Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 5

by Gene Yang | Originally posted at GeneYang.com

All this week, Sonny and I are taking you behind the scenes of our new comic The Shadow Hero! Buy the digital first issue of The Shadow Hero on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, or B&N Nook for a mere $0.99!

Here are the previous posts, in case you missed them:

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 1
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 2
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 3
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 4

Continue reading “Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 5″

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 4

by Gene Yang | Originally posted at GeneYang.com

All this week, Sonny and I are taking you behind the scenes of our new comic The Shadow Hero! Buy the digital first issue of The Shadow Hero on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, or B&N Nook for a mere $0.99!

Here are the previous posts, in case you missed them:

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 1
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 2
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 3

Continue reading “Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 4″

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 3

by Gene Yang | Originally posted at GeneYang.com

All this week, Sonny and I are taking you behind the scenes of our new comic The Shadow Hero! Buy the digital first issue of The Shadow Hero on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, or B&N Nook for a mere $0.99!

Here are the previous posts, in case you missed them:

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 1
Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 2

Continue reading “Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 3″

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 2

by Gene Yang | Originally posted at GeneYang.com

Today is the day! Sonny Liew and I revive the Green Turtle, the first Asian American superhero!

The Shadow Hero #1 hits the digital shelves of Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, and B&N Nook! Buy it now for the low, low price of 99 cents!

All this week, Sonny and I are sharing our behind-the-scene material with you. Check out character designs on Sonny’s blog, and here’s my post from yesterday in case you missed it.

Continue reading “Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 2″

Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 1

by Gene Yang | Originally posted at GeneYang.com

Tomorrow, First Second Books will release the first digital issue of The Shadow Hero, a six-issue miniseries written by me and drawn by the tremendously talented Sonny Liew! The Shadow Hero #1 will be available via Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, and B&N Nook for the low, low price of $0.99! A print trade paperback collecting all six issues will be available July 15, just in time for Comic-Con.

The Shadow Hero revives the Green Turtle, an obscure comic book character from the 1940s who is arguably the first Asian American superhero. Like so many Golden Age characters, he’s in public domain now. You can read more about him and his creator Chu F. Hing here and here. You can find all of his original adventures at the Digital Comics Museum, an amazing free resource for comics fans.

Since this is The Shadow Hero‘s debut week, Sonny and I are going to share with you some behind-the-scenes stuff. Sonny’s going to show you his amazing character designs, while I’m going to give you a glimpse at my writing process.

Continue reading “Secret Origin of The Shadow Hero Part 1″

Unidentified is Now Available to Own on DVD/Digital

233We talked about it last week, but today is the day you can own the creepy and comedic sci-fi thriller Unidentified on DVD and digital. Just click here to find out all the different ways you can purchase or download the movie for yourself.

In the meantime, we’re going to be giving away a 19” x 13” collage, color print of the Jodieman Universe of characters drawn and signed by the artist Jerry Ma! If you’re lucky, maybe we’ll get Parry and Eddie to sign it too!

All you have to do is RT the following tweet, and if we can get to 100 retweets, we’ll send the print to one of our lucky followers.

Check out the synopsis itself after the jump, as well as the official trailer and a special behind-the-scenes peek at one of the signature moments of the movie.

Continue reading Unidentified is Now Available to Own on DVD/Digital”

It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim Special: Kimchi Power

Today’s special episode is “Kimchi Power,” an animated cartoon about a normal Korean American girl who finds out she gets super powers when she eats kimchi.

1656175_10153760786905106_18923767_n Natalie created this short with animator Tyler Landis aka Visual Brownies!

Check it out after the jump!

Continue reading It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim Special: Kimchi Power”

It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Robin Ha

How do the best comedians and cartoonists do what they do? Check out our new twice-weekly collaboration with Natalie Kim to find out!

Today Natalie sits down and draws with her partner on the “Ching Shih: Queen of Pirates” story in Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology, the independent comics master Robin Ha to discuss how Alabama and Seoul, Korea are actually not that different!

Check out the episode after the jump!

Continue reading It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Robin Ha”

It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Aparna Nancherla

How do the best comedians and cartoonists do what they do? Check out our new twice-weekly collaboration with Natalie Kim to find out!

Today, comedian Aparna Nancherla, a writer from W. Kamau Bell’s now defunct Totally Biased came to Natalie‘s studios to draw and spout some funny.

Check out the episode after the jump!

Continue reading It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Aparna Nancherla”

Gene Yang & Sonny Liew Preview The Shadow Hero

Later this year, First Second Books will be publishing The Shadow Hero from writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Sonny Liew. Back in November, we were fortunate enough to have Gene on Hard N.O.C. Life where he talked a bit about working with Sonny and their research into the Asian American origins of a forgotten Golden Age hero named the Green Turtle.

Though the book is still forthcoming, Gene and Sonny actually published a series of Shadow Hero strips in Shattered, the anthology of Asian American comics I co-edited with Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, and Jerry Ma in 2012. For the first time, however, Gene and Sonny are unveiling these strips in full color over at Tor.com (they were originally published in black & white in Shattered).

Continue reading “Gene Yang & Sonny Liew Preview The Shadow Hero

It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Simon Fraser

How do the best comedians and cartoonists do what they do? Check out our new twice-weekly collaboration with Natalie Kim to find out!

Today Natalie had the privilege to sit and draw with renowned Scottish cartoonist Simon Fraser. They talk about how Simon learned to draw so well and about why you should not read his upcoming project Grindhouse, a collaboration with writer Alex de Campi coming from Dark Horse.

Check out the episode after the jump!

Continue reading It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Simon Fraser”

It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Horatio Sanz

How do the best comedians and cartoonists do what they do? Check out our new twice-weekly collaboration with Natalie Kim to find out!

Today Natalie draws with Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz as he talks about how he really felt about the classic #cowbell episode of SNL.

Check out the debut episode after the jump!

Continue reading It’s a Draw with Natalie Kim and Horatio Sanz”

Remembering Dwayne McDuffie

Dwayne McDuffie is one of the most important figures in the history of the comic book industry. Perhaps that’s hyperbole, but I don’t think so. I know that his work has left an indelible mark on me, and the world is a lesser place without him in it.

I didn’t know Dwayne McDuffie personally. I only met him once. Briefly. It was in San Diego in 2009. The fellas (Jerry Ma, Jeff Yang, Parry Shen) and I were at Comic-Con to promote Secret Identities. Dwayne was on a panel moderated by Jeff, and the five of us were able to chat for a bit afterwards.

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Marvels & Monsters: Yo, Is This Racist?

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.

Jeff
Exhibit curator Jeff Yang

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Hip-Hop & Comics: The Artists of Chops’ Strength in NUMBERS

I first met Chops back in 1999 when the Mountain Brothers were at the peak of their powers. They came down to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA to perform at an event for the Asian Pacific American Student Union, a group I founded the year before. Needless to say, they blew the roof off of Webb Center and solidified APASU as a legit organization on campus. So after the show, and some late night IHOP pancakes, we bid the Bros — Chops, Peril, and Styles — adieu, and I was content with my signed Self: Volume One CD and brief brush with Asian American hip-hop royalty.

mb-keith
“One of these things is not like the other…”

Fast forward a decade and a half later — and thanks to the wonder of social media — Chops and I reconnected. Weirdly, he remembered who I was. So we met up one chilly night in Philly earlier this year. That’s when he first told me about Strength in NUMBERS over some beer and cheesesteaks. He even previewed just the tiniest snippet of a track while we rode around in his big ass Buick. Instantly, I realized how historic this project was going to be. I mean, an MBs reunion alone would be game-changing. Now you’re gonna throw in 30 other artists (including the likes of Dumbfoundead, Prometheus Brown, Rekstizzy, Rocky Rivera and dozens of others)? What? That’s a who’s-who of APA hip-hop right there! Then, here’s the part that blew my mind. He wanted my help. Say wha?

Continue reading “Hip-Hop & Comics: The Artists of Chops’ Strength in NUMBERS”

Meanwhile, on The Internet

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.

IWTWAEOver 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.

You can see the comic online here. A downloadable version is still forthcoming.

So there’s that. And after the jump is other stuff on the web you should be reading:

Continue reading “Meanwhile, on The Internet”