Comics, Comics Everywhere!

I just got back from NYC this past weekend meeting with the other editors of "Secret Identities" to go over all the submissions that we've received. 

It was great to finally meet the other guys and put a face to the voices (we've been conference calling for the past year). 

Basically all I had to go on were their comic rendered faces in the book's bio!

After selecting the stories that gelled with the Universe we were creating, the fun part was pairing them up with artists.  Our Editor-In-Chief set up a powerpoint slideshow of all the artists and samples of their work on his 42 inch LCD.  It felt muy professional.

It's going to be an awesome book with 20+ different creative teams.  It'll be hard work logistically and creatively to pull together this 192 page project in the coming months but it's cool to delve into a medium like this and at this level.  I'm even more stoked that a few of my own stories were selected and paired with some kicka** artists!  Once finished work starts coming in, I'll post a sneak peek of a script page with a finished penciled/inked page for you all to see and compare.

And now that I'm knee deep in this world of drawn storytelling -- it just seems to be following me everywhere I turn!

I found out a few months ago that "The Gene Generation" is going to be made into a comicbook that will be released in conjunction with the film.  Although the artists made me look all bada** and hard in it.

On the left is how I look in the movie.  Now compare it to the images on the right of how I would normally look in comic form to how I'll look rendered in the "GG" comic.  Oh yeah, baby. 

Then a few weeks ago, I shot a Guest Appearance for CBS' "Criminal Minds" -- and the storyline is rooted in... yep, the world of comicbooks.  I play this Type-A Literary Agent of a young rising artist played by Frankie Muniz ("Malcolm in the Middle", "Agent Cody Banks").  

It's a pretty cool episode and one of the largest roles I've ever had on television.  The episode, "True Night" is slated to air on Wed, November 28 at 9pm.

SECRET IDENTITIES

This is the project I've been working on for the past year - A Superhero Comic Anthology that will be published in Fall 2008 by The New Press.  And we're open for submissions!   

It's going to be a creator-owned graphic novel created by Asian Americans.  What I like about this project is that once the book comes out, there will be at least 20 hip, cool and well developed Asian American characters ready for Film/TV, Animation, or as an ongoing comic.  It's just jumpstarting another medium of storytelling.

And since the stories must all come from an Asian specific perspective, when Hollywood execs say, "I love the story but can we not go 'ethnic' with this project?"  The creators can retort, "Um... it's about the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings!" 

Plus we're also planning to do a Teacher's Guide in conjunction with the Anthology, so that students can use this in the classroom to learn the real stories behind the stories in the Anthology.  It'll be a great tool for kids to learn about Asian American Issues/Events that they normally wouldn't learn in the classroom. 

I know the way I learned ALL the stories in the bible growing up was reading it via comic form in "The Picture Bible".  

In the entry below, you will find: The official “Secret Identities” Announcement.  A sneak preview of the anthology is available for exclusive download in PDF format from AngryAsianMan.com.

Pass along the word -- we're looking for some good story ideas from EVERYONE by OCT 15th!  Send 'em with a filled out submission form to submit@secretidentities.org:

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"SECRET IDENTITIES: The Asian American Superhero Anthology"
Picked Up for Publication by The New Press for Spring 2009 Release

Groundbreaking new graphic novel collection seeks contributions from Asian American
artists and writers interested in exploring the superhero genre

September 10, 2007 – What if we told you a tale about a quiet, unassuming guy with black hair and thick glasses? He's an immigrant, who's done his best to fit in to a world that isn't his—one very different from  the land of his birth. He's got a hidden side to himself that he can't quite bring himself to show, not even to the popular girl he's got a huge crush on. If only she knew who he really was—what he could really do—she'd be amazed, he thinks. If only she knew. If only everyone knew...

For many Asian Americans, this chronicle is a familiar one, because many of us lived it. But this also happens to be the story of a mild-mannered reporter named Clark Kent, better known to the world by his alter ego: Superman. And it's just one example of the parallels between the cultural narrative of Asian America and the mythic foundation of the comic book superhero. These parallels, along with the burgeoning array of Asian American creative talent in the mainstream and alternative comics industries, are what have led New York Times best-selling author Jeff Yang; independent comics creator Jerry Ma; comics education specialist Keith Chow, and actor Parry Shen to team up to edit Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology, the first-ever graphic novel collection of original stories exploring the universe of masked marvels and caped crusaders from the perspective of the nation's fastest-growing and most dynamic emerging community. The book will be published in trade paperback by The New Press (http://www.thenewpress.com ), one of the nation's leading independent publishers, hitting bookshelves in Spring 2009.

Although top talents from the mainstream comic industry have already agreed to contribute stories to Secret Identities – including writers Greg Pak (World War Hulk) and J. Torres (Batman Strikes) and artists Sean Chen (Iron Man, Nova) and Cliff Chiang (Human Target), among others, the collection is actively seeking Asian American creators both within and outside the comics industry who are interested in contributing one to six page stories, either within the superhero genre or commenting on it in a satirical or insightful fashion. This may include artist/writer teams or artist-writer sole creators as well as artists seeking to be paired with a writer or writers with an idea seeking to be paired with an artist. 

Interested artists must submit art samples, and writers must submit story ideas, by no later than October 15^th, 2007 to be considered for the anthology. All characters and stories included in the collection must be original to their creators and previously unpublished in any venue. The collection is intended to be creator-owned: Contributors will retain all rights to characters, depictions, backgrounds, marks, and storylines associated with their submissions. A special free sneak preview of the anthology is be available for exclusive download in PDF format from AngryAsianMan.com.

Why "Secret Identities"?
As Entertainment Weekly's review of NBC's hit series Heroes reads: "Superheroes speak to the part of us – and we all have it – that hopes, deep down, that we're special."

"I think for Asian Americans, those parallels are even stronger," says Secret Identities senior editor and educational director Keith Chow. "Superhero stories – geeks like Peter Parker turning into gods, or immigrant aliens like Clark Kent assimilating into mainstream society – are about the Ultimate Model Minority: a subset full of outsiders with abilities hidden to the rest of society. But, like the X-Men, when you as an Asian American go off to school and meet other people like yourself – you discover your secret heritage, the thing inside you that makes you special."

Anthology editor-in-chief Jeff Yang notes that while this special resonance has created an "overabundance" of Asian American comic artists and writers, "Asian superheroes are a still rarity—and we thought that shouldn't be the case. We want this book to jumpstart a bumper crop of Asian American superheroes that will inspire future generations of the community by representing the full breadth or our diversity and history."

That full breadth means that the collection is looking to bring in voices and ideas outside of the conventional superhero comics space as well. "If you're an Asian American writer/artist, author, performer, director – or have always just wanted to create a comic… we want to hear from you," says art director Jerry Ma. "We're looking for fun, illuminating and imaginative stories that live in the 'superhero' world while exploring the idea of the extraordinary side of ordinary Asian Americans."

The ultimate goal of the project extends beyond simply publishing a single book. As managing editor Parry Shen notes, "When this book comes out, there will instantly be at least 20 fresh, hip, and well developed Asian American characters that can be expanded for future comics, live action film or animated series."

The Secret Identities submission form and other information about the project can be found at the Secret Identities website, www.secretidentities.org . The deadline for all story ideas and art samples is OCTOBER 15, 2007; all ideas and samples should be sent to submit@secretidentities.org . 

Examples of stories that have been submitted to date include:

• "9066" – A Nisei superhero finds himself facing internment during WWII despite his powers and status as a hero.
• "The Hibakusha" – The children of the survivors of Hiroshima experience strange side effects.
• "Peril" – The son of an unjustly accused Chinese American scientist must use his father's inventions to clear his father's name.
• "Driving Steel" – The legend of John Henry is well known: the African American rail worker who beat the steam engine by driving spikes with a sledgehammer in each hand. But did John Henry have a partner, and why is he absent from the legends that have been passed down through time?
• "A Day at Costume Co." – A tongue-in-cheek look at an Asian American suburban supermom and her quest to get her two paranormally-super powered teens through a day of shopping at the local big-box hero outfitter.

As a critical companion to the anthology, the creation of an in-depth teacher's guide and discussion booklet based on social issues and historical events raised by the stories in "Secret Identities" is planned. Stories rooted in real-world context – like the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the murder of Vincent Chin in the 1970s and the prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee – all offer strong potential use in educational settings at the middle school, high school and university levels.

Moreover, the signed, original artwork from the book's full-color gallery section will be auctioned off for charity, with the proceeds to benefit organizations supporting and advocating on behalf of Asian American youth.

About the Editors

Jeff Yang (Editor in Chief) founded and was editor and publisher of the pioneering Asian American periodical aMagazine. He has authored three books — Eastern Standard Time (Houghton Mifflin); I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (Ballantine, the action hero's official autobiography); and Once Upon a Time in China (Atria/Pocket Books) — and has written for a wide variety of publications,  including The Washington Post, Salon.com, Vibe, and Spin , and currently writes the "Asian Pop" column for the San Francisco Chronicle's website SFGate.com.

Keith Chow (Senior Editor/Educational Director) is currently a high school teacher and freelance Comics Education Specialist. Formerly with Diamond Comic Distributors, where he was Managing Editor of the Diamond Bookmark e-newsletter, Chow is dedicated to exploring the educational utility of comics. He has also contributed features for Wizard Entertainment's ToyFare Magazine, and his poetry has appeared in the Asian Pacific American Journal and the Powhatan Review. Chow is also the founder of the Asian Pacific American Student Union (APASU) at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA

Parry Shen (Managing Editor) began his career in the editorial side at Marvel Comics – specifically on the Beavis & Butthead book. He's since changed gears to tell stories in front of the camera and has had prominent roles in MTV Films' Better Luck Tomorrow, Columbia Pictures' The New Guy and slasher flick Hatchet. His television appearances include ABC's Brothers & Sisters, FX's Thief and CBS' Without a Trace. He has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and Extra, as well as in publications such as Premiere, Rolling Stone, VIBE, People Magazine, The LA Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Jerry Ma (Art Director) is one of the first creators on Digital Webbing Presents, where his graphic short story "Burn" evolved into an acclaimed self-published indie title, leading Jerry to launch the indie comics studio Epic Proportions.

# # #

Countdown to HATCHET... and me topless

So it's 3 weeks before my movie "HATCHET" finally hits theaters nationwide.  

To get everyone up to speed, I did an entry two years ago (READ HERE) about the character I play, "Shawn".  At first "Shawn" was a bit stereotypical but the director, Adam Green, was cool enough to hear out my thoughts and we wound up making some fixes and now he's one of my favorite characters I've ever played.  

It's been a 2 and a half year journey since we shot the movie and it's exciting to finally see things come to fruition.   The following new theatrical trailer below debuted at our Comic Con panel a few weeks ago.  

We figure at least 1,200 folks came out for our panel (the seating was 40 seats across and went at least 30 rows deep - and it was packed, people standing along the walls too!)  And yes, that's Twisted Sister's Dee Snider moderating our panel.

Even though we technically have a "wide" release, it only means that it'll show in the major theaters across the country on Sept 7th.  However, we'll still only be in about 120 theaters as opposed to a 2,000 plus theater count of a big studio backed film with endless advertising bucks. 

So as with "BLT", how well the film does that first weekend will determine if the movie gets released wider in the weeks after.  So our intro to the world at Comic Con was huge for us.  

And since our advertising dollars are limited, it was back to good 'ole fashioned grassroots viral marketing. 

Which meant the cast and crew sporting their "Hatchet Army" shirts at various events across town.  Even Milo Ventimiglia ("Heroes") enlisted in the 'Army'!  (You can get yours here too if you'd like to help spread the word - the opening date of the film is subtly printed on the back -- no really, it's not one of those obnoxious shirts that you can't wear years after the movie.)

But another big coup came last night when the trailer screened in front of 18,000 fans at a World Wrestling Entertainment event in Madison Square Garden.  Read here from the director how our man, John Saba was able to think out of the box and get us some free advertising.

Freakin' sweet, huh?

Okay.  And now for the part which I'm sure you've all been anxiously awaiting. 

What drew you to this entry in the first place.

Me displayed as a piece of meat. 

This is a new still from my other flick, "THE GENE GENERATION". 

As you can read from this article, the director's been working feverishly to finish the film (incidentally, also after 2 years) by the end of the month as we've gotten multiple distribution bids. 

Yes, I have no soul -- I will resort to showing cheesecake photos of myself in order to get readership.  

But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do -- it's a living.

COMIC-CON

When I was growing up reading comic books and interning with Marvel Comics, I'd always heard of the legendary "Comic-Con" in San Diego. 

And just like how the Sundance Film Festival began with humble beginnings -- it's now gotten so big that any Film/TV project with appeal to the comic fanboy/girl will set up camp at the convention to tout their goods.

This week's Entertainment Weekly starts off with an article centered on the comic world's Mecca.  Even HBO's fictional movie "Aquaman" within it's semifictional show, "Entourage" kicked off their promotion at 'The Con'. 

However, I've never been to The Convention despite living in California for the past 12 years, that is... until now.

Tomorrow (July 26th) I'll finally see what it's all about when I take part in the Starz Media Panel for my movie "HATCHET" at 3:00-4:30 in Room 6CDEF.  I'm sure my castmates and I will basically play second fiddle to the main draw of panel, the horror legends in our film -- Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees), and Tony Todd (Candyman).  But as long those theater seats are packed come September 7th, I'm fine with being ignored.

But I'll also be down there for double duty.   

I will be scouting out some Asian American artists and writers for an Asian American Superhero Anthology Comic, called SECRET IDENTITIES that I've been working on with the past year with a few talented fellas.  I'll elaborate on it further in a later entry but I'll say this now...  we've already got a publisher and it's set to see print in Fall 2008! 

And just because I have no other place to stick this mention, I'll just do it right here.  Check out this deleted scene from the movie, "Knocked Up" -- where a buddy of mine, Dr. Ken Jeong, does some killer improvisation (Warning: Lots of vulgarity) -- you can totally see Katherine Heigl cracking up off camera.  (He's actually a real doctor as well -- and basically channeled everything he ever wanted to say to his difficult patients!)  Hope to see some of you at 'The Con'!

ON STAGE

Tonight I'll be performing back-to-back staged readings of 2 comedic plays at the East West Players/David Henry Hwang Theater. 

The East West Players has a literary conservatory and it's participants get a chance to see their respective pieces on their feet.  Mostly it's the actors performing in chairs with scripts in hand but there is some minor staging for the wacky stuff. 

It's free for all and so is parking behind the theater.  If you've got the time, a great chance to hear lots of exciting new voices from these writers. 

In the first piece "I Love Those Kids" -- I'll be playing "Tommy" - a 5 year old boy who has been trained to be his parent's butler at home.  A very funny and dark piece.  Then in "Camera Shy", I play "Mark" -- a guy who... I don't even know how to describe this one.  Let's just say my character opens the show with his pants around his ankles whilst sitting in front of a computer.

Where & When:
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2007 @ 7:30PM, David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles, CA 90012


I LOVE THOSE KIDS
by Christine Huynh
Rhonda has turned her two small children into a little maid and butler. She thinks she's doing a great thing for them. Is having small children cooking all the meals and retiling the roof child labor, or just a really good idea?

CAMERA SHY
by Gary Kuwahara
The power of love language the internet technology lust greed porn stupid people blame.

THE BOOB TUBE

Since my last entry was so text heavy, I figured this one should be the exact opposite.   Little words as possible and filled with lots o' video images to balance things out.  (Apologies to the new subscribers that expected to read further about hot topic/political issues - but stick around, I have my moments every once in awhile).

A few weeks ago I spoke at a convocation for Carleton College.  Throughout the year, the college does a very cool thing and shuts down classes every Friday for one hour (10:50am-11:50am) and brings in a different guest lecturer/performance group to address/enlighten the campus on the speaker's respective profession/outlooks -- I was brought in for Asian American Heritage Month.

So here I am in action -- if anyone's ever been curious as to what I do when I speak at colleges, this is a fairly good example (although it's usually less formal ... Con-vo-cation.  The word itself even sounds fancy):  http://apps.carleton.edu/reason_package/reason_4.0/www/displayers/av_display.php?id=301862

Then Pearry Teo, the director of "The Gene Generation" sent me the nifty new trailer of our film...

... along with a sneak peek of one of my scenes with co-star Ethan Cohen  --

And then I got this cool email from Adam Green the director of my movie "Hatchet" opening nationwide on Sept 7th:

Just went to see "28 Weeks" -- They showed the Rush Hour 3 trailer, Die Hard 4...and then f***ing HATCHET!!!!  I almost had a seizure in my seat!  Full theater and the crowd all clapped and cheered when it was over!  Can't tell you how surreal it was... Apparently it's playing all over the country this weekend before 28 Weeks.  Which FYI- may have been better than the first one it was so scary.  But then again- I missed the first 20 minutes as all I could hear was my heart beating and that little girl whispering "stay out of the swamp".

I can only imagine how he felt.  Knowing a project so well -- from conception to completion and then kicking back to relax at a theater and then go, "Wait a second... I know this movie..."  I must be like when a singer hears themselves unexpectedly on the radio for the first time.  Anyway, here's what he saw:

The next entry will hopefully return to this journal's visual status-quo: A frothy blend of a few paragraphs wrapped around scattered photos to compliment the entry's content; capped off with either a witty, off-topic remark or silly-faced icon.

Angry Asian Men

Mike Kang ("West 32nd"), Ken Leung ("Shanghai Kiss", "X2", "The Sopranos") and I took part in an interview (also see below) for The SF Gate about the age-old question on an artist's responsibility in depicting violence on screen -- especially in regards to the Asian Community in the recent wake of Seung-Hui Cho's actions at Virginia Tech.   

 I'd already been thinking about this topic weeks before the interview when: 1) Someone asked me if I were offered the role to play Seung-Hui Cho in a telepic, would I take it? (read my answer in the article below) and 2) When I noticed the press kept trying to find leads behind Cho's actions based mostly upon his ethnicity. 

Some drew conclusions that he must've seen the Korean film "Oldboy" because he was once photographed violently wielding a hammer like the film's main character.  Others, like Republican, Pat Buchanan 'brilliantly' theorized that the main reason was that Cho was an immigrant and therefore secretly hated America to begin with.  He wrote:

Almost no attention has been paid to the fact that Cho Seung-Hui was not an American at all, but an immigrant, an alien. Had this deranged young man who secretly hated us never come here, 32 people would heading home from Blacksburg for summer vacation.  What was Cho doing here? How did he get in?

Cho was among the 864,000 Koreans here as a result of the Immigration Act of 1965, which threw the nation's doors open to the greatest invasion in history, an invasion opposed by a majority of our people. Thirty-six million, almost all from countries whose peoples have never fully assimilated in any Western country, now live in our midst.  Cho was one of them... But are we really a better, safer, freer, happier, more united and caring country than we were before, against our will...

So according to that op-ed, I suppose just in case -- every immigrant should just be sent back, right Senator McCarthy?  (Seriously, who the hell puts these kind of lynch mob fueling people in places of power?) 

Anyway, then it got me thinking about James Kim.  When the story broke and they found his body, I noticed almost none of the press articles mentioned that a Korean-American Man did this heroic act.  He was just a guy who worked at CNET.  And I thought it was so cool - the fact that race didn't have to be brought into it. 

But on the flip side, I wondered, "If race wasn't brought up in regards to a heroic act, why is it now the only thing to be put up to scrutiny when it's in a negative light?"  Where's the balance?

Read the article below, it'll bring up some interesting conversation/debates.  In the end, my personal view is that violence in Film/TV in any form (to the images that are in the "SAW" movies to Jerry slamming a rake onto Tom's toes) is not going to go away -- and censorship is never the way to go. 

Ultimately, my wife and I are going to have to be trusted to keep up our end as responsible parents to be that filter and moral compass as to what gets seen and heard by our daughter -- and to sit her down for a reality check when those images do slip though. 

Unfortunately there's just no way to police that every parent will do the same (ie: keeping them away from the Grand Theft Auto games) or a guarantee that things will still not go as planned despite the best upbringing when they grow up and make their own decisions.

Angry Asian Men -- By Jeff Yang, Special to the SF Gate

More...

Dat's My Girl!

In the beginning of the year, I wrote about Avery's first gig on Natasha Bedingfield's latest video, "I Wanna Have Your Babies" -- and here it is below!  She's the first baby in the video scioned by the Asian Brotha. 

I'm probably biased but the video seems to get more and more ridiculous after her appearance.  But I supposed that's to be expected from a video being titled, "I Wanna Have Your Babies".

Anyway, in the wideshots (where you see all three of them: Avery in the stroller, Natasha and the Asian Trainer), Avery was looking towards the camera and bee-bopping her shoulders along with the music-- it was perfect.

When they punched in for her close-up, they ran out of film and took a good 5 minutes to reload.  In the meantime, people were rushing around for a film mag and Avery was starting to get a little antsy (she'd already been shooting the wide for about 15 minutes).

I had anticipated something like this, so I whipped out my backup plan: Pre-Pocketed Jelly Bellies.

Since she never gets the stuff, she sat contently munching as they finished reloading.  Crisis averted.  However, when it came time to shoot -- she was still chewing on the sweet goodness that is the Juicy Pear Jelly Belly and would not stop.  And there was noooo way she was letting me take it out her mouth.  So that's why in her closeup (at the 2:58 mark) her mouth is all open in mid-bite and she's not bee-bopping to the song they way she originally was. 

Daddy messed up her close-up. 

I'm slowly becoming Kit Culkin  ("The stage father from hell" -- A title the press gave to him after a number of controversial decisions on behalf of his son Macaulay Culkin).  

 Pizza, Pirates & Paparazzi-ing

The apple didn't fall too far from the tree in terms of Avery's taste in food.

Every time I ask her what she wants to eat for lunch -- she replies, "Peezza" or "Dada Peezza".  So I warm up a slice and use a pizza cutter to slice it up into bite-sized small squares for: 1) Easier handling 2) So it cools off faster.

A few weeks ago I noticed how nice it was not having to "saw" back and forth through the food like a conventional knife.  The food was sliced up in one motion and in one direction.  No wasted movement.  Expedient.  Efficient.

If this catches on maybe table settings will someday look like what's pictured on the right.

Anyway, last week I saw a trailer for the new feature "Pathfinder" starring Karl Urban (Eomer from "Lord of the Rings", Russian Baddie from "Bourne Supremacy") who I worked with on a pilot called "The Privateers" 8 years ago.  And I thought to myself the same thing as I did back then: "How can this guy be only 1 year older than me?"  He's such a manly Man -- I would never look that cool emerging out of the water, even if I were wielding two swords!  Check out this clip of us when we were flying through the cosmos together... um, privateering?

There was little to no budget on this pilot episode but the set was built with the blood, sweat and tears of the crew and apparently vacuum cleaners attached to soda cans -- as I'm clearly demonstrating holding as a rifle (pictured to right). 

I recall the grip and me having to practice syncing our actions several times until it was perfect -- me knocking my fist on the wall and him popping the safe door open with a boomstick from inside the wall safe (see clip at the :45 second mark).   

And finally my character, Dan Silk, pops up again this Easter Sunday, 10pm -- April 8 on ABC's "BROTHERS & SISTERS" to further instigate problems in Kevin and Chad's lives like the bottom-feeder that he is. 

Happy Easter!