Podcast Episode For 4/19/09: (Chapter 1): Asian American Stuff: Better Asian Man interviews the Editors of Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology

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Interview Transcript:

Albert: You bill Secret Identities as the first ever anthology of Asian American superheroes. But there have been other Asian American superheroes, like Sunfire, and Jubilee. How do yours differ from ones we’ve seen in the past?

Keith Chow: The bigest difference is that the Asian American superheros [in Secret Identities] were created by Asian Americans.

Jerry Ma: We opened the floodgates for everyone to get their ideas in it. I like to think that we got the heroes that Asian Americans really wanted to see. They weren’t charicatures that just happened to be Asian American.

Keith Chow: A lot of the [existing Asian American superheroes] were kind of added in after the fact. So we created a universe from scratch that shows that there is a wealth of Asian American heroes.

William: I think it’s really awesome that you had so many prominent individuals from the Asian American community contributing to Secret Identities, including Yul Kwon, Sun Kang, Tak Toyoshima, and many others. What was it like working with them?

Parry Shen: There are just so many talented storytellers … we just thought that there are already good storytellers; we just need to have them be able to tell their story in this medium, and they all jumped at the chance at doing that, because a good storyteller is a good storyteller, and you pair them with an artist that can get their word into a visual medium like that– it was something that hasn’t really been done before.

Keith Chow: One of the jumping off points for Jeff and I in our conversations was the fact that if you look at the comic book industry, and you look at all the comic book artists, a good percentage of them are Asian American– Jim Lee, Greg Pak, Dustin Nguyen– these are the top names in the industry. These guys work for DC and Marvel, and they’re writing and drawing Batman and the Hulk, and they never get a chance to create their own Asian American superhero. So when they were given an opportunity, they jumped right in.

William: Parry, you’ve said in the introduction page, on the preview for Secret Identities, that Asian Americans have a deep connection with the superhero comic genre. Could you elaborate on that?

Parry Shen: We used the superhero template. He or she wears a mask to conceal their identity, but usually in their alter-ego, they go about everyday life, just sort of unnoticed. We said, “Asian American’s moreso” would relate to something like this because for the most part, we are seen sort of as the cultural group that is easily ignored, the silent minority, but if you peel back the layers and reveal who we are underneath, we have all these great talents.

Albert: Jerry, you’re the Art Director for Secret Identities. You’ve contributed your own artwork to the book, and you also run your own design studio, Epic Proportions. What does Secret Identities represent in the spectrum of your career?

Jerry Ma: When I first started publishing my own comics, it’s always been really important to me to have an Asian American hero. I just feel like there really are none, of any kind in any genre of entertainment. Really, Bruce Lee was the first, and probably the last, Asian male that, I think, more than just Asian people looked up to. So, it was important to me to be a part of this just to get the chance to have more than just a couple of people see it. My books alone, if you see [them], are all Asian American. I’ve taken a lot of crap for it from Hollywood. This was really, I felt, the perfect chance for me to showcase Asian men in a positive way, besides being a side-kick, or a kung fu guy.

Albert: Could you give us an example of what kind of flak you would get from Hollywood?

Jerry Ma: I’ve been told literally from studio houses, “This will be made a movie, if the hero can be white. The girl and the bad guy can be Asian, but that’s about it.” Word for word.

William: We know that Secret Identities is a book for everybody. But I have one question for the Asian American men who are listening to this right now. You’ve talked a lot about empowerment on your website, and in the previews for Secret Identities, what do you think this book will empower the Asian American MAN to do or to believe?

Keith Chow: That’s another reason why we were using the superhero template. When you think of the superhero genre of comic books, it is one of the most mythological things. People who have never read a comic book in their lives have heard of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman, right? When you look at Superman, and how he transcends popular culture as part of the fabric of Americana, what better way to express what Asian Americans go through, than using that lens to look at our issues.

There’s a story in the book called “The Citizen,” by Greg Pak and Bernard Chang. Where the main hero is a Japanese American guy who has a bad ass attitude and these rippling muscles, and he’s wearing spandex, you know? These are guys that are your archetypal superheroes. When you look at how Asian Americans are depicted in media: mild mannered guy who’s good at his job but sucks around women– they’re not these idolized, hyper-masculine figures.

But superheroes are. You can’t be a superhero and not [have] these rippling muscles. That’s just one aspect– I’m not saying that’s the total experience, but I think that says something about how– that’s a commentary about how Asian American men, in particular, have been depcted in the media, and we’re trying to flip that script and say that these hyper-masculine superheroes can also be Asian Americans as well.

William: Parry, I read the open letter that you wrote for “Better Luck Tomorrow,” and also for Secret Identities. Do you think that there will be some other measurement of succees for Secret Identities that’s not related to money. The book is already selling very well, and you’ve previously said that the world changed in certain small ways because of “Better Luck Tomorrow.” What are some of the ways you think the world COULD change because of Secret Identities.

Parry Shen: We believe that this will jumpstart conversations. … If some Asian American kid, 20 years from now, picks this up from the library, and looks through it, and all of a sudden sees a generation of superheroes that he can look up to that are like him, and have an appearance similar to him, and all of a sudden he grows up to be a hot director and starts making a movie out of the Nisei Kid [from "9066", one of the stories in Secret Identities]… all of a sudden we have set something in motion… we didn’t see the immediate effect of it, but I think it’s something that we felt was almost a responsibility to do it.

When Jerry and Keith were talking about it initially sort of as a thing in the ether, like “this would be great if someone did this,” and on the back of that they just said, “you know what, let’s just do it. Let’s not wait for somebody.” Now, it’s going to be out there forever and I’m really proud of that.

William: I think that’s an awesome goal, and I’m happy to tell you guys that I’m going to do my part to contribute to this goal. I actually bought 2 copies of the book yesterday. Jerry was wondering why I bought the second one without an autograph. The reason why I bought the second one was so that I could donate it to the Flushing, Queens library. Which has the highest concentration of Asian people in New York City. I wanted to have generations of future Asian people, like you said Parry, to be able to see this and be inspired by it. So that was why I bought to, and I didn’t tell you why, but now you know.

Jerry Ma: That’s great! Thanks a lot

Parry Shen: That’s really awesome. We really appreciate that.

Albert: I’ve got a copy too that I’m going to donate to an organization of your choice. I wanted people to read this thing for generations to come.

Albert: Is there a volume 2 in the works?

Keith Chow: We’re definitely putting the gears in motion for a volume 2.

William: We have seen a recent wave of Asian American graphic novels, like “Good as Lily,” “Shortcomings,” and “Regifters.” Do you think that Secret Identities is part of this wave, or it it’s own thing?

Keith Chow: I think it’s both. You’re seeing a lot more Asian American graphic novels coming upon the scene, but those are not superhero books. What we wanted to do with Secret Identities, was to ride that wave of Asian American writing about being Asian American, but putting it through the lens of the Superhero. Really, when you think of comic books, the superhero genre is the one that’s almost synonymous with comics. That’s the one that transcends the genre. If you go to some kid in the middle of the desert, and you show him the superman symbol, he’s going to know who you’re talking about. That’s what we wanted to do with our characters. We wanted to tell the stories of the Asian American experience– the multitude that there is, through the superhero lens, for one, because it illuminates things better, and secondly, it’s something that transcends culture– that people cling on [to} for generations. We want characters like “The Citizen”, and “Peril”, and “The Nisei Kid” to be the Supermans and the Bamans of the future. The ones that Asian American kids, African American kids, caucasian kids, or latino kids, can go, “that’s a cool character.” And pass those characters down through the generations so that they look back 20, 30 years from now and see these characters the same way we look at people like Batman, and Superman, and Wonder Woman.

Jerry Ma: I don’t know if we were necesarilly riding a wave. I think it’s more of a coincidence. We’re trying to use the comic medium as a tool to deliver our message– one that is open. I just feel that the comic medium lends itself to a wide range of age to view. If it was in a magazine, really, you’re not going to get too many young kids reading it. If it’s in a children’s book, you’re not going to get too many older people reading it. Whereas in a graphic novel form, I think it lends itself to really, anyone that is somewhat interested in it is going to try to pick it up and see what it’s all about.

Keith Chow: The powerful thing about a graphic novel is that it’s so visual. It’s one thing to write a prose novel about being Asian American, and inspiring people through that. But it’s another thing for kids to actually see themselves reflected in the art. When they see “The Citizen,” or when they see “Peril,” they see themselves. There’s a powerful notion to not just read about it or hear about someone Asian American doing heroic deeds or being looked up to– it’s another thing to actually see it represented visually, that empowers people even more.

Albert: If I could describe the book in just a couple words, it would be “slam bang.” It pulls out all the stops, and as I was reading it, I got the sense that this was the work of some guys who felt they might not get the chance to do this again, because, they put everything between the covers of this book. I remember two years ago, I met Jeff– he just gave me the ash can, the mock up, for secret identities, there was really nothing to it. It was just a few pages, and just some rough sketches. But now, this book is a hefty work of art. It’s got 25 stories or so– different artists, different writers. There’s excitement, there’s adventure, there’s history, politics, comedy, tragedy, boy stories, girl stories, and we always hear this talk from the community of “we don’t have enough representation,” and “we’re not in the media often enough,” and “there aren’t heroes who look like us.” And what I think this book is, is an answer for the ages. Just to silence anyone who says that. Now these guys have done their part. They’ve actually made the work that we’ve been clamoring for all these years, now we have to do our part, which is to read the book, and more importantly, buy the book.