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for “Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images In U.S. Comics, 1942-1986” With the Panel Discussion — Beyond The Funny Pages: Comics, Culture And CommunicationFree and open to the public.
To RSVP: Online www.apa.nyu.edu
Beyond The Funny Pages: Comics, Culture and Communication
Beyond The Funny Pages focuses on applications of comic art in venues beyond entertainment — from politics to preservation of history to a new language for instruction. The panel features those who are subverting or pushing the boundaries of the form such as Larry Hama, Christine Norrie, Greg Pak, Tak Toyoshima and GB Tran. Moderated by Jeff Yang.
BIOS
Larry Hama is a cartoonist, illustrator, writer, actor, and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s. While Hama has worked on numerous projects, he is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and created the “file cards” on the backs of the Hasbro G.I. Joe toy packages. The comic ran 155 issues (February 1982-October 1994). He has also written for the series Wolverine, Avengers, Batman, Conan, The Punisher, Blaze, Nth Man, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O’Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon. Most recently, Hama is the writer of the Barack the Barbarian series, a Conan the Barbarian parody starring United States President Barack Obama. For more information about Larry Hama, please visit the A/P/A Institute homepage: www.apa.nyu.edu
Christine Norrie is an artist and writer of graphic novels and comic books. Her first major work, Hopeless Savages, was an indie hit with the first series nominated for an Eisner Award. Noted books are her original graphic novel Cheatand the teen drama Breaking Up. She has been published by major and independent companies including DC Comics, Oni Press, and Scholastic Books. She is also an illustrator and designer in advertising, fashion, and print. She has created book jackets for Abrams, concepts and storyboards for Andrew Zuckerman, and art for Glamour andCourvoisier. She lives in New York City’s Greenwich Village with her daughter.
Greg Pak is an award-winning comic book writer and filmmaker best known for the feature film “Robot Stories” and comics storylines such as “Planet Hulk,” “Incredible Hercules” (co-written with Fred Van Lente and co-starring Pak’s creation, Amadeus Cho), and “Magneto Testament.” Pak was named one of 25 Filmmakers to Watch by Filmmaker Magazine, described as “a talent with a future” by the New York Times, and named “Breakout Talent” of the year by Wizard Magazine. He is currently writing “Alpha Flight” (with Van Lente) and “Astonishing X-Men” for Marvel and “Dead Man’s Run” for Aspen and Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla. For more about Pak’s work, please visit www.gregpak.com twitter.com/gregpak and gplus.to/gregpak.
Tak Toyoshima is the creator/illustrator of Secret Asian Man comics. Since 1999, Tak has been creating strips that examine race, politics, religion, Star Wars nerds and anything else that gets people’s undies in a bunch. In 2007,Secret Asian Man became the first nationally syndicated comic strip featuring an Asian American lead character when it was signed by United Features.
GB Tran is a Brooklyn cartoonist/illustrator whose new graphic memoir VIETNAMERICA details his family’s journey of survival through the Vietnam War and their refugee migration to the US. VIETNAMERICA has been featured on ABC’s World News Now, Kirkus’ “12 Can’t-Miss Graphic Novels of 2011”, and Amazon’s Top 25 Adult Summer Reads. The book, which Library Journal describes as “Engaging, challenging, and disturbing, Tran’s family memoir belongs in all public and academic libraries.”, has also recently earned GB a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in nonfiction literature. For a preview of VIETNAMERICA, additional comics, and his illustration work, visit gbtran.com
Jeff Yang began reading and collecting comics at the age of eight, and hasn’t allowed distractions like adulthood, marriage and fatherhood to deter him since. He wrote the column “Asian Pop” for the San Francisco Chronicle for six years, and penned a series of acclaimed and bestselling books — Eastern Standard Time; I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (the action icon’s official autobiography); Once Upon a Time in China; and, most recently, the seminal graphic novel collection Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. He began his career as founding editor and publisher of the pioneering Asian American periodical A. Magazine and as a cultural critic for New York’s alternative weekly the Village Voice. He can frequently be heard as a contributor on NPR’s Tell Me More, PRI’s The Takeaway, and other public radio programs. His column can be found at: www.sfgate.com/columns/asi
