The Secret’s Out: Secret Identities Is Here And It’s Awesome!
by Guest Contributor Jenn, originally published at Reappropriate
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, Jerry 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 ”conaisseur” of shoujo manga, I became an instant fan of this story. 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).
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