The Asian American Writers’ Workshop hosted yesterday The First Annual Asian American ComiCon at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City. The event celebrated “the unique contemporary role and historical legacy of Asian American comic artists, featuring the writers and editors of ‘Secret Identities’, the first-ever graphic novel anthology of Asian American superhero stories.”
In her Wall Street Journal blog, Christina Jeng interviewed Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak. He talked about “why Asian-American teens don’t identify with Asian heroes in comic books.” I would think Goku is popular enough among the younger generation. Regardless, long before comic characters of Asian—or, for that matter, other ethnic—background was in the vogue, Asian Americans already played a significant role in the anime world.
One such front-runner in the field was Iwao Takamoto. At the end of World War II, Mr. Takamoto first worked for Disney as an assistant; it was there that he would contribute as animator to now classic hits—Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc. He eventually assumed a VP role for Creative Design at Hanna-Barbera overseeing similarly enduring comic masterpieces such as X-Men. At the height of his career, the Animation Guild would vest in him the Golden Award for fifty years of outstanding contributions to the field.
Apart from the mark he left in the industry, Iwao also led a rich and interesting life as chronicled in his biography “Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters”. Surely, Iwao would be proud of how Asian Americans have reached new grounds following his footsteps and find hope and comfort with Asian American superheroes emerging from wartime internment.
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