Lists
by Rhianna Walton, May 20, 2020 10:22 AM
With so many of us tucked away from the outside world, the role time plays as a collective, organizing force in our lives has gotten a bit nebulous. What’s April from May, or Monday from Saturday, when life feels limited to the four walls of your home? All the more reason, then, to battle loneliness, boredom, and screen fatigue with books that link us to our shared history and remind us that a world of outrageous diversity and imagination exists just beyond our doors. The following collection of 10 graphic novels by Asian American novelists and illustrators is just the ticket to commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and let your heart and mind take a trip outside, even when your feet can’t join them.
Tina’s Mouth
by Keshni Kashyap and Mari Araki
Why is reliving high school via books and movies always so soothing? (Seriously, why? It’s not like high school was one long bubble bath.) But while the high school trope is definitely one of the more perverse forms of collective nostalgia in U.S. pop culture, right now we’re in the mood to indulge, and Tina’s Mouth is a great place to start. Funny and sweet, Tina’s Mouth follows the Sartre-obsessed Tina (she’s keeping an existential diary as part of an English project) as she navigates frenemies, cute boys, and the expectations of her very smart and often hilarious Indian family. Read it in one glorious afternoon and then settle in for a night with your yearbooks.
Tune
by Derek Kirk Kim and Les McClaine
It’s an everlasting shame that the Tune series now only exists as a webcomic, because the first two volumes (Vanishing Point and Still Life) are the kind of wacked-out wonderful that satisfy a reader’s need for escapism, humor, and heart. Slightly slackerish Andy Go has dropped out of art school and has no idea what to do with his life… until aliens show up with a job offer. What ensues is half Vonnegut, halfway too cute to be Vonnegut, and 100% delightful.
Monstress
by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
It’s hard to walk away unchanged from a reading of Liu and Takeda’s gorgeous, steampunk-meets-art deco graphic fantasy series, Monstress. The closest thing we can compare it to is watching Guillermo del Toro’s film Pan’s Labyrinth for the first time; prepare yourself for a deep dive into a world dense with magic and terrible violence, yet resonant with the power of love. Starring an orphaned animal-human, Maika Halfwolf, and the monster who lives in her arm, Monstress boasts all the witches, ancient gods, and foes a fantasy fan could ask for, plus some of the most beautiful art in the graphic novel canon.
Demon
by Jason Shiga
While Monstress’s gore is saved from total grossness by the series’ girl power and high fantasy tropes, Jason Shiga’s diabolical Demon series fully embraces nihilistic violence. Headed by a character who can’t die and is desperate to find out why, the Demon series explores the reaches and consequences of combining super intelligence with an amoral outlook. It’s somehow funny, bleak, and cute, which can be a major stress reliever for readers with a dark sense of humor; if that sounds like too much right now, however, you can still get your Shiga fix with the wonderful Meanwhile, an inventive choose-your-own-adventure comic. It’s still Shiga, and still very influenced by sci-fi, so some of the storylines don’t end well. But it’s diverting and clever, and far enough off reality’s path that you can read it without anxiety.
The Best We Could Do
by Thi Bui
Thi Bui’s beautiful graphic memoir explores her family’s experiences before, during, and after the Vietnam War, detailing the traumas and optimism that informed their exile and immigration to America. Bui was inspired to write her story by the birth of her first child, which injects a subtle but resilient sense of hope into the narrative. Though often sad, The Best We Could Do is an excellent book for right now, both because it’s an absorbing story you’ll want to read in one sitting, and because it reaches across cultural and international barriers to personalize a war whose political and societal repercussions continue to inform U.S. policy.
Vietnamerica
by G. B. Tran
This excellent graphic memoir (and good companion piece to Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do) has earned comparisons to Maus for its candid exploration of the intergenerational trauma of war and exile. Tran’s vivid artwork utilizes contrasts in lettering, format, and drawing style to convey his characters’ evolving senses of dislocation and confusion, while his meticulous research into the history of Vietnam and his parents’ and grandparents’ experiences makes for a gripping, intimate experience.
Good Talk
by Mira Jacob
Good Talk was inspired by Jacob’s discussions about race with her then six-year-old son, who was already noticing that being interracial in America is fraught with questions about identity and belonging. The result of these talks is a humorous, honest reflection and evaluation of the conversations Mira has had throughout her lifetime, from her experiences as a South Indian American coming of age in Arizona to more recent chats with her son and Trump-supporting in-laws. Given how hard it is for all of us to talk openly about race and politics, Jacob’s willingness to engage in a public discussion about her private values and fears is invigorating.
Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang, bestselling author of American Born Chinese, is back with a new memoir about his experiences following a high school basketball team, and how observing the team’s and it’s coach’s temerity helped Yang face down some of his own fears. It’s an interesting fusion of adult autobiography and rousing high school sports story, but it works really well for kids and adult readers. You don’t have to be a sports fan to become invested in the Dragons’ rise to the State Championships, or a cartoonist like Yang to share in all of his dreams, fears, and victories. A love of graphic novels and personal stories is enough to make Dragon Hoops well worth reading.
They Called Us Enemy
by George Takei and Harmony Becker
Any Star Trek fans in the house? George Takei was a member of the original cast, and much like Congressman John Lewis does in the excellent March series, he uses his cultural notoriety to share an important recent chapter in American history. Takei was a small child when his family was imprisoned in American internment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII. They Called Us Enemy uses clean, emotionally rich illustrations and simple text to convey the difficulties and horrors of internment to young readers, and to share how Takei’s experiences proved foundational in his careers as an actor and activist. Given our country’s more recent forays into race-based internment, They Called Us Enemy is an important reminder that we still have time to learn lessons from history and rectify current injustices.
Pashmina
by Nidhi Chanani
Another first-rate coming-of-age novel, Pashmina is about how Indian American Pri Das is introduced to two Indias: the colorful fantasy world of Bollywood, redolent with spice and the exotic, and the India her single mom fled from — and refuses to talk about. Pashmina is full of magic (Pri uses a magical pashmina to travel to an idealized version of India) and realism, as Pri learns about the patriarchal structures that impact women’s lives in India and the Indian diaspora. Fun and educational, Pashmina is a much-needed addition to the growing canon of graphic literature by young Indian American artists.
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