In the New Press’ new comics anthology, the superhero genre provides powerful metaphors for Asian American history and identity. Creators such as Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), Bernard Chang (Wonder Woman), Greg Pak (The Hulk), Sonny Liew (the upcoming Liquid City; Vertigo's My Faith in Frankie), Greg LaRocque (The Flash), Christine Norrie (Black Canary Wedding Special), Francis Tsai (Heroes for Hire) and others combine their talents to tell exciting superhero tales that also weave in aspects of U.S. history, including the building of the railroads and establishment of Japanese American internment camps in World War II.

We spoke to Secret Identities Education and Outreach Editor Keith Chow (who longtime BookShelf readers will recognize as no stranger to comics in education), about the anthology and real-life empowerment through fictional superheroes.

BookShelf: Tell us a little bit about the background of Secret Identities: how did this book come to be? What is the significance of the title?

Keith Chow: Back in 2006, I did a special newsletter on APA heritage month in which I spotlighted a bunch of books by AsianAm creators and interviewed folks like Gene Yang, Greg Pak and Derek Kirk Kim about being Asian American in the industry. That newsletter somehow wound up in Jeff Yang's inbox who was also writing a column on Asian American superheroes for the San Francisco Chronicle. I was interviewed for his column (which you can read here) and in the course of our conversation, we just started sharing superhero ideas we had and were like, "we should do a book!" Of course, neither of us figured anything would come of it, and said our goodbyes. Several weeks later, I ran into Jerry Ma at a Wizard World in Philly and told him about my conversation with Jeff. It turned out that Jeff and Jerry had mutual friends and he was totally down for the idea. So with an artist on board, we set out to actually do the book!

The whole notion of "secret identities" is a common convention of superhero stories. And since we were ultimately using the superhero prism to look at being Asian American, it just seemed like a fitting title because being Asian in America is sort of like having a secret identity. It's all about perceptions, right? And to this day, Asian Americans are always perceived as foreign or other. I mean, look at the Texas state rep who recently complained that Asian voters need to have more American names or whatever. 

BookShelf: What was your role as editor?

Keith Chow: Each of us had a role in deciding which stories made the cut. We also paired up a lot of the creative teams: assigning certain artists to certain stories, etc.

BookShelf:  Once the core group of editors came together, what did you take into account when selecting creators?

Keith Chow: We sent out an open call way back when and literally received hundreds and hundreds of ideas and pitches. It was quite overwhelming! The only criteria we had (other than the characters had to be Asian American and have superpowers) was that the story was good and worth telling. At the same time, we wanted the characters' ethnicity to be organic rather than just tacked on at the end.

BookShelf: How are both the superhero genre and the comics medium useful for confronting social issues and issues of identity?

Keith Chow: There's something uniquely American about the superhero genre. There's a reason that the medium endures some seven decades after its inception.

One of the things we noticed in the course of creating this book is how neatly a lot of superhero conventions dovetail with the experiences of many Asian Americans. One story we point to in the book is Clark Kent's. He's this mild-mannered guy with dark hair and glasses from a faraway land very different from the heartland of America. Maybe Asian Americans readily identify with Clark because his story is the ultimate immigrant story and those issues are a big part of the Asian American experience?

I like to point to the X-Men as my cultural metaphor. In the Marvel universe, mutants are outcast from regular society because of their abilities or appearance. But when they come to Xavier's school, they see this whole world where they can feel acceptance and solidarity among others like them. I went through something similar growing up. I came up in a small town in Virginia in which my family was the only Asian one. So I had some self-esteem issues. But when I went to college, and got involved in several on-campus student groups, I started to take pride in my heritage and learn to control my superhuman abilities! 

BookShelf: Your educational outreach includes presentations at schools around the country and a supplemental teacher's guide. Can you tell us more about these? How would you like to see educators using this book?

Keith Chow: We've spent a lot of time on the road speaking at college campuses across the country. Most of the time we're speaking to student organizations and many of them aren't necessarily comic readers, but they are definitely intrigued by the book. That’s the thing about the educational outreach we're doing. On the one hand, this is a superhero book full of action, drama, humor and cool moments. But on the other hand, there are real issues that are being discussed in it. For example, there is a "shadow history" in our book in which we use the superhero lens to illuminate historic events in Asian American history--like the creation of the railroads, the Japanese American internment camps, the Fighting 442nd of WWII, the murder of Vincent Chin, the incarceration of Wen Ho Lee. By doing so, we hope people will investigate the actual events that inspired these fictional stories and learn something about history that is often glossed over in schools.

BookShelf: What response have you seen so far? Would you consider a sequel?

Keith Chow: We've felt a lot of love from the people who've come out to support the book! We've also got some nice reviews in places like PW and Booklist. Despite all that, we're still seeing some resistance in some outlets to carrying the book. We have definitely been kicking around ideas for a second volume (maybe an Asian American Supervillain anthology, perhaps?), but before we can, we need to make sure people are out there requesting the book at their local bookstore, comic shop and library!

Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
The New Press
ISBN: 9781595583987
http://www.secretidentities.org