On Wednesday, October 22, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU is presenting Making It Up As I Go Along, a documentary by The Spitting Image. The film reveals the creative process of a man who has become a legend, beloved by throngs of comic book readers worldwide — cartoonist, musician, and G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama. Following the screening, Hama speaks with Keith Chow, founder and editor of The Nerds of Color and co-editor of the groundbreaking Asian American comic anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered.
Items from the A/P/A Institute-produced traveling exhibition, MARVELS & MONSTERS Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 will be for sale in a silent auction to support the institute’s collections building initiatives. MARVELS & MONSTERS was curated using images from the William F. Wu Comics Collection, the world’s largest collection of American comic books featuring images of Asians and is housed at the NYU Fales Library & Special Collections.
Register for tickets by Monday, October 20. You can find and RSPVP to the event on Facebook as well.
Larry Hama is a cartoonist, illustrator, writer, actor, and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s. While Hama has worked on numerous projects, he is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and created the “file cards” on the backs of the Hasbro G.I. Joe toy packages. The comic ran 155 issues (February 1982-October 1994). He has also written for the series Wolverine, Avengers, Batman, Conan, The Punisher, Blaze, Nth Man, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O’Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.
Keith Chow is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Nerds of Color where he hosts the pop culture roundtable series “Hard N.O.C. Life” on YouTube. He is also one of the editors of the groundbreaking Asian American comic anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered and an occasional co-host on Asian Cinevision’s basketball talk show “Joy Dunk Club.” An educator and writer by trade, Keith’s other passions include collecting action figures, watching movies based on comic books, and singing in karaoke rooms filled with ‘80s pop and ‘90s hip-hop. He made his television debut on a 1988 episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Currently, Keith lives outside Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and daughter.
