#AACC2017: #AAIronFist – Bringing an Asian American Hero to Life

July 28, 2017February 9, 2018 The Nerds of Color

Recorded live during the Asian American ComiCon Summit on Art, Action, and the Future.

Marvel’s Iron Fist has generally been seen as a major disappointment — and it could’ve been so much more, if only Marvel and Netflix had embraced a not-so-radical rethinking of their martial artist hero as an Asian American. Some Asian American filmmakers actually brought their reimagined concepts for an Asian American Iron Fist to life, and they’ll share their short videos as part of a conversation with the creator of the #AAIRONFIST hashtag.

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Conventions, Hard N.O.C. Life

#AACC2017: Warrior Women — Reimagining the Asian Female Hero

July 26, 2017July 24, 2017 The Nerds of Color

Recorded live during the Asian American ComiCon Summit on Art, Action, and the Future.

In the wake of Wonder Woman, with Mulan on the horizon, what should we expect in a rich, textured, powerful and provocative Asian (or Asian American!) heroine? What’s worked, what hasn’t and why has it taken so damned long?

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Conventions, Hard N.O.C. Life

#AACC2017: Envisioning Diverse Futures

July 24, 2017July 21, 2017 The Nerds of Color

Recorded live during the Asian American ComiCon Summit on Art, Action, and the Future.

We’ve seen so many different kinds of futures unfurl in pop culture, and many of them have people of color and LGBTQ individuals as backdrop and “local color.” What would a truly diverse, inclusive and intersectional future really look like?

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Conventions, Hard N.O.C. Life

#AACC2017: Can Pop Culture Save the World?

July 21, 2017July 21, 2017 The Nerds of Color

Recorded live during the Asian American ComiCon Summit on Art, Action, and the Future.

Pop culture is literally the people’s culture. At a time when creative and diverse voices are both under attack, what can pop culture do to make social change?

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Art, Conventions

#AACC2017 and Failing to Get a Photo with Lewis Tan

July 18, 2017August 17, 2021 AJ Joven

To get to my failure, I should start with a childhood that took place in Los Angeles. Hawthorne, California is a small community situated in Southwest Los Angeles. With Inglewood to the north, Gardena to the east, Torrance to the south, and the glamorous beach communities to the west, it was basically the edge of working class/POC Los Angeles butting up against the elite.

Art, Conventions1 Comment

The Asian American ComiCon Presents: A Summit on Art, Action & the Future

June 30, 2017July 21, 2017 The Nerds of Color

In 2009, the Asian American ComiCon was held in New York City, bringing together Asian indie and mainstream comics creators for a historic gathering to celebrate the unique and flourishing graphic storytelling of our community. Now, eight years later, AACC is hosting its second event: a Summit on Art, Action and the Future. In a time where diversity and creativity are both under attack, the Summit will feature diverse creators talking about where we’re going next.

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Comics, News

Announcing New Frontiers Anthology Inspired by the Life of George Takei

April 10, 2017July 24, 2017 The Nerds of Color

The team behind the groundbreaking Asian American superhero anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered, in partnership with the Japanese American National Museum, have issued a Call for Submissions for New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei, an original graphic novel anthology that will serve as a companion volume to JANM’s historic exhibition of the same name (running through August 2017), which showcases Takei’s life and the cultural landscapes through which he has traveled. The anthology’s target publication date is July 2017.

Diverse creators with stories to share that speak to the themes and issues Takei has confronted in his life are encouraged to pitch them at the Submissions Form located at here before the pitch deadline of April 24, 2017. Relevant issues include, but are not limited to: unlawful incarceration, status as an “illegal” alien and the push for LGBTQ equality and civil rights for all, yellowface, whitewashing, media stereotypes, and the rise of digital culture and social media.

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Animation, Art, Toys1 Comment

Hello, Kitty!

October 11, 2014November 16, 2015 Guest N.O.C.

by Lynn Chen | Originally posted at The Actor’s Diet

Now open at the Japanese American National Museum — the happiest exhibit on the planet.

My childhood!!!

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Animation, Art, Toys6 Comments

Hello Kitty, Not Actually a Kitty — Or Asian

August 27, 2014August 27, 2014 Keith Chow

In a stunning development, it has been revealed that Hello Kitty, Sanrio’s iconic — and forever mouthless — character is not, and has never been, an actual cat. How is that possible, you ask? Beats me.

The Los Angeles Times broke the news today — in advance of a special exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo — in an interview with noted Hello Kitty scholar Christine R. Yano:

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Art, Comics3 Comments

Marvels & Monsters: Yo, Is This Racist?

October 18, 2013April 22, 2014 Julie Kang

It’s an age-old question: does popular culture reflect mainstream perceptions, or is the mainstream influenced by the images it sees in popular culture? Jeff Yang, of Secret Identities and the Wall Street Journal, examines this question in the exhibit, Marvels & Monsters, now showing at the Japanese American National Museum.

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Misc9 Comments

Meanwhile, on The Internet

September 16, 2013April 2, 2014 Keith Chow

Apparently, while the Nerds were all consumed with Star Trek last week, other stuff was happening on the Internet. So here’s a brief rundown of things you might have missed because you were too busy exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations. But first, let me get a little self-congratulations and self-promotion out of the way.

Welcome Pop Candy readers! And a big thanks to Whitney for giving us a little plug in her USA Today column. We hope you all enjoy the NOC community and join us as we look at “pop culture with a different perspective.”

Okay, that was the congrats, now here’s the shameless self-promo.

Over the weekend, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center opened its traveling Asian American history banner exhibit “I Want the Wide American Earth” at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles — after spending the last three months on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In honor of the exhibit’s West Coast opening, the Smithsonian APA Center unveiled an online digital comic I edited that features key moments in Asian American history illustrated by some of the top names in the comic industry, including Bernard Chang, Ming Doyle, GB Tran and my SIUniverse partners-in-crime Jerry Ma and Jef Castro.