When it come sot fulfilling your promise, it is never more ingrained than in immigrant families. My own family, came with their own set of challenges, and those pressures transferred to their children, me and my cousins. We were often told to either go to medicine or law. Like many families but it feels as though they had the pressures of the “old country” on us. The audacity of hoping for a better life for you, your family and maybe, being part of this “American dream”, is what pushes so many of us to do better.

It is often in that push to do better than those who came before, that the struggle of living within the “hyphen” becomes suddenly apparent. As it is usually the generation who is born into the new country, who finds themselves often conflicted. They are both a child of immigrants and someone born to this nation they have always known as their home. In Ginseng Roots #8, Craig Thompson takes a look at a particular Hmong family and find out just how important legacy is.

Within this issue we find about Chua and Chua’s family, as we soon find out how the cultural differences lead to his father being named Abraham, because the Mennonites who lived there, never anyone who was not white, but eventually adopted the name for religious reasons and also, to assimilate. Chua would work the fields with his Dad every day after school, but after Junior year, he would drop out,  and he would eventually take over the family business, as that became all he knew. By the issue’s end, we get a full exploration of who Chua is and just how important his Dad, Abraham, was to him and to this community.

Overall, Ginseng Roots #8 is an issue which will remind many Minari, but is much more heartfelt, because this true story. The story by Thompson is authentic. The art by Thompson is incredible. Altogether, Chua’s journey shows sometimes legacy finds its way to you.

Story: Craig Thompson Art: Craig Thompson
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

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Purchase: Zeus Comics – Uncivilized Books