SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Seven: Nerdy Gal

SHATTERED: Working with Larry Hama on ‘The Date’

Originally posted at NerdyGal.com
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by Amy Chu


I’ve been asked how a newcomer such as myself ended up collaborating with the legendary creator Larry Hama, a respected veteran of the industry for the new Asian American comics anthology SHATTERED. Here’s the actual story:

It was exactly two years ago from today, funnily enough. My very first encounter with the writer/artist and former DC and Marvel editor wasn’t at a convention or store signing. It was at a very crowded cocktail fundraiser at a Manhattan art gallery for the Asian American Arts Alliance, a nonprofit community organization. I happened to be invited at the last minute by Ken Chen, the Executive Director of the Asian American Writers Workshop and a lifelong comics nut ( I believe he did his masters thesis on Chris Ware). Larry was good naturedly circulating anonymously in the crowd until Ken spotted him and introduced us. It came out in the conversation that in the ’70s young Larry had been part of the Basement Workshop, an arts activist and social justice group which spawned many of the New York City Asian American arts nonprofit organizations you see today. As someone who worked in the Asian American non profit sector for years, I was tickled to death to find we had several friends in common because of this.

Larry, who is known for his work on GI Joe, Bucky O’Hare, Elektra, Wolverine, is a pioneer for fighting racial and gender stereotyping in comics characters. He has a long history of creating unapologetically strong female characters like G.I. Joe’s Scarlett and pushing characters like the ninja Storm Shadow beyond the typical villainous Asian caricatures of the time. A genial and charismatic guy, he had a neverending stockpile of amazing and entertaining stories of those days. We had a terrific conversation.

Fast forward several months. My original pitch in collaboration with the very talented Toronto based artist Craig Yeung had been accepted by the folks at SHATTERED but I was told there was another story with some similar themes. Could I change the setting somehow? I didn’t really have any good ideas.

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Six: A. L. Baroza

Originally posted at ALBaroza.com
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by A.L. Baroza

Volume Two in the Secret Identities comics anthology series has finally dropped and is now available.  I contribute a few pages, illustrating writer Jamie Ford’s EC Comics pastiches.  Here’s one of my mock covers that appear in the book, done in classic Tales From The Crypt style, or as close to it as I can get, at least.

I get a kick out of the idea of “Chuckie Chan”.  Created with Sketchbook Pro and Photoshop.

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Five: Angry Asian Man

my very own superhero in shattered: the asian american comics anthology
Originally published at Angry Asian Man
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by Phil Yu

My fellow comic book geeks! Next week marks the official launch of Shattered, follow-up to the groundbreaking Asian American comics anthology Secret Identities, from editors Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow and Jerry Ma.

While the first collection focused on the conventions of traditional superhero comics, this new volume explores some darker and edgier genres to subvert and shatter Asian stereotypes.

The book features an impressive lineup of contributors, including leading comics creators Bernard Chang, Sean Chen, Cliff Chiang, Larry Hama, Sonny Liew, Takeshi Miyazawa, Christine Norrie, Greg Pak, G.B. Tran, Gene Yang and more, as well as folks from the film and literary world like Tanuj Chopra, Michael Kang, Jamie Ford, Gary Jackson and Bao Phi.

I managed to slip something in the book too.


I had the great privilege of contributing a short piece for Shattered's character gallery, with the visuals supplied by the artist/editor Jerry Ma. My character: Angry Asian Man, of course. I actually have to thank Jerry, who had been bugging me since the first anthology to contribute a character.

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Four: Reappropriate

Secret Identities, Shattered: My Relationship with Comic Books, and the Genesis of PUSH

Originally published at Reappropriate.co
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by Jenn Fang

For me, comic books aren’t mere entertainment.

As a kid (and still today), I was fascinated by superheroes and their stories. I was a fan of Superman, Batman, and the X-men. Although some of it was basic glee at following the tales of men and women fighting crime in brightly-coloured tights, I think part of my fascination with comic books was my identification with the superheroes in their pages. To me, that is the strength of the comic book medium: they aren’t just childish fantasy. Comic books tell stories of characters that serve as archetypes of human emotion and experience, and when comic books are considered in that context, one can find them capable of highly nuanced, fascinating, and overwhelmingly mature commentary on humanity and human nature.

Thus, I think the best comic book characters are those that speak to universal experiences. Superman isn’t just a Man of Steel; he is an immigrant whom I find most compelling as Clark Kent, an adopted alien trying to fit in among men. Batman isn’t merely a man dressed in a giant Bat-suit; his story speaks to the fragility of life, the relationship between grief and madness, and how the human mind can (or cannot) walk the tightrope between sanity and sociopathy. The X-men are, and were conceived as, a commentary on the civil rights movement. While most comic book characters maintain their popularity because of some ill-defined “cool factor” that render them little more than “good guys in tights”, the most enduring characters are those who have transcended to become a symbol that speaks to particular facets of the human experience.

… although I struggle to explain Aquaman. Who’s neither cool, nor archetypal. He’s a fish-man in green tights.

The one weakness of comic books is that, for so long, they have been written by White men for predominantly White male readers, and thus there is a lack a diversity in characters that speak to the experiences of non-White, non-male readers. Many female characters suffer from what feminist writer Laura Mulvey coined as “to-be-looked-at-ness”; that is, they are primarily written in a voyeuristic, rather than a narrative or humanized, light. Female characters are rarely written in a manner that encourages the reader to identify with them, or to perceive the story through their eyes; instead female superheroes (particularly those in the Golden and Silver Age of comics) are typically mere props to satisfy the male gaze — and often stereotypical ones, at that.

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Three: Angry Girl Comics

Originally posted at Angry Girl Comics
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 by Wendy Xu

hi friends! I hope all my fellow NYCers survived the hurricane safe and sound. my area of BK was thankfully untouched; I am so freaking grateful to have had power through this whole ordeal.
so the official launch date of Secret Identities is rapidly coming upon us (remember, remember, the 5th of November, woooo!) although you can still pick up an early copy if you’re in the NYC area and get to visit the Museum of Chinese in America, which I highly suggest doing. Right now through February they have an amazing API comics exhibit up featuring work by fine folks like my dear friend Alice Meichi Li and people I have had the great pleasure and privilege of paneling with, like Larry Hama and GB Tran, all of whom also contributed to SI!

I was approached by Keith at the beginning of the summer and asked to contribute to the book. I almost could not believe that I was going to be in a real published anthology and consequently sat on the news for months, although I was dying to tell everyone (and now all of you have to get flooded with news about this, muwahaha). but I cannot even begin to describe how huge of an honor this is for me.

I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. actually, when I started at NYU I’d started out in the psychology program with the goal of becoming a therapist (L O L HOW MINDS CHANGE) and then realized it was really not for me. but by then it was too late to change majors since I’d dived right in, so I just rode out the program, which I finished early, and turned my goal elsewhere, and in my sophomore year of college really got into drawing comics. I started Angry Girl in a very transitional and turbulent summer between my junior year and the start of my last semester and it has taken me further than I ever could have imagined.

for the anthology I drew a two-page thank-you comic for Dr. Jan and Marica Vilcek, founders of the Vilcek Foundation, an organization that gives grants to immigrants working in the arts and sciences. The Vilceks themselves are immigrants, having left Czechoslovakia for the States in the sixties and becoming superstars in their respective fields of medical research and art history. The comic was written by Jeff Yang, one of our editors for the anthology.

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day Two: 8Asians

Why Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology (Secret Identities) is Important

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!

SIUniverse Blog Parade Day One: Adam WarRock

Shattered – Secret Identities & some news updates
Originally posted at AdamWarRock.com

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I was lucky enough to be included in the recent publication Shattered: Secret Identities Vol. 2. Shattered is the second in a line of anthologies that seek to bring multicultural voices and perspectives through the medium of comics. It’s a book full of amazing, original art and stories by creators like Fred Chao (Johnny Hiro), Greg Pak (The Incredible Hulk), Larry Hama (GI Joe), and tons more.

I got to work with Ming Doyle (Future Foundation, Loneliest Astronauts, Girl Comics), who’s not only an amazing illustrator, but without a doubt, one of my favorite comic artists in the world. We contributed a gallery piece that basically made me into a superhero. Here’s what I look like, in a nice sepia tone:

Jubilee's Texts #3

Apparently, there's a movie opening today featuring a bunch of Asian characters!

We found Jubilee texting her friends about the possibilities of Hollywood turning the stories from SHATTERED into potential movies.

If a story from #SHATTERED was turned into a movie, would Asian actors play the roles? Jubilee's txts have the answer. twitter.com/SIUniverse/sta…
— Secret Identities (@SIUniverse) October 26, 2012

The SIUniverse at New York Comic Con!

Come by Epic Props booth 1113 and get a copy of SHATTERED before it’s in stores.

Also, stop by the booths of other members of the SIU family:

Bernard Chang will be in Artist Alley at C8!

Cliff Chiang will be in Artist Alley at N1!

Greg Pak will be in Artist Alley at K18!

Larry Hama will be at Epic Proportions Booth 1113!

Ming Doyle will be in Artist Alley at B2!

Sean Chen will be in Artist Alley at C9!

Sonny Liew wil be in booth U12!

Billy Tan will be in booth P2!

Dustin Nguyen will be in booth H1!

Greg LaRocque will be in booth O5! (Saturday only)

Louie Chin will be in booth 448!

Shattered Sneak Peek: Hibakusha: Secrets

Hibakusha: Secrets from Shattered

In this scene from SHATTERED, we re-meet: Ryan Suda (Power: Body produces steroid-grade epinephrine allowing him to access to the upper limits of human strength and endurance), Kat Nagano (Power: Psi ability to excite atoms within any object), and Daisuke “Dice” Kim (Power: Ability to manipulate any object’s density) in THE HIBAKUSHA: Secrets. 

Beautifully rendered by Sean Chen, Kat is meltin’ helmets while Dice stops a hail of bullets with a wave of his hand and Ryan kicks some serious tail (a baddie with 9 of ‘em no less!)

The Hibakusha from Secret Identities

But as you can see from their first outing in THE HIBAKUSHA from Volume 1, they weren’t very… experienced.  Drawn here by Glenn Urieta, Ryan is crumpled on the ground near-unconscious, as his blood vessels have constricted from too much adrenaline.  Dice has instinctively activated his density abilities only to sadly embed himself into the ground while Kat stands protectively over Ryan heating… the surrounding air.

So check out this story to see how they became so adept at using their abilities when SHATTERED: The Asian American Comics Anthology hits stores in Fall 2012!! 

SIUniverse is now on tumblr

We've added another notch on our social media utility belt. After staking our claim on Facebook, twitter, and YouTube, we've decided to add tumblr to the mix. (We have a Pinterest board too, but, uh, I don't know how it works.)

The official SIUniverse tumblr has been around for a few weeks now, but this past Saturday was the official launch of what we're calling SHATTEREDay™ 'round these parts. Basically, every Saturday from now until the foreseeable future, we'll feature a sneak peek at the stuff we're getting in from artists and writers. And it's good stuff. Stuff we can't wait to share with the rest of you!

Last week on the tumblr, we unveiled character designs of Jimson Fo and John Henry from Jeff's "Driving Steel" sequel "The Breaking" by artist Krishna Sadasivam. 

Good stuff, right?

So bookmark the SIUniverse tumblr, and check it out every Satur... SHATTEREDay™ for new updates!