Originally posted at 8Asians.com
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by Koji Steven Sakai
When I was a kid, I LOVED comic books. I bought every X-Men
comic I could get my hands on. I was obsessed. This was a long time ago
and back then the idea of Asian American superheroes was pretty much
unheard of. This is not to say that Asian/Asian Americans weren’t in
comic books. The one prominent one I remember reading was Sunfire.Here is the Wikipedia description of him:
Sunfire is a temperamental and arrogant Japanese mutant who can generate superheated plasma and fly. Not suited for teamwork, Sunfire was only briefly a member of the X-Men and has kept limited ties to the team since. He has had some presence in the greater Marvel Universe.
Not someone I could get behind.The only time I really felt the lack of Asian American representation was when I watched/read G.I. Joe. I rooted for the two Asian/Asian American guys, Quick Kick (Right) and Storm Shadow (Left).
You might recognize Quick Kick as Angry Asian Man’s logo but I vaguely remembered him as a child. The character I always rooted for and played with was Storm Shadow. And even though he was a bad guy, when I played with him he always became a good guy. And I secretly imagined the guy under the mask actually looked exactly like me.
Now that I think about it, that’s kind of depressing.
This is why when I first heard about Secret Identities: The Asian American Superheroes Anthology,
the first anthology of Asian American superheroes created/drawn by
Asian Americans, way back in 2009 I was super excited. I submitted a
story (“Meet Joe”) and was honored to be included in the first book.
Three years later, the second book, Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology (Secret Identities), is coming out next week. This book features villains. Not just any villain, but Asian American ones!
