I don’t think any of my usual readers are in New York, but in case anyone drops by, something really cool is happening tomorrow: the very firstAsian American Comicon.
According to this Publishers Weekly article, “Asian American Comicon Debuts in New York,” the con actually grew out of a panel discussion related to Secret Identities, an anthology of Asian American superhero stories from New Press. Some of the participants recognized that Asian Americans produce some of the most popular comics in the world, in both English and Japanese.
Greg Pak, who was a writer for several Marvel comics (including Incredible Hulk), noted that these producers of so much comic art hadn’t really had the chance to share their experiences and knowledge with each other. So just over a month ago, many of the contributors to the anthology started arranging this conference.
It’s going to be held at the Museum of Chinese in America, who had just reopened a space in Lower Manhattan, and were looking for programming. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
For it’s first go, the convention will only be the one day, but it’s going to have three programming streams:
- Reading Comics – topics like how Asians are depicted in comics, how east/west influence each other in the comic world, and how villains from Asia are represented, especially in light of current world tensions);
- Making Comics – the industry and craft of comics themselves; and
- Spotlight Sessions – where comic creators have conversations with people outside the comic creation world, such as fans, literary authors, and TV creators.
Jeff Yang, the editor of the Secret Identities anthology, is both one of the organizers and seemingly the principle spokesperson. He and the other organizers are approaching this first convention with casual optimism, but it sounds like they really want it to be successful enough that it becomes a yearly thing.
I hope they get their wish!
For anyone in the area, you can find ticket information and more details at the Asian American Comicon page on the Secret Identities website. Or, since that site is mainly for actually registering, you might do better at the Asian American Comics site, where there are more details about guest artists and programming.
