Tag Archives: the good asian

Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi’s The Good Asian is being adapted into a series

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The Good Asian is a praised, and award-winning, comic series by Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi and it’s being turned into a series. James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett are producing for Atomic Monster. Will Rowbotham and Luke Maxwell are producing for 3 Arts.

The Good Asian stars detective Edison Hark—a haunted Chinese-American detective—on the trail of a killer in 1936 San Francisco’s Chinatown. The series explores Chinese American identity, US immigration policy and the brutal contradictions inherent in being the first Chinese American cop when the target of his policing is inevitably his own community. It’s also a beautifully drawn piece of historical fiction and an exciting mystery.

The Good Asian was released in 2021 by Image Comics and ran for 10 issues wrapping up April 2022. You can listen to Pichetshote and Tefengki talk about the series on Graphic Policy Radio!

The Good Asian #1

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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Skybound X #1

Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in

Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.

Black’s Myth #1 (AHOY Comics) – Meet Janie “Strummer” Jones, just an ordinary werewolf PI, trying to make it on the mean streets of LA. Yeah, we’re sold just on that.

Clans of Belari #1 (AfterShock) – On the far side of the galaxy, an isolated branch of humanity is trapped in a feudal dystopia. Order is maintained by a system of oppression until an orphaned girl and her incorrigible adoptive father sow the seeds of a revolution and unite the clans against a fearsome alien threat. The sci-fi epic story we’re fans of.

Extreme Carnage: Alpha #1 (Marvel) – Post King in Black we get to see what the new status quo is for the various symbiotes.

Fight Girls #1 (AWA Studios) – Ten hard-as-nails women face off in an ancient contest of champions where the winner truly takes all: the title of “Queen of the Galaxy.” The series has been a long time coming so we’re interested in seeing what it’s all about.

The Good Asian #3 (Image Comics) – This series has been an amazing exploration of the real-life history of racism in America mixed with a fantastic noir story.

Hellboy & the BPRD: Secret of Chesbro House #1 (Dark Horse) – Hellboy works with a psychic to clear a haunted mansion for auction. But the ghosts in residence aren’t quite ready to go gentle into that good night. Sounds fun to us!

Justice League Infinity #1 (DC Comics) – The popular animated series continues in comics!

Life is Strange: Coming Home #1 (Titan Comics) – The popular video game returns to comics just before the remastered original is released.

Mamo #1 (BOOM! Studios) – Can Orla O’Reilly embrace her destiny in order to bridge the divide between humanity and the faerie world? Sounds great.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation #1 (Dark Horse) – The highly anticipated Netflix series gets a comic tie-in.

The Nice House on the Lake #2 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – The first issue caught us completely off guard and the series seems to be taking us on a hell of a horror journey.

Nocterra #5 (Image Comics) – The previous issue delivered a glimmer of light and hope in a world of darkness. We’re sucked in and want to see where this series goes. The story has been solid and its visuals fantastic.

Ordinary Gods #1 (Image Comics) – Five gods are trapped in an endless cycle of human death and reincarnation.

Rabid World #2 (Scout Comics) – We were hooked by the first issue which had a nice mix of zombie-ish tropes and “ripped from the headlines” vibe as a virus spreads across the world causing a rabies like reaction in people.

Skybound X #1 (Image Comics/Skybound) – Get this just for the collector aspect of it. The series is spotlighting a lot of Skybound’s series and comics to come with quite a few major debuts.

Tales Told in Technihorror #1 (Scout Comics/Black Caravan) – A biennial horror series that brings together the best in horror sub genres with five short stories.

The Unwanted: Stories of Syrian Refugees (Etch/HMH Books For Young Readers) – Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

WWE The New Day: Power of Positivity #1 (BOOM! Studios) – The popular WWE wrestlers get a comic spotlighting their positivity!

X-Men #1 (Marvel) – The first volume of the new direction for the X-Men is over and the heroes are now back saving all of humanity and not just mutants.

Around the Tubes

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Batman #108

The weekend is almost here! What geeky things are you all doing as things open up? Sound off in the comments below!

The Seattle Times – The Washingtonians behind ‘We Hereby Refuse’ take us inside this story of Japanese American resilience – Not sure if this graphic novel was on our radar. Might need to check it out.

The Comichron – Batman #108 leads May 2021 projected rankings; December 2020 also added – For those that enjoy the race.

Book Riot – 4 YA and Middle Grade Graphic Novels Featuring Some of Your Favorite Heroes – What suggestions do you all have?

The Beat – A Year of Free Comics: Excavate GIRLS DON’T LIKE DINOSAURS now! – Free comics!

Review

Geek Dad – Batman and Scooby-Doo Mysteries #1-3
Batman News – DC Pride #1
Geek Dad – The Delicacy
The Beat – The Good Asian #2

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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MINAMATA STORY

Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in

Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.

Alice in Leatherland #3 (Black Mask Studios) – The sex-positive fantasy series has been intriguing so far and we want to read more and see more, of this type of storytelling.

Bunny Mask #1 (AfterShock) – A new horror series about an unnatural killer unleashed on the world after thousands of years of being locked away.

Cherry Blackbird #1 (Scout Comics/Black Caravan) – A rocker must nab demons for the devil or she’s doomed when she turns 27.

Eve #2 (BOOM! Studios) – The first issue was fantastic and we’re excited to see where this apocalytpic story goes.

Far Sector #12 (DC Comics/DC’s Young Animal) – The series wraps up and we seriously have no idea where it’s going to go.

Freak Snow #1 (Behemoth) – A frozen apocalyptic tale and lets face it, we’re suckers for those.

Girl From the Sea (Scholastic Graphix) – The concept sounds like Splash with an LGBT spin for younger readers.

The Good Asian #2 (Image Comics) – The Chinatown noir had an amazing first issue not just delivering a solid detective story but also confronting racism, social issues, and American history head on.

The Joker #4 (DC Comics) – The series has exceeded our expectations with a story not about the Joker but the man he tortured and wants to close that chapter of his life, James Gordon. There’s a Moby Dick vibe to the series that’s intriguing.

Maniac of New York #5 (AfterShock) – We’ve loved this series that brings the slasher concept to comics.

Miles Morales: Shock Waves (Scholastic Graphix) – A middle-grade story about Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man!

Minamata Story (Stone Bridge Press) – The story of “Minamata disease,” a debilitating and sometimes fatal condition caused by the Chisso chemical factory’s careless release of methylmercury into the waters of the coastal community of Minamata in southern Japan. Sounds like fantastic graphic journalism/history.

Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #1 (Image Comics) – The world’s most unlikable action star has been found dead, and his previous TV sidekicks are looking to solve the mystery. The concepts sounds like a lot of fun to us.

Web of Spider-Man #1 (Marvel) – The description makes the series sound like it’s geared toward younger readers and we’re totally fine, and excited, about that.

The Good Asian #1 is Getting a Second Printing

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The hot new series The Good Asian by bestselling Infidel writer Pornsak Pichetshote and fan-favorite artist Alexandre Tefenkgi has sold out at the distributor level and is being fast-tracked by Image Comics for a reprint.

The series was originally announced as a nine issue miniseries, but due to the overwhelming success of the comic—and an abundance of story yet to be explored—it will be extended into a ten issue run.

This meticulously researched new series from Pichetshote and Tefenkgi explores race through a genre lens and has been a particularly timely read for fans in search of content to support during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

The Good Asian introduces readers to main character Edison Hark—a haunted, self-loathing Chinese-American detective—on the trail of a killer in 1936 Chinatown. The Good Asian is Chinatown noir starring the generation of Americans to come of age under America’s first immigration ban—the Chinese Exclusion Act—as they’re besieged by rampant murders, abusive police, and a world that seemingly never changes.

The Good Asian #1, second printing (Diamond Code APR218630) will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, June 16.

The Good Asian #1 2nd printing

The Good Asian comic with creators Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi

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Policing and the model minority myth are deconstructed through a noir genre lens in this hardboiled detective series created by today’s guests, Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi. 

A new Image Comics series, The Good Asian stars detective Edison Hark—a haunted Chinese-American detective—on the trail of a killer in 1936 San Francisco’s Chinatown. The series explores Chinese American identity, US immigration policy and the brutal contradictions inherent in being the first Chinese American cop when the target of his policing is inevitably his own community. It’s also a beautifully drawn piece of historical fiction and an exciting mystery.

My guests are:

Pornsak Pichetshote is a writer for comics and TV. He wrote the critically acclaimed horror comic hit INFIDEL that was featured on NPR’s best horror stories of all time. In TV, he’s written for the shows Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, Light as a Feather, and Two Sentence Horror Stories. 

Alexandre Tefenkgi is the acclaimed artist of European comics and graphic albums as well as the critically acclaimed Skybound book Outpost Zero by Sean McKeever. Born in Africa and raised in France, he’s an artist of Vietnamese descent. 

The series’ colorist is Lee Loughridge and letterer is Jeff Powell.

Learn more here

Around the Tubes

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Savage #4

It’s a new week and we’ve got lots coming up for you. So, as we get ready for a busy week, here’s some news and reviews you might have missed to start yours off.

Scroll.in – With Comixense, a new magazine aims to introduce young Indians to the magic of graphic storytelling – Intriguing.

Review

Talking Comics – The Good Asian #1

That Hashtag Show – Savage #4

That Hashtag Show – Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1

Collected Editions – Swamp Thing: The Dead Don’t Sleep

Around the Tubes

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It’s a new week and we have a lot coming at you! There’ll be reviews, previews, interviews, and more coming throughout the week. Kicking it off is a lot of reviews you might have missed over the weekend from around the web.

Comic Attack – The Good Asian #1-3
Laughing Place – Heroes Reborn #1
CBR – Metropolis Grove
Comic Attack – Orphan and the Five Beasts #2
Talking Comics – The Orville #1
Collected Editions – Wonder Woman #750: The Deluxe Edition

Heroes Reborn #1

Around the Tubes

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It was new comic book day yesterday. What’d you all get? What’d you like? What’d you dislike? Sound off in the comments below. While you decide on that, here’s some comic reviews from around the web!

The Beat – The Good Asian #1
Monkeys Fighting Robots – Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #5
The Atlantic – The Secret to Superhuman Strength
Seven Days VT – The Secrets to Superhuman Strength
Collected Editions – Suicide Squad: Bad Blood

The Good Asian #1

Review: The Good Asian #1

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The Good Asian #1

The Good Asian introduces readers to main character Edison Hark—a haunted, self-loathing Chinese-American detective—on the trail of a killer in 1936 Chinatown. The Good Asian #1 brilliantly mixes a noir detective story with real-world history involving immigration bans and the rampant racism that plagued the time.

I personally love pulp detective stories. There’s a great balance of cheese, tropes, action, mystery, and sexy when done right. A great story will often feel like something is spiraling out of control as the detective gets dragged further into the mystery. The Good Asian #1 is just one issue but writer Pornsak Pichetshote does a fantastic job of touching upon a lot of those things and gets us the expected spiral.

But what Pichetshote does even better is work in real world history.

The Good Asian #1 is an amazing start in how “authentic” it is. It uses American history to help shape and drive the narrative. It uses that real history to present the issues facing the Asian-American community at that time. The issue reminds us of the blatant racism practiced out in the open and with acceptance. It’s a hard issue to read. The words used made me cringe. But it’s reality. Grant Din helped shape that realism as the historical consultant on the series.

The laws were real. The racism was rampant. Places like Angel Island existed. The comic even uses real transcripts from Angel Island as part of its dialogue. This is a comic that not only wants to deliver a solid detective story but wants to do so in an authentic way. It takes the rather troubling history of Asian crimesolvers and updates it with a more historically accurate take. The racism isn’t in the characters, it’s what’s said to those characters and how they’re treated. But, it doesn’t forget at its heart the comic is about a mystery that needs to be solved and all that comes with the investigation.

Alexandre Tefenkgi handles the art with Lee Loughridge on color and Jeff Powell on lettering. It does a great job in that respect with nailing the gritty look I’d expect in this sort of detective story. The colors are kept to a minimal with blues, orangers, purples, and reds used to emphasize the world. It’s a beautiful look and perfect style to match the story. The lettering is done so well as the characters slip between English and Chinese. A simple shape of the speech bubble differentiates between the two and is such a simple way to handle what could be an overwhelming thing if done other ways.

The Good Asian #1 is a fantastic comic. You can enjoy it for its detective story alone. But, it’s the details that really build out the issue and series. It has an authenticity about it that feels like it props up its main story. It’s a hard comic to read at times with the racism thrown around, but that adds to the authenticity. This is a comic for fans that love a good noir story to chew on or like a little bit of history in what they read. A hell of a start.

Story: Pornsak Pichetshote Art: Alexandre Tefenkgi
Color: Lee Loughridge Letter: Jeff Powell
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW

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