media (www.secretidentities.org): SIUniverse Media is the editorial and production team behind the pioneering Asian American superhero anthology Secret Identities, as well as its affiliated video, online and educational resources. Committed to raising up new voices from the Asian American community and creating original, authentic and engaging stories with an organically multicultural perspective, we strive to create work that pops eyes, drops jaws and opens minds, all at the same time. 

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (www.aaww.org): Founded in 1991, the Workshop is the largest non-profit devoted to the creating, publishing, developing and disseminating of creative writing by Asian Americans. A community of readers and writers and the country’s preeminent authority on Asian American writing, the Workshop dedicates itself to empowering emerging writers of great promise to make the transition to a career in the literary arts.

Asian CineVision (www.asiancinevision.org): Asian CineVision is a nonprofit media arts organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Asian and Asian American media expressions by helping to develop and support both emerging and experienced Asian American film and video makers and other media artists working in a range of genres and styles; and helping to ensure that the full spectrum of Asian and Asian American media works reach diverse audiences in Asian American communities and beyond.  

Asian American Comics (www.asianamericancomics.com): Edited by Greg Pak, writer of Incredible Hulk and creator of the Marvel superhero Amadeus Cho, AsianAmericanComics.com is devoted to spreading the word about Asian American comic books, comic book characters and comic book creators. We hope AsianAmericanComics.com will help neophytes find interesting reading material, point existing readers towards new creators and books and provide fans and pros a place to read all the latest news. For more about Pak’s work, visit Pakbuzz.com.

Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (www.diamondcomics.com): The world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books and related merchandise, Diamond Comic Distributors is based in Timonium, MD, with strategically located Distribution Centers servicing more than 4,000 specialty retailers worldwide.

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Got this email just now:

Could this be true? Gosh, I hope not. If so, the Asian American community has lost a ground-breaking pioneer and an influential voice. More soon…

CNN interviews Margaret Cho about her latest project, Drop Dead Diva. An excerpt:

CNN: You’ve talked before about your less-than-positive experiences working on a sitcom [”All-American Girl”]. Any apprehension about doing this series?

Cho: I’ve been back to TV doing stuff now for a couple of years. I have a lot more confidence and a lot more awareness about what I would like to do. And I think television has really changed in a good way.

This show, I absolutely love. It’s really funny, but it’s also touching. It has a lot of heart, and I think the acting is really incredible. I’m really proud to be a part of this show.

CNN: How do think television has changed?

Cho: There’s more diversity in general. There are like two more Asian people on television now then there was 10 years ago, and that’s pretty impressive. Before, it was just me and Connie Chung, but now there’s me, Sandra Oh and Connie Chung.

Wait, Connie Chung’s not on anymore, so there’s Ann Curry. She’s kind of Asian-adjacent.

CNN: I loved your VH1 reality show, “The Cho Show.” Your parents were great on that.

Cho: They’re so famous now among Koreans. They can’t go anywhere anymore!

CNN: You are such an icon in the gay community, but some people took you to task for an interview with The New York Times where you said you identified yourself as gay, although you are married to a man.

Cho: I identify as queer. I’ve had a lot of same-sex relationships in my life, and I guess it would be bisexual, but to me it’s more appropriate to say I am queer. I am also attracted to transgender persons, and bisexual doesn’t cover it. I feel like being queer is my politics, it’s my life; it’s the community I do the most political work in, for the gay, lesbian and the transgender community.

Being married made it much more important for me to fight for gay marriage, because I believe marriage is vital for us as people.

CNN: How important is it to have a show like “Drop Dead Diva” which features a main character who is plus-sized?

Cho: I don’t think of her as plus-size. I just think of her as beautiful.

I think people are going to fall in love with Brooke and the character Jane and realize that beauty comes in all sizes. That’s something we are trying to promote with the show.

The idea of being plus-size is somewhat ridiculous, because most women are. I mean, I am, and most women are.

CNN: You, plus-size? You are so tiny!

Cho: But I’m not a size 4, and that’s the standard in Hollywood. When you look at women in movies and TV, it’s an unrealistic view of what women really look like. With the show, we are promoting a real woman who is beautiful with real curves, has a real attitude and is fabulous.

Cho’s comment about the progress of Asians on television made me laugh. It is true that we measure our community’s progress in such tiny steps, that we still make a big hullabaloo when Ken Leung gets a single 60 minute episode on Lost. That being said, I was a litle perturbed by Cho’s comments on her self-identification as “queer”.

Self-identification is obviously critical, and I wouldn’t pre-suppose to deny Cho her right to identify her sexuality in whatever way she feels most comfortable, but I wish that Cho had done a better job explaining either 1) the hypocrisy that comes with trying to put constraints on a term like “queer” in the face of even more limited definitions of sexuality and 2) that Cho defended her right to self-identification. She didn’t tell others to “shove it”; she seemed actually a little wishy-washy about why she identifies as “queer” as if she, herself, wasn’t quite sure why she self-identifies that way.

In addition, I’m made a little uncomfortable about Cho’s “big is beautiful” statement when she became more sexual and more confident in her body only after her dramatic weight loss. During Cho’s “big” years, she didn’t participate in burlesque or emphasize the beauty of her larger frame.

Either way, I’m not sure I’m interested in Drop Dead Diva. Sounds like the offspring contrived after dropping Ally Macbeal and Shallow Hal in a vat of radioactive fluorescent ooze. That being said, at least Cho will raise Asian Americans’ television tally to three.

Woohoo.

I might get some flack for saying this, but I really can’t wait until that day, in the far-flung future, when climate change denialists are shunned and mocked to the same degree that our society currently treats Holocaust denialists.

I’m, of course, not trying to belittle the Holocaust, but the fact that humanity’s impact on the planet is causing a slow (by our standards) but certain destruction of Earth’s ecosystem is simply not up for scientific debate. The vast majority of scientists in the scientific community has seen the overwhelming (and growing) pile of evidence that humans are harming our environment and we agree: the effects of humanity’s pollution of our planet could, if left unchecked, be the extinction-level event that jeopardizes our species’ very existence. Folks who deny climate change are those who let fundamentalism, morality, irrationality, and personal bias impede logic, fact and reason, and should be viewed as silly anachronisms, not elected to public office.

Yet, here we have Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, who is a ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has been running wild in this week’s hearings on climate change. With a smug grin reminscent of the cheshire cat, Barton has been lobbing questions at those testifying, as though he’s delighted at the chance to showcase how much cleverer he, a lowly Congressman from Texas, is compared to these climate change experts. Yet, it seems Barton has his head so far up his ass, he’s no longer seeing daylight: a simple listen to this week’s shennanigans demonstrate that it’s Barton, who appears dim-witted, not those he’s trying to put on the hot-seat.

Consider this: earlier this week, Barton took the final six seconds of his time to ask Nobel Prize winner Dr. Steven Chu, current Secretary of Energy, this question: how did oil under Alaska get there? Let me reiterate — Representative Barton, looking like the cat who just swallowed the canary, asked Dr. Chu to summarize — in six seconds — the entire process of fossil fuel formation.

Forget that the process of fossil fuel formation is a field of study or an entire group of scientists. Forget, even, that a simple Web of Knowledge search for the terms “arctic” and “oil” yields more than 600 manuscripts, a number dwarfed by more than 3,500 manuscripts pulled up when searching for the terms “fossil” and “fuels”. Forget that any explanation of where oil and natural gas comes from requires that the audience have a pre-existing, working knowledge of geology, plate tectonics, and the history of the planet. Representative Barton betrays his own anti-intellectualism when he asks — no, demands — that Dr. Steven Chu explain the process of fossil fuel formation in six. seconds. And later, after Dr. Chu tried to boil down a topic that is frequently taught over a year’s time in upper division college classes into something tha even Rep. Barton could grasp, Barton twitters that he “stumped” a Nobel prize winner with his question. Dr. Chu was stumped, alright — stumped that Barton would even ask such a silly question.

Then, this morning, as I was getting ready for work, I caught this exchange on C-Span between Representative Barton and former Vice President Al Gore. Gore (who is my hero for his performance in this back-and-forth) takes Barton to task for citing a crackpot “scientific” opinion by Dr. Craig Idso (founder of the “Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change”) that presents a red herring hypothesis, refutes the red herring, and then uses this observation to refute the argument that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere may have a deleterious effect on marine biology. Barton quotes Idso, but fails to note that Idso’s group is funded by private donations from major oil and gas corporations, including Exxon. This calls into question any and all findings that Idso publishes. 

Gore hammered Barton on his citation of misleading, and arguably biased, pseudo-science, funded by the oil and gas industry to refute the accepted scientific fact of global warming and climate change. I was delighted to see Gore refuse to let Barton slip his reference to Idso into the record; rather, Gore demands that Exxon and other oil companies apologize for the continued attempts to slip one over the American people, and in so doing, destroy this planet. Barton looks flummoxed that he ran out of time; and while right-wingers are going to call Gore dodging the question, I think Barton was just upset he was made to look like such an uneducated fool in front of a live audience.

I hope that Barton learns to sit down and shut up — his degree of anti-intellectualism is breathtaking, and it’s about time somebody embarassed him for it.

(Hat-tip: Angry Asian Man)

Just when I thought that parody commercials couldn’t get more awesome, this parody commercial hit whole new levels of awesomeness.

Earlier this year, a group calling itself Nation For Marriage put together this wonderfully melodramatic ad, trying to make the case that gay marriage will destroy your (yes, your) freedoms. Also, gay people marrying clearly means fire and brimstone will rain down on us all.

Then, George Takei, along with a group of other Hollywood notables put together this concentrated dose of awesome. Words cannot describe; you have to see it for yourself.

The Backstory: This interview is the first in a series of interviews with the editors of Secret Identities, an anthology of comic short stories about Asian American superheroes from Asian American writers and artists. Secret Identities hit bookshelves last week, and in case you haven’t heard, it’s awesome.

In This Issue: I spoke with each of the editors one-on-one for about an hour, chatting about a variety of topics from the making of Secret Identities to their favourite comic books when they were a kid. These interviews are based on those conversations. I thank each of the editors for taking time out of their busy schedules (and their jam-packed book tour) to chat with me.

I first met Parry Shen back in the spring of 2004, when he visited my undergraduate alma mater for a workshop on his experiences as lead actor in Justin Lin’s debut film, Better Luck Tomorrow. At his workshop, I learned a lot about Shen’s experiences as an Asian American actor in a predominantly non-Asian Hollywood. I learned about the difficulties for minority actors in the casting process and the sense of futility, cynicism, and defeat that many Asian American actors ultimately  succumb to before leaving the industry altogether. And, I learned about the breath of fresh air that an independent film like Better Luck Tomorrow represented for a large community of struggling Asian American actors, directors and producers. Better Luck Tomorrow was a shot of pure adrenaline; it established to a disillusioned community of Asian American entertainers that a socially-conscious, Asian American-focused project could be made in a profit-driven mainstream Hollywood, and that our community would come out in full force to support it.

Six years later, Shen is hoping to do it again.

Although Shen is the first editor I interviewed for this series, he was the last editor to join the board of Secret Identities. A daily reader of Phil Yu’s Angry Asian Man blog, Shen was thrilled when Yu posted a call for submissions for a collected anthology of Asian American superhero comic stories written by Asian American comic book legends and fanboys alike. A long-time comic book fan, Shen immediately responded to the call for submissions (two of his pieces appear in the book: Hibakusha, a story about a group of young Hiroshima survivors who develop awesome powers, and 16 Miles, a story based on the death of real-life Asian American hero, James Kim). The anthology’s editors were so impressed with Shen’s creativity and enthusiasm, that they invited him to join the board as Managing Editor.

“I have been an actor for twelve years,” says Shen. “And, I was getting extremely frustrated with the roles I was auditioning for… [I felt like] I was going out for the same type of guy: this tech guy who works at this firm who is really good at what he does but as soon as a woman walks by, he clams up. [I kept asking myself] How many times will I have to audition for this guy?”

It was during this period of soul-searching that Shen decided to contribute to Secret Identities.

“The top comic book artists are all Asian American,” explains Shen. “How come they hadn’t yet banded together to create a project like this? [This anthology was asking Asian American comic fans to] create some cool people who are masculine and who are saving the day. That really hit home for me, and I [already] had a story in mind — the Hibakusha story. I pitched the story, just wanting to be a contributor, but (and I don’t know what talks they had) but all of a sudden, I got editorial duties! I’m pretty good with organization skills, so that was definitely my strength [on the board]. Maybe I filled that need.”

Like many fanboys and fangirls, Shen’s interest in comic books started in his youth, which of course begs the question: DC or Mavel? “I’m a Marvel guy,” states Shen without hesitation. “When I was a kid, I was attracted to Marvel because of how they humanized their characters, whether I knew it or not. DC’s characters were stuck in a rut where they had the villain of the day and [the heroes] had to foil their plans for world domination. Spiderman and the X-men were the first to delve into stories that featured real people with powers. The X-men were trying to help society, but society hated them and were scared of them. But, I have to say, my first comic book was The Picture Bible, which my mom gave me. It told Bible stories in comic format, complete with superheroic feats like the parting of the Red Sea. I’m not Catholic, but when I went to Catholic school, thanks to that book, I knew all of the Bible stories. It was really cool how this comic presented the Bible in such a digestible format, and that it tricked me into learning. The last page of Secret Identities follows along that theme — it shows a timeline that maps the stories against Asian American history. Hopefully, readers will get to the end and say, ‘holy cow, this was based on something real?’”

During college, Shen became an officer in his on-campus Asian American organization when he decided to enter the entertainment industry. He interned at Marvel Comics, working in the licensing department, but ultimately chose the route of an actor. When I ask whether Shen ever considered becoming involved in the comic book industry full-time, he laughs, saying: “I didn’t see where I could fit into it, except as an editor or a writer. I couldn’t draw!” Ironically, had Shen stuck with Marvel Comics’ licensing department, he might have become a full-fledged comics insider: several years after Shen’s internship, Avi Arad rejuvenated the Marvel Comics franchise via expansion of that same licensing department to oversee film adaptations of Spiderman, the X-men and the Fantastic Four.

Perhaps fulfilling his earliest suspicions of where he might fit into the comic book industry, Shen has surpassed all expectations in his role as Managing Editor for Secret Identities. Speaking about the editorial process, Shen expounds on the difficulties the board faced trying to build a cohesive anthology from a wide array of talented writers and artists with varying styles and experience in the comic medium. “Secret Identities had a lot of contributors, because we had somebody write a story and another person draw it. We had to coordinate the schedules for over 60 creators.”

The risk of anthologies is that they can come off as disjointed — certainly, Secret Identities occasionally suffers from that problem. However, Shen points out that a great deal of effort and attention was put towards ensuring that the whole book “gelled together”. “The essence of an anthology is that different styles and different writers come together to produce a beautiful work. We focused on pairing people according to their strengths and their styles of writing and their styles of artwork.”

The editors, too, seemed to play to one anothers’ strengths. Keith Chow, a freelance writer coached contributors in script-writing, while Shen notes that both he and Jeff Yang (columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle) offered different perspectives originating from their experiences in the mainstream entertainment industry. And it was Jerry Ma, founder of freelance graphic design studio Epic Proportions, who literally saved the look of the book. Initially, the editors struggled with the 4-6 page limit placed on each submission. “We fudged [those limits] a little,” says Shen, “but it shows why everyone’s favourite story is Blue Scorpion & Chung. It needs that length.” The problem was that with each story trying to make the most of 4 pages, all the artwork became little boxes. “Midway through, Jerry realized that the book was beginning to look like a street map! He was the one who said, ‘visually, this book isn’t looking very good’, so [based on his comments] we re-wrote some stuff and gave the artists room to breathe.”

The primary challenge for Secret Identities’ editors was working with creators with such vastly different skill levels. According to Shen, the editors worked closely with many writers to help them take full advantage of the comic format. Some artists, too, were inexperienced with the comic medium; Ma helped those artists to literally “think outside the box”. In addition, many of the editors were inexperienced in publishing a book. Shen confesses that before this project, he didn’t know that pages were published in sets of eight. “That’s why we have only eight full-colour profile pages. Originally, we had twelve submissions we wanted to use, but we couldn’t get to sixteen, so we had to chop those four off.”

Despite all this backroom tinkering, Secret Identities appears to come together almost effortlessly, showcasing an impressive array of Asian American talent including pieces from the editors, themselves. Shen talks about this inspiration for his story 16 Miles. “I became Managing Editor [for Secret Identities] in October 2006.  The death of James Kim (left, with daughters) happened a month later, in November or December of 2006. Heroes and Asian Americans were on the forefront of everything I was doing at the time. I was like, ‘he’s the real deal.’ All the stories we have are fictionalized; but this is someone who did a real heroic act. This guy can’t not be in this book in some form. But since this is a superhero anthology, I wanted him to have a superpower he couldn’t use, so he had to rely on his human strength. And that’s the true source of his heroism.”

As for the other stories in Secret Identities, one of Shen’s favourites is Meet Joe. In it, an Asian American guy (average in every way) showcases an array of superpowers only to be confronted by other Asian Americans from his past who reveal that all Asian Americans share those superpowers, and that Joe puts the community at risk by revealing these abilities to the outside world. Shen says, “everyone’s frustrated about being portrayed as the weak guy. This story points that out by embracing it in parody: as if all Asians know computers and martial arts… It’s such an offbeat story, and the artwork matched it perfectly. My favourite character is the Chinese delivery guy (one of the three characters who confront Joe) who has this cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Looking at him, you can’t not laugh! Once [the editorial board] saw the initial sketches, we just busted out laughing!”

Another of Shen’s favourites is S.O.S., by Tanuj Chopra (art by Alex Joon Kim), another parody comic about superhero outsourcing.

For Shen, this latest foray back into the comic book industry began as a side hobby. But with the expected success of volume one, Shen has begun to explore the possibilities of connecting Secret Identities to his day job as an actor. Shen is currently working on a screenplay adaptation of his story Hibakusha, and is excited about the possibility that he might one day have the opportunity to play one of Secret Identities’ 52 Asian American superheroes on the big screen. “It’s become more of a passion than acting,” confesses Shen. ”I can control the content and have my say. We’ll have to see what the public interest in [Secret Identities] is. I’m still auditioning, but the roles don’t really excite me as much as the possibilities for a Secret Identities, volume two.”

A volume two? Do my ears deceive? Shen jokes: “Much to the dismay of my wife, we’re definitely talking about a volume two.” 

Among a few logistical changes, Shen thinks that a volume two might have fewer contributors, each being given the space to write longer stories. “Fewer contributors would be more manageable,” says Shen. “[Then we could] double the page content and increase the overall page count. Everybody, including us, wanted to see more of each story.” In addition, Shen drops a tantalizing hint. “While we were at New York’s ComicCon, a fan said to us, ‘I love the premise, but doing heroes is kind of easy. It’s more difficult to do a compelling villain.”

Perhaps Secret Identities, volume two will be a supervillain anthology? Shen says his imagination is already running wild with that notion. Mashura (a villain in Secret Identities) could be one of the forefront characters. “Maybe he’s trying to control all of these young supers!” says Shen, excitedly.

Nonetheless, the possibilities for a volume two depend on the success of the first book. Shen encourages each of us, whether we’ve purchased a copy of Secret Identities already or not, to contact our local comic book stores and bookstores, requesting that Secret Identities be ordered and placed on the shelves. “Let them know you’re interested,” says Shen. “The editors aren’t making a dime off of this book. This book was truly a labour of love.”

Act Now! Purchase your copy of Secret Identities and then tell everyone you know how awesome it is and how they should get their own copy. Also, visit your local bookstores and comic book shops and pester the owners and managers to carry the book, just ‘cuz it’s so awesome.

Dear Asian American Democrats of Texas Members, Supporters, and Friends,

In the last few weeks many of you have received emails from us (AADT) and the Texas Democratic Party about Rep. Betty Brown’s unfortunate comments about Asian American voters.
 
When presented with testimony concerning potential challenges faced by Chinese Americans under the proposed Voter ID bill, Brown stated: “Rather than everyone having to learn Chinese - I understand it’s a rather difficult language - do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”Many of you contacted Rep. Brown directly and AADT collected your names on a petition which we sent to her office. Many national Asian American leaders and organizations also condemned her statements. As a result, Rep. Brown finally issued an apology.But our work is not done!AADT is now focusing our efforts on mobilizing our community against the various Voter ID bills that have been filed in the Texas House of Representatives. We expect several versions of the Voter ID bills to get out of committee this week and to go the House floor. That is where we have the opportunity to make the most impact. The Texas legislature needs to hear from the Asian American community!To that end, we are asking you to do the following: 1. If you live in Texas, please call or email your legislator and ask him/her to vote against the Voter ID bills. Visit www.aadt.us to find your legislator, and for talking points, resources and updates on the bills. 2. If you do NOT live in Texas, but you want to help us out, please email vote@txdemocrats.org to access  call lists of Asian American voters in Texas in a targeted legislative district. You’ll get talking points and materials to help educate Asian Texans about the bill. 3. If you don’t have time to make calls, help us reach more voters through paid voter outreach targeting Asian Texans. Visit our Act Blue page, at www.aadt.us and give at any level you can. Your contribution will go directly to the Voter ID education effort! And if you haven’t become a Member of the Asian American Democrats of Texas, please become one today! Membership only costs $20! Your contributions support outreach efforts to the Asian American community, advocacy on behalf of the community, and the work we do to support Asian American candidates.  If you would like to get more information about our efforts against on the Voter ID Bill, please contact AADT Vice President Mini Timmaraju on mini.timmaraju@gmail.com or (832) 452-7038With warm regards, AJ Durrani,
President AADT
Political advertisement paid for by AADT PAC, Farrukh Shamsi Treasurer
About AADT:
Founded in 1990, Asian American Democrats of Texas serves as a link between the Asian American community, the Texas Democratic Party, and the larger political community both locally and nationally. We are also a registered political action committee registered with the Texas Ethics Commission.  We invite you to join us in our activities as we organize for the future!

The first few pages of Secret Identities chronicle an exchange between Jeff Yang (writer of Asian Pop! at the San Francisco Chronicle) and Keith Chow (freelance writer) that originally inspired the Asian American superhero anthology released today. Yang, researching his now well-cited article on Asian American pop culture and comic books (Look… Up in the Sky! It’s Asian Man!), asks Chow about the appeal that comics have had for Asian American youth. Chow replies: “Comics have always been a refuge for kids who are shy or socially awkward. And I think for Asian Americans, the parallels are even stronger. You’re an outsider. You don’t fit in. But then you go to school and meet other people like yourself. You discover your secret heritage – the thing inside you that makes you special.”

Yet, it is frustrating that the comic book industry has failed to identify and acknowledge their loyal Asian American fan-base. While the number of Asian/Asian American superheroes has slowly increased over the last few decades, these heroes remain massively overshadowed by an overabundance of Caucasian protagonists (for a chronological listing of Asian/Asian American superheroes in comics, check out my site Outsiders). Those Asian/Asian American superheroes who do achieve the pinnacle of comic book success – their own ongoing title or mini-series – are frequently written in a one-dimensional (or even stereotypical) manner (often by non-Asian writers overwhelmed by the pressure to write a realistic portrayal of a person with a hyphenated racial and cultural identity). Instead, many contemporary Asian American superheroes end up as a tragic East-meets-West cliché, before they (or their title) meet an untimely (but ultimately predictable) end.

Enter Secret Identities, an anthology of comic short stories about Asian/Asian American superheroes written and illustrated by a superstar cast of Asian/Asian American comic fans, and edited by Yang, Chow, Jeff Ma (founder of Epic Proportions, an independent studio) and Parry Shen (Better Luck Tomorrow). A whopping 190 pages, Secret Identities runs the gamut from classic origin stories of a variety of Asian American superheroes (e.g. Sampler by Jimmy Aquino and art by Erwin Haya) to quirky commentaries on the roles Asian American characters play in today’s mainstream comics (e.g. The Blue Scorpion & Chung by Gene Yang and art by Sonny Liew). And what an amazing diversity of stories it is! Secret Identities is a spirited and gleeful act of protest against the invisibility of Asian Americans in the pages of mainstream comics: each story is a fresh reminder that we Asian Americans can be iconic superheroes, too.

One of my favourite stories is Jeff Yang’s A Day at Costumeco (art by A.L. Baroza) which turns the formulaic superhero family (a la Disney’s Incredibles) on its ear while also offering a tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of the magical girl genre of Japanese manga. In the story, an Asian American family of superhumans goes to a local superhero Costco (stocked with plutonium at bargain basement prices), where the tortured, Daria-esque Asian American daughter reveals her latent powers as Pretty Super Schoolgirl Valentine, much to her own chagrin. As a onetime fan of shoujo manga, Yang instantly won a fan in me. Another favourite was Parry Shen’s touching story, 16 Miles (art by Sarah Sapang), which was inspired by the death of James Kim, a father who walked 16 miles in the snow to try and bring back help for his wife and two daughters after the family’s car became trapped in a snowdrift. Finally, Greg Pak’s The Citizen is a colourful and off-beat reimagining of the Captain America origin story that any comic geek will appreciate. Other stories that stand out are James by Michael Kang (art by Erwin Haya), S.O.S. by Tanuj Chopra (art by Alex Joon Kim) and You Are What You Eat by Lynn Chen (art by Paul Wei).

In addition, the editors elevate Secret Identities beyond a simple graphic novel/anthology format with their inclusion of single-page one-shots that depict the editors discussing the impact of comics on Asian Americans, and vice versa. These one-shots punctuate the intervening stories with a sociopolitical context that help formulate the argument as to why a book like Secret Identities is a necessary and natural evolution in our community’s relationship with comics. S.O.S. by Keith Chow features a conversation between Gene Yang (American Born Chinese) and Michael Kang (filmmaker, The Motel) that examines, and ultimately dismantles, the stereotype of the Asian sidekick. Commenting on Bruce Lee’s role as Kato, The Green Hornet’s chauffeur and manservant, Yang says, “Like it or not, the legacy of Kato is ingrained in our pop culture zeitgeist.” Kang replies, “That’s why it’s important to do what Bruce did. Tell our own stories, on our own terms. The more of us there are out there telling our stories, the more multifaceted, complex Asian characters we’ll see.” Yang then remarks, “One thing’s for sure, if Bruce had never gotten fed up with roles like Kato, he might not have gone back to Hong Kong. And the world would have been without the true legacy of Bruce Lee.” This simple exchange provides a useful commentary for the subsequent tale of The Blue Scorpion & Chung (mentioned above), who are clearly references to The Green Hornet and Kato.

To their credit, the editors of Secret Identities paid careful attention to match their writers with talented artists who are capable of augmenting the stories’ plots and tones with their craft. Sampler by Jimmy Aquino is perfectly illustrated by Erwin Haya in stylized shades of greys that match the playful light-heartedness of the Aquino’s script. Meanwhile, Jonathan Tsuei’s 9066 is rendered by Jerry Ma in a darker, somewhat more realistic style and heavy inking (all culminating in a beautiful final page) that hits an appropriately somber and cynical note. Secret Identities includes eight full-colour profile pages, each worthy of reprint as a poster pin-up.          

If there’s any criticism that can be made of Secret Identities, it would be some minor problems resulting from the unwieldiness of the anthology genre. The necessary brevity of each story produced an occasional sense of disjointedness from story to story. Though many of the stories introduced the reader to interesting and compelling new Asian/Asian American superheroes, the limits on story length also resulted in an overrepresentation of cursory origin-type stories, and I was left with a hope that future editions of Secret Identities (if additional volumes are to be published) will leave more room for longer stories that are able to delve into somewhat more intricate plots or character development. And, as with all anthologies, there are some writers and artists who are slightly more polished than others. But these are all small issues that don’t come close to diminishing a stunning and politically important final product.

Secret Identities is a unique anthology that I believe will prove to be an essential part of any collection of Asian American literature or pop culture works. Not only do we finally have a work that celebrates Asian American superheroes, but we have an incredible example of the heights we can achieve when we produce those works, ourselves. I’m not sure there’s a more compelling argument in favour of supporting our independent Asian American writers, artists and filmmakers. Secret Identities hits shelves today – and, it’s well worth a purchase! In fact, now that I’m finished reading, I can safely say this: I’m already waiting for volume two.

Act Now! Buy Secret Identities now! Then, when you’ve read it, tell everyone you know how awesome it is.

Note: Check back on this blog, since I am working on a series of one-on-one interviews with at least a couple of the editors of Secret Identities that will be published over the next several weeks. I’m anticipating some great conversations!

From the Texas Democrat listserve:

As you may have heard - and as you will see in the news clips below - Republican State Rep. Betty Brown had quite the week.  With her comments that Asian-American Texans wouldn’t have problems with a proposed Voter ID law if they would adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with,” she defined the problem with the Republican effort to place additional bureaucratic hurdles between Texans and the ballot box.

 

Rep. Brown has made it unmistakably clear that she and her fellow Republicans on the Elections Committee believe it’s up to many of us, as citizens, to change our lives, or even our names, in order to exercise the most fundamental right in our democracy - the right to vote. Texans expect our government to work for us, yet Rep. Brown wants to place the burden on American citizens to solve any problems they may encounter should this unnecessary, partisan Voter ID bill become law.

 

Rep. Brown’s remarks have offended Americans nationwide and embarrassed our great state, yet the silence from Republican Speaker Joe Straus, Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith and other Republican legislators has been deafening. Do Speaker Straus and Chairman Smith agree with Betty Brown? If not, are they so determined to pass a Voter ID law that they won’t speak out against comments that have given Texas a black eye?

 

You can help your Texas Democratic Party continue our fight to protect our voting rights by calling on House Speaker Joe Straus and Elections Committee Chairman Todd Smith to condemn Rep. Brown’s remarks and rise above partisan politics to encourage greater participation by all Texas voters.

 

Contact Information:

 

Speaker Joe Straus

Capitol office: (512) 463-0686

 

Chairman Todd Smith

Capitol office: (512) 463-0522

I just got wind of this through Asian Pacific Americans for Progress and I was so flabbergasted, I actually turned off my Pandora (playing a rousing Rick Astley song) to listen to one of the most ignorant comments ever uttered (in recent weeks) from an American politician.

Ramey Ko, a well-respected Asian American activist who was an integral part of Asian Americans for Obama, was testifying in public hearings before the Texas House Elections Committee as a representative of the Organization for Chinese Americans earlier this week when State Representative Betty Brown (R-Terrell) suggested that Asian names were just too difficult for Americans to deal with, and that the community should change our names to make the lives of poll-workers easier.

Here’s an abbreviated transcript:

Brown: Well, rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese, I understand it’s a rather difficult language. Do you think that it would behove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here. Such as, you’re talking about — I’m not talking about changing your name, I’m talking about the transliteration or whatever you refer to that you could use with us.

Ko:Well, transliteration typically is technically governed by certain academic standards. For Chinese, there’s the way Giles transliteration system and the Pinyin transliteration system. For Korean and Japanese there are other various systems… That’s basically where you try to keep the pronounciation of your name but you write it in English alphabet. But a lot of Asian Americans will for the purpose of daily use adopt “American” names… A problem that arises frequently with Asian Americans is that as time passes, people do one of three things: 1) they choose to adopt a more Americanized name given name to make it easier, as you said, for people to communicate and for documentation purposes, but 2) sometimes they will alter the transliteration of their name because they will learn that — because not everyone is familiar with how to transliterate names – so when they first come they kind of give it their best shot with what they think it sounds like an English, but then they will learn later that they should actually write it differently.

Brown: Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for both you and for people who are pollworkers, if there were some means by which you could adopt a name just for your poll identification purposes that would be easier for the Americans to deal with?

Ko: What I’m saying is that there may be difficulty obtaining that ID because there would be discrepancies between those names, or because of discrepancies between the name on the ID, because it was obtained with a certain document…

Brown: Not evidently compared to the difficulties that presently exist, from what you tell me…

Ko: Yes, I mean there are, Asian American Justice Center represented several Asian American voters in Florida who had this problem. Although, a lot of times with them, the problem was, as you transliterated names, basically being mangled in the course of being transcribed by government workers.

Brown: Alright, I see a need here for young people like you, who are obviously very bright, to come up with something that would work for you, and then let us see if it will work for us.

The argument here is that “Americans” can’t handle the “difficult” names of Asian Americans, so rather than forcing Americans to adapt to the presence of transliterated non-Western names in the American landscape, Asian Americans need to come up with a system of romanization that suits English-speaking Americans better. The nativist sentiment in this exchange is breath-taking: Brown not only distinguishes between Americans and Asian Americans (as if Asian Americans aren’t really Americans), but she expects an entire diaspora of people to change our very self-identification to suit American sensibilities.

Let’s make it clear: changing your name — whether its for your passport or for a poll identification purposes – is altering your own name to suit someone else. People of colour have suffered a long history of having our names (and thereby our identities) eradicated and replaced: African slaves were re-Christened upon arriving on American soil in an attempt to save them from their “heathen” roots, while Chinese coolies were unilaterally referred to as John Chinaman because their own names were too unusual. At Angel Island and Ellis Island Immigration Centers, Asian, Irish and other non-English-speaking immigrants were routinely renamed by immigration officers because those immigration workers couldn’t be bothered to Romanize an unusual-sounding name correctly.

America calls itself a racial and cultural melting pot, yet too frequently we still come face-to-face with the xenophobic mentality that White Anglo-Saxons are “true Americans”, and that the rest of us need to change to fit that ideal. There is an expectation that non-English-speaking immigrants must learn English to naturalize whereas many Americans resist the mere existence of non-English languages in their midst. Here in Arizona, we face recurring referendums to eliminate Spanish classes in schools, in automated phone services, or even in federal translation services. Consider Brown’s double-standard: it’s too much to ask federal or state-employed poll-workers to learn enough about non-English languages to cross-reference a transliterated Asian name on a piece of paper, but it’s not too much to ask 3% of this country’s population to file name change cards?

Most immigrants practice transliteration, but it’s one thing to choose a new Romanization of one’s name, and another to have that name thrust upon you for someone else’s convenience. America was built on a foundation of self-governance and self-identity; I think the right to self-identify is one that should be enjoyed by all citizens. For Asian Americans to be expected to come up with a system for altering our names merely to make life easier for poll-workers is not only ridiculous, it is patently racist. After all, Representative Brown doesn’t seem to have a problem with “John”, or “Sarah”, or “Lucretia”, or “Karl”.

In addition, Brown’s assertion that Asian Americans (and specifically Ramey, I guess) should come up with a system for re-naming all Asian Americans puts the blame of voter disenfranchisement squarely on the shoulders of Asian American voters. Apparently, Brown believes that Asian Americans who were denied their voting rights in the last series of national and state-wide elections were not victims of an unfair system: no, it’s our fault because we don’t come over to America, and immediately (and enthusiastically) re-name ourselves John Smith. If only we were more willing to have a name Betty Brown thinks is American enough, well then, of course, we will be allowed to have access to our Constitutional Rights, like the right to vote. But, since we insist on maintaining a link to our family history and cultural practiced by maintaining our Chinese-, Korean-, Vietnamese-, or Japanese-sounding names, we should expect routine voter disenfranchisement and trampling of our other civil liberties?

My middle name is Shea-Ying, which is a romanized transliteration of my Chinese name. And, Representative Betty Brown, you’d better get used to it, because it’s here to stay.

Act Now! Please write Representative Betty Brown an email detailing why you plan on sticking with your Asian name.

Update: Angry Asian Man blogs about this story here and here. And according to the Betty Brown-Approved Name Generator, my name should actually be “Tiffany ‘Cracker Barrel’ Brown”. Awesome.

Update: 8Asians also weighs in.

Update: Join the new Down with Betty Brown Facebook Group here.

Update: Miya Shay, who blog with ABC13, a local Texan news affiliate, blogs about Brown-Gate here.