es）和《闪光》(The Flash)创作的画家格雷格∙拉罗克（Greg
LaRocque）；惊奇娱乐公司（Marvel）《巨人》（Hulk）连环漫画栏的写作者、AsianAmericanComics.com网站编辑克雷格∙朴（Greg
Pak）；以及获奖漫画小说《在美国出生的华人》（American Born Chinese）作者吉恩∙杨（Gene
Yang）。
漫画小说界以外的亚裔画家也参与了这部选集的工作，包括女演员陈凌（Lynn Chen）和胡凯莉（Kelly
Hu）以及电影摄制者迈克尔∙康（Michael Kang）和莱昂纳多∙南（Leonardo Nam）。
杰夫∙杨说，选集编辑们希望“创造出一批原创性的超级英雄人物，能与我们从孩童时就喜爱的那些超级英雄同样丰富多彩，同样有趣，但又具有真正的亚裔特性，来自于我们所认识并与之相联系的地方及其文化”。
这本小说集的人物之一、行走如飞的费伊•吴(Faye
Oh)在接受针灸师的一次治疗后意外地获得飞翔的本领。
他说，“我们小时候都特别喜欢漫画书，因为在我们周围的媒体所表现的英雄中鲜能找到具有亚裔身份的英雄。除了早在我们出生前就已去世的李小龙（Bruce
Lee）之外，在电视和电影中，看不到亚裔英雄。实际上，在漫画书中，也看不到任何亚裔英雄……但至少我们可以自我安慰，想象在那面具后面，像蜘蛛侠和蝙蝠侠那样身份神秘的英雄的容貌或许看上去有点儿像我们。”
杨说：'然而，当这些面具卸下以后，出现的是彼得·帕克(Peter Parker)，而不是彼得·朴(Peter
Park)；布鲁斯·韦恩(Bruce Wayne)，而不是布鲁斯·王(Bruce
Wong)......即使在漫画册里，书中的人物可以来自任何地方──其他星球和多维世界，可以长成各种模样──红、蓝、紫或绿色，但却看不到我们出现。'
《神秘身份》中许多故事的灵感来自亚裔美国人经历的重大历史事件，从十九世纪建造美国铁路起至第二次世界大战期间日裔美国人遭禁闭，1982年华裔美国人陈果仁被谋杀案，以及1999年政府对科学家李文和提出从事间谍活动的指控(后来撤销)。
杨说：'通过树立这些大于生活、受人崇拜的人物，这些小说的作者突出表明亚洲裔美国人以多半未曾报道的重大方式在谱写我国历史过程中发挥的作用。同时，通过讲述这些故事，我们创造出数十位基于其地道的出身而本质上属于亚裔美国人的超级英雄。'
行政编辑帕里·沈(Parry Shen)解释了编辑们在筛选被收入小说集的作品时所采用的标准。
他说：'我们向潜在的投稿者只提出一项要求──从亚裔美国人的视角来塑造这些英雄。他们必须问一下自己：这个人物为什么要在这本具体的小说集中出现？'
沈说：'通过让作者们遵照这项规定行事，它促使亚裔美国人的丰富经历在这些原创故事中展露无遗，使这些人物引人注目、细针密缕──而不是作为后记贴上一个种族标签完事。但与此同时，我们也十分注意不要走另一个极端，不要补偿过度、带有说教意味。
'
周(Chow)表示，他对那些不一定是连环漫画册'粉丝'的人们所表现出来的热情感到意外。他说：'我遇到许许多多的人，他们告诉我他们平时不看连环漫画，但却非要预先订购这本书，因为以艺术形式来描述亚裔美国人、使之成为通俗文化的不可分割的部份，这是很重要的事情，应当支持。'
艺术主任杰里·马(Jerry
Ma)说，他与其他编辑们已谈论过出版另一本小说集的事情。他说：'我期待着把我们从这第一本书学到的东西应用到下一本书中去。希望这件事不会到此为止，只要还有精彩的故事可讲，我们就会继续不停地出书。'
本次采访的记录（英文）见：
http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2009/May/20090512115259BPuH0.8566553.html&distid=ucs
关于《神秘身份：亚裔美国人超级英雄选集》的编集过程及相关故事见：
http://www.secretidentities.org/Site/Secret_Identities_Homepage.html
(完)
12 May 2009
Asian-American Experiences Viewed Through Superhero Lens
Graphic novel examines how Asian Americans have helped shape U.S.
history
The graphic novel
Secret Identities: The Asian American
Superhero Anthology seeks to counteract portrayals of Asian
Americans in comics as martial art experts, scientists, exotic
women and other stereotypes.
The
Secret Identities
anthology seeks to counteract stereotypical portrayals of Asian
Americans in comics.
By Peggy B. Hu
Staff Writer
Washington — “Superheroes have become the central mythology of our
time,” says Jeff Yang, editor-in-chief of the graphic novel
Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero
Anthology.
“All you have to do is go to the movies and see how every
blockbuster is a superhero story,” Yang, a columnist with the
San Francisco Chronicle, told
America.gov.
Unfortunately, Asian Americans usually have not had their “faces
and voices depicted as part of that amazing tradition.”
In creating an original collection of superhero stories, the
editors of
Secret Identities sought to fill that gap.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish with
Secret
Identities was to use the lens of the superhero archetype, one
of the most iconic and American forms of storytelling, to
illuminate the many facets of the Asian-American experience,” said
Keith Chow, the anthology’s education and outreach editor.
“Similarly, by having so many contributors (66 in total) with such
different art styles and writing styles, we were also able to
showcase and celebrate the diversity that exists within the
Asian-American community.”
Among the contributors to the anthology are such industry names as
Kazu Kibuishi, editor and art director of the
Flight comics
and the creator of the
Amulet graphic novels for Scholastic
Publishing; Greg LaRocque, an artist who has worked on
Legion of
Super-Heroes and
The Flash; Greg Pak, a writer for the
Hulk comics for Marvel and editor of
AsianAmericanComics.com; and Gene Yang, author of the award-winning
graphic novel
American Born Chinese. (See “
Graphic
Novels: An Evolving Art Form Tackles New Themes.”)
Asian-American artists outside of the graphic novel industry also
participated, including actresses Lynn Chen and Kelly Hu, and
filmmakers Michael Kang and Leonardo Nam.
According to Yang, the editors wanted “to create a pantheon of
original superheroes that were as rich and interesting as the
superheroes we grew up loving — but that were authentically Asian
American, coming from a place and culture we recognized and
connected with.”
“We grew up as fans of comic books because the media we were
surrounded by had so few heroes that we could identify with as
Asian Americans,” he said. “Other than Bruce Lee, who died before
any of us were born, there were no heroic Asians on TV or in films.
There weren’t any in comic books either, really ... but at least we
could pretend that, behind the masks, the faces of the secret
identities of heroes like Spiderman and Batman might possibly look
a little something like us.
Contributors to
Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero
Anthology were asked to create original characters and stories
directly tied to Asian-American history or culture. One character,
runner Faye Oh, unexpectedly acquires the power of flight after a
session with an acupuncturist.
One of the anthology’s
characters, runner Faye Oh, acquires the power of flight after a
session with an acupuncturist.
“And yet, when those masks came off, it was Peter Parker, not Peter
Park; Bruce Wayne, not Bruce Wong. … Even in the comic books, where
people could be from anywhere — other planets and dimensions — and
look like anything — red, blue, purple or green — we were
invisible,” Yang said.
Many of the stories in
Secret Identities are inspired by
significant events in Asian-American history, from the building of
American railroads in the 1800s to the internment of Japanese
Americans during World War II, the murder of Chinese American
Vincent Chin in 1982 and the government’s espionage charges — later
dropped — against scientist Wen Ho Lee in 1999.
“By using larger-than-life, iconic characters, the writers of these
stories were able to highlight the enormous and largely unexplored
ways that Asian Americans have played a role in shaping our
nation’s history,” Yang said. “At the same time, by telling these
stories, we were creating dozens of superheroes who are
organically Asian American, based on their very
origins.”
Managing Editor Parry Shen explained the criteria the editors used
in selecting which stories would be included in the
anthology.
“There was only one requirement we asked of potential contributors
— that the heroes organically come from an Asian-American
perspective. They had to ask themselves, ‘Why is this character in
this particular anthology?’” he said.
“By having the writers … follow that mantra, it forced the richness
of the Asian-American experience in the back stories to show
through and make these characters compelling and nuanced — as
opposed to just slapping on an ethnicity as an afterthought. But at
the same time, we were also very conscious of the other extreme and
didn’t want overcompensating, preachy Asian heroes standing on a
soapbox either,” Shen said.
Chow said he has been surprised by the enthusiasm of people who are
not necessarily fans of comic books. “I’ve encountered so many
people who tell me that they don’t read comics, but had to preorder
this because just the notion of having Asian Americans represented
in an art form that has become so integral to popular culture was
an important thing to support,” he said.
Art Director Jerry Ma said he and the other editors have talked
about making another anthology. “I’m looking forward to taking what
we learned from this first book and applying it to the next,” he
said. “Hopefully, this won’t stop, and we’ll be making books for as
long as there are still great stories to tell.”
The
full transcript of the interview is available on
America.gov.
More information about the book and an educational guide to the
events that inspired many of the stories are available on
the anthology Web site.
