2009.05.12

透过超级英雄的镜片了解亚裔美国人的经历

美国国务院国际信息局（IIP）《美国参考》

Peggy B. Hu

华盛顿——漫画小说《神秘身份：亚裔美国人超级英雄选集》主编杰夫∙杨（Jeff Yang）说，“超级英雄已成为我们这个时代的主要神话。”

杰夫∙杨也是《旧金山新闻》（San Francisco Chronicle）的专栏文章作者，他在接受《美国参考》采访时说，“你去电影院就会发现每一部大片都是讲超级英雄的故事。”但令人遗憾的是，“亚裔的容貌和声音”一般都不是“这一令人称奇的传统的一部分”。

《神秘身份》的编辑们通过出版这样一部独创性的超级英雄故事集寻求填补这一空白。

这部选集的教育和对外联系编辑基思∙周（Keith Chow）说，“我们编辑《神秘身份》所要完成的使命之一就是要通过描绘超级英雄这种最为偶像化、最具美国特征的叙述故事的形式反映亚裔经历的方方面面。同样，有如此众多（共66位）具有不同艺术风格和写作风格的撰稿人的参与，我们得以展示和赞颂亚裔这一群体内存在的多样性。”

这部选集的投稿人包括漫画小说界的许多著名人士，如连环漫画栏《飞翔》(Flight)的编辑兼艺术指导、斯格拉斯蒂克出版社（Scholastic Publishing）漫画小说系列《护身符》（Amulet）创始人Kazu Kibuishi；参与《超级英雄军团》（Legion of Super-Heroes）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”。

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

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.

“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.