Yesterday afternoon, Netflix announced a trio of animated projects featuring Asian American protagonists and creative teams. Among those series was one based on a comic book from an old friend, Mech Cadets based on the Boom! series by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa.
Continue reading “‘Mech Cadets’ Brings the SIUniverse to Netflix”
What better way to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month than to help fund a new graphic novel project by one of Secret Identities partners, Jerry Ma?
Continue reading “Kickstart This: ‘The Monkey King’ Graphic Novel by Jerry Ma”
Happy Holidays! Not only is it Christmastime, but this is also Jamie Noguchi week on Hard NOC Media! Before he guests on a special Rise of Skywalker focused edition of Hard NOC Life, Jamie is also Keith’s guest on this month’s Southern Fried Asian.
This Saturday, September 21, join our very own Keith Chow and Jamie Noguchi at the second annual Charm City Night Market in downtown Baltimore, Maryland!
Continue reading “Join Us at the 2nd Annual Charm City Night Market in Baltimore”
There’s only a few days left before everyone descends on to Baltimore, Maryland for the first ever WICOMICON Pop-Up!
Continue reading “Coming to WICOMICON? Let Us Know and Win Stuff!”
Like the rest of the nation, I woke up this morning to an unfathomable reality. Despite our best efforts, the country has chosen hate and division. Those dystopian science-fiction novels don’t feel so far off anymore. Still, we at The Nerds of Color must soldier on. I’m doing that by participating in CTRL+ALT, the Smithsonian’s pop-up Culture Lab on imagined futures this weekend in New York City. Though, to be honest, I’m having a difficult time imagining the present, much the less the future.
Continue reading “CTRL+ALT: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures, This Weekend in New York City”
Originally published at NBC News Asian America
In a New York Times op-ed over the weekend, Malaysian talk radio host Umapagan Ampikaipakan called into question the entire concept of an “Asian superhero.” As an Asian person who has invested quite a lot in the idea of Asian superheroes, you can imagine seeing such a piece in the paper of record left me a bit bewildered — especially because this was the year that comics featuring Asian and Asian-American heroes had finally broken through.
In less than 24 hours, the world’s best cartoonists and indie comics makers bring their talents to the DMV (that would be the DC-Maryland-Virginia area of the country, and not, alas, where you get your drivers’ license renewed) at the 21st annual Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD.
In addition to hosting esteemed guests like Noelle Stevenson, Scott McCloud, and C. Spike Trotman (among many others), SPX is also home to the Ignatz Awards and a venue for fans of the medium to support some of the hardest working artists in all of comics. After the cut, we’re going to highlight a few of the things we’re most excited to see this weekend.
Continue reading “Are You Ready for This Year’s Small Press Expo?”
On the eve of June and the post-Convergence DC Universe next week, we are in breathless anticipation to see the new, more diverse DC Universe as promised by the publisher’s “DC You” campaign. Part of that diversity is represented by the all-star writing talent attached to the flagship books of DC’s most iconic character: Superman.
Hard NOC Life was honored to welcome Action Comics writer Greg Pak (@gregpak) and new Superman writer Gene Luen Yang (@geneluenyang) — whose preview story you can read here right now — on the show to talk all things Man of Steel.
Continue reading “Superman: Truth, Justice, & the Asian American Way”
Last night, the SIUniverse family was rocked when we learned we had lost one of our own. Francis Tsai, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, passed away after a long battle with the disease — just one week after celebrating his 46th birthday. In 2009, Francis became part of the SIUniverse by illustrating the story “Taking Back Troy” in the first Secret Identities volume. Though ALS slowly took away his ability to draw with his hands, he never let the disease stop him from creating art. First, he trained himself to draw using his feet, and when that was taken from him, he pioneered special technology using his eyes to create art.
Jonathan Tsuei and artist Eric Canete will soon be gracing the nerd world with their new comic from Image, RUNLOVEKILL. I had the honor of reading the first issue and can report that it is an innovative, futuristic, action packed story with some elements that I would dare to compare with Aeon Flux.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to writer Jonathan Tsuei about the comic, character development, and his future projects.
Continue reading “An Interview with RUNLOVEKILL Writer Jonathan Tsuei”
Can it be? Am I actually excited about DC Comics? Again? I’ve made no bones about my aversion to the company-wide reboot of 2011, but it seems that starting this summer, DC is dropping the The New 52 branding and starting fresh with all-new books, and a diverse and wide-ranging roster of talent, including — full disclosure — several friends and alums from the SIUniverse! So maybe I’m a little biased.
Continue reading “No 52: The New Era of DC Comics Looks Promising”
Our second Fresh Off the Boat-inspired illustration today comes from the collective known as Point and Question, a.k.a. Jef Castro and SooJ Lee. Don’t forget to catch the premiere of the life and times of young Eddie Huang tonight on ABC at 8:30pm (sandwiching a new episode of Modern Family).
Want to see how a vendor booth goes from being a bunch of cardboard boxes to an elaborate thing of t-shirt selling beauty?
Today is the first day of New York Comic-Con, and Epic Proportions is once again taking up some prime real estate in the Jacob Javits Center. If you are going to be at the show, come by and say hi at Booth #2010. We even have DC Comics superstar Bernard Chang at the booth for the whole show!
Click through to see the evolution of the Epic Props Booth.
Continue reading “Epic Props Dispatch From NYCC: Evolution of a Vendor Booth”
Last weekend, at Baltimore Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to run in to several members of the SIUniverse fam in attendance. One of the alums I visited with was artist Robin Ha, who was exhibiting in Artist Alley for the first time. Not only was it great to catch up — however briefly — but it was also an opportunity to get a print copy of Banchan in Two Pages, a pretty cool recipe comic she’s been updating on the tumblr of the same name.
Continue reading “Robin Ha’s Banchan Comics Will Make You Hungry”
by Gene Yang
[Ed. note: Over the weekend, Gene delivered the following speech at the National Book Festival gala in Washington, DC.]
I’m a comic-book guy, so tonight I’d like to talk about another comic-book guy. Dwayne McDuffie was one of my favorite writers. When I was growing up, he was one of the few African Americans working in American comics. Dwayne worked primarily within the superhero genre. He got his start at Marvel Comics but eventually worked for almost every comic book publisher out there. He even branched out into television and wrote for popular cartoon series like Justice League and Ben 10.
Dwayne McDuffie is no longer with us, unfortunately. He passed away in 2011, at the age of 49. But within comics, his influence is still deeply felt.
Continue reading “From Invisible to Inevitable: Why We Need Diverse Books”
Yesterday, Parry Shen challenged our own Keith Chow to take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS research. This is the result: Continue reading N.O.C. One-Shot: Keith’s Ice Bucket Challenge
Hey East Coasters! I know all the cool kids are going to be in San Diego this weekend, but if you couldn’t make the cross-country trip, folks in the DMV can get their comics fix by coming to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in Washington, DC’s Chinatown this Sunday, July 27.
I’ll be joined by illustrator Jamie Noguchi (Yellow Peril) and NPR Code Switch’s Kat Chow to talk about the secret origins of Secret Identities and Shattered as well as Jamie’s Yellow Peril webcomic. We’ll also discuss why we have chosen the comics medium to tell Asian American stories in the first place. Check out details after the jump!
by Gene Yang
Pro cosplayer Alvin Duong has graciously agreed to help us promote The Shadow Hero by cosplaying the Green Turtle at San Diego Comic-Con!
When I first talked to Alvin, I told him we could find a way around the Green Turtle’s bare-chestedness. Alvin wouldn’t hear of it — staying true to the source material is key for him. So here he is, embodying the Green Turtle in all his goofy Golden Age glory:
You may recall back in April, we let you know about the Old School Kung Fu Film Fest in New York City. To coincide with the films shown, the festival’s organizers commissioned the homey Jerry Ma — of Epic Proportions — to curate a little art show with world renowned artists interpreting their own movie posters for each of the films shown.
Well, this weekend, those pieces of art (and more) are going to be presented at Lincoln Center as part of the New York Asian Film Festival! Featuring the work a slew of NOC-friendly artists, including Larry Hama, Bernard Chang, Jef Castro, Ken Knudtsen, and John Jennings!
Check out the official announcement after the jump.
Continue reading “Announcing the New York Asian Film Festival Poster Art Show”
Keiko Agena is best known for her roles as Lane Kim on the WB’s Gilmore Girls and as White House Press Secretary Britta Kagen on Scandal. When she’s not on television, you can find Keiko performing in LA with the improv group Renegade Justice Patrol.
Currently, she’s working on a project that needs your help to hit its Kickstarter goal: Super(fluous) is a comedic webseries that tells the story of what happens when superhero roommates stop being polite and start getting real. Or something like that.
With only a few days left in the campaign, I sat down with Keiko to talk about how she got involved with the project and how she’s actually not really a nerd.
Continue reading “Keiko Agena’s Super(fluous) Webseries is Anything But”
by Gene Yang | Originally posted at Tor.com
Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Er… did you know that May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? Well, now you do. And I hope you have a happy one.
All over cyberspace, folks are celebrating in all sorts of ways. Wall Street Journal columnist Jeff Yang (no relation) kicked things off with an article that asks if the APA community is one or many (and graphically compares it to Voltron). CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) launched a campaign of YouTube videos with several prominent APA entertainers talking about their career paths.
I’m doing my part by sharing with you my Top Ten Favorite APA characters in comics. They aren’t listed in any specific order, but they all meet these requirements: They’re in comics, they’re of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, they’re American, and they make my heart happy. Continue reading “Top Ten Asian Pacific American Comics Characters”
Captain America rakes in billions of dollars in box office. Computer graphics are required to bring Superman’s powers to life. An Oscar-winning celebrity is cast to play Batman and the internet breaks in half. We take for granted that these superhero characters are embedded in our modern cultural conscience. They are more than just household names, they’re indelible parts of our collective identity. They are also all really old.
After all, 2014 marks Batman’s 75th anniversary (Supes turned 75 last year). And Steve Rogers being a WWII relic isn’t just a plot gimmick for a series of movies, it’s because the character was actually conceived during WWII. 
The point is that these characters who are part of contemporary popular culture were actually born during the 1930s and ’40s (the “Golden Age” of comics, if you will) and have endured ever since. They weren’t the only ones who were created at the time, but they have had the most staying power.
There is actually another superhero that is also celebrating a milestone anniversary this year. Seventy years ago this July, a superhero called the Green Turtle debuted in the pages of Blazing Comics. You’ve probably never heard of him, but if Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew have anything to say about it, you will soon.
Continue reading “Gene Yang & Sonny Liew Bring the Green Turtle Out of the Shadows”
