Secret Identities

The Asian American Superhero Anthology

A groundbreaking graphic collection that explores Asian American culture, identity, and history through all-new superhero comics

“As a comics fan, I had a great time reading all the fabulous tales; as an Asian American comics professional, I am more than a little in awe of the amazing talent assembled under one house.” —Jim Lee, artist and founder of WildStorm Comics

There’s this guy we know—quiet, unassuming, with black hair and thick glasses. He’s doing his best to fit in, in a world far away from the land of his birth. He knows he’s different and that his differences make him alien, an outsider—but they also make him special. Yet he finds himself unable to reveal his true self to the world. . . .

For many Asian Americans, this chronicle sounds familiar because many of us have lived it. But it also happens to be the tale of mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, better known as Superman. And the parallels between those stories help explain why Asian Americans have become such a driving force in the contemporary comics renaissance as artists, writers, and fans.

Yet there’s one place where Asians are still underrepresented in comics: between the four-color covers themselves. That’s why, in Secret Identities, top Asian American writers, artists, and comics professionals have come together to create twenty-six original stories centered around Asian American superheroes—stories set in a shadow history of our country, exploring ordinary Asian American life from a decidedly extraordinary perspective. Entertaining, enlightening, and more than a little provocative, Secret Identities blends action, satire, and thoughtful commentary into a groundbreaking anthology about a community too often overlooked by the cultural mainstream.

For more information, please visit www.secretidentities.org

Praise

“Wowee!!! What mind-blowing superheroes exploding out of the pages of Secret Identities! As a kid who grew up on comics in the ’40s and ’50s, for the first time in my life, I recognized, identified, and became a comic book hero.”
—George Takei
“Criminally overdue, but well worth the wait, Secret Identities is a treasure trove of an anthology. These stories are as rousing, uplifting, tragic, and funny as our deepest secret fantasies.”
—Dwayne McDuffie, founder of Milestone Comics and writer of Justice League of America
“Beyond awesome! . . . This book made me feel like I could leap over tall buildings in a single bound.”
—Margaret Cho
“These Asian American superheroes knocked me out! I wish I had known these superheroes when I was a kid—I’d have traded my entire comic book collection for this butt-kicking, death-defying, and brilliant anthology.”
—Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People

Books by these authors

Shattered
The Asian American Comics Anthology

Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jerry Ma

Goodreads Reviews