The Shadow Hero

by Gene Luen Yang, Sonny Liew (Illustrator)

Overview

A New York Times bestseller

In the comics boom of the 1940s, a legend was born: the Green Turtle. He solved crimes and fought injustice just like the other comics characters. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding something more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity... The Green Turtle was the first Asian American super hero.

The comic had a short run before lapsing into obscurity, but Gene Luen Yang, the acclaimed author of American Born Chinese, and Sonny Liew, the author of the New York Times-bestseller The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, have finally revived this character in Shadow Hero, a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the Green Turtle.

This gorgeous, funny comics adventure for teens is a new spin on the long, rich tradition of American comics lore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596436978
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	07/15/2014
Series:	Shadow Hero Series
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	679,059
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	GN420L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’s fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner, has been adapted into a streaming series on Disney+. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the LA Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. His nonfiction graphic novel Dragon Hoops received an Eisner Award and a Printz honor. His other comics works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), as well as Superman Smashes the Klan and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (both with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow.


Sonny Liew is a Malaysian-born comic artist and illustrator based in Singapore. He is the author of The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, a New York Times bestseller and the first graphic novel to win the Singapore Literature Prize. His other comics include titles for Marvel, DC, and Image. He spearheaded Liquid City, a comics anthology series featuring creators from Southeast Asia.

Editorial Reviews

The book may not tell Asian-Americans anything they don't know, but it's the familiarity and specificity of this story in my hands, in print, in the English language that excite me.

The New York Times Book Review - Eddie Huang

★ 04/28/2014
Yang further establishes himself as one of YA’s leading voices on the Chinese-American experience by inventing a backstory for a forgotten comic-book character who was arguably the first Asian superhero. As explained in a postscript, the Green Turtle blinked into and quickly disappeared from publication during the 1940s superhero boom; he would likely be condemned to obscurity if not for rumors suggesting that creator Chu Hing masked the character’s ethnicity so that he could be read as a Chinese superhero (the face of the original Green Turtle is almost always obscured). Yang and Liew run with this theory and cast the Green Turtle as 19-year-old Hank Chu, a second-generation Chinese American who (at his mother’s urging) takes up crime fighting, aided by an ancient shadow spirit that gives him limited superpowers and provides some hilarious banter. Racism, romance, humor, and identity all play important roles in Yang and Liew’s evocation of Hank’s life in pre-WWII San Francisco as they create an origin story that blends classic comics conventions (at one point, Hank’s mother pushes him into a toxic spill in an attempt to give him superpowers) with a distinctly Chinese perspective. Ages 12–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"What America needs is for people to shed the expectation of translation and immerse themselves in other worlds . . . America has to start somewhere, and I’d recommend The Shadow Hero."
—New York Times


"Gene Luen Yang uses his Chinese heritage to create engaging comics that are deeply personal yet rooted in centuries of stories, fictional and true." —LA Times

"Yang and Liew reinvent this character in a brilliant homage that finally allows the Green Turtle to get his long overdue face time." —BCCB, STARRED REVIEW on The Shadow Hero

"There's plenty of humor in this lively, entertaining adventure story . . . At its heart, though, this book is a subtle comment on China's changing cultural landscape and growing multiculturalism in America. A lovingly tongue-in-cheek homage." —Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

"The insight into Chinese mafia and 1940s American superhero comic book culture is wonderful." —VOYA

"Award-winning author Yang and artist Liew tackle a lesser-known aspect of history, breathing new life into the Green Turtle, a 1940s comic book hero . . . A creative take on the superhero genre." —School Library Journal

“Abundant humor, strong characters and cracking good action.” —The Horn Book

“A golden-age comic superhero returns with a brand new Asian-American origin story . . . An entertaining and intelligent response to classic superhero stories.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Racism, romance, humor, and identity all play important roles in Yang and Liew's evocation of Hank's life in pre-WWII San Francisco as they create an origin story that blends classic comics conventions with a distinctly Chinese perspective.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“Masterful.” —Dave Eggers on Boxers & Saints

“Remarkable.” —The New York Times on Boxers & Saints

“At once humorous and heartbreaking.” —The LA Times on Boxers & Saints

“Epic.” —The Washington Post on Boxers & Saints

From the Publisher

06/01/2014
Gr 7 Up—Award-winning author Yang and artist Liew tackle a lesser-known aspect of history, breathing new life into the Green Turtle, a 1940s comic book hero. According to lore, the Green Turtle was originally drawn to be Chinese, but publishers quashed artist Chu Hing's plans, and Hing rebelled by drawing his hero so that his face was never visible. The Green Turtle is cast as an unlikely 19-year-old young man, Hank, the son of Chinese immigrants who own a grocery store in 1940s America. When his mother is rescued by a superhero, the loving but overbearing woman decides that it's Hank's fate to become a hero himself, and she does everything in her power to push her son in that direction. Though Hank initially shies away from assuming the role of caped crusader, when tragedy strikes, he's eventually inspired to call himself the Green Turtle, and fight back against gangsters who have been intimidating his family and many others in Chinatown. Liew's scratchy, action-packed illustrations have a nostalgia-tinged vibe ideal for the gritty/hard-boiled setting, and Yang plays expertly with clichés and stereotypes about Chinese culture without ever becoming heavy-handed or obvious. A detail about the four spirits of China, one of whom allies himself with Hank's father and then Hank, injects an element of magic and of Chinese history and mythology that made Yang's American Born Chinese (First Second, 2001) such a layered and complex work. A creative take on the superhero genre. [See author Q&A, p. 20.]—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2014-04-30
A golden-age comic superhero returns with a brand-new Asian-American origin story.In 1944, a Chinese-American cartoonist created the Green Turtle, a World War II superhero who may have had a Chinese secret identity. Seventy years later, Yang (Boxers & Saints, 2013) and Liew (Malinky Robot, 2011) have updated the Green Turtle with an openly Asian-American heritage. Growing up in Chinatown, Hank Chu dreams of becoming a grocer like his father. His mother makes other plans for his future, however, after she sees the local, white superhero in action. She sews Hank a costume, tries to help him acquire superpowers and even arranges for him to learn kung fu. Despite her efforts, Hank's superhero debut is a disappointment—one with tragic consequences for his family after it makes them a target for a local gang. Yang's funny and perceptive script offers clever riffs on familiar tropes and explores themes of identity, heroism and belonging. For example, Hank's mother is a hilarious spin on the "tiger mother" stereotype, and in his costume, Hank is often mistaken for "one of those gwailo superheroes." Liew's playful illustrations, especially his characters' cartoonishly exaggerated expressions, complement the story's humor. The first issue of the original 1940s comic book is included in the backmatter.An entertaining and intelligent response to classic superhero stories. (author's note, original comic) (Graphic adventure. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews