Greg Pak: Film & TV

As a filmmaker, Greg Pak is best known for his feature film Robot Stories, which won 35 awards and played in over 70 film festivals. Pak studied at the NYU Graduate Film program and won a Student Academy Award for his short documentary Fighting Grandpa. Pak’s recent short films include Happy Fun Room and Mister Green.

Feature: Robot Stories

Short: All Amateur Ecstasy, Asian Pride Porn, Cat Fight Tonight, Everybody’s Supersonic, Fighting Grandpa, Happy Fun RoomHappy Hamptons Holiday Camp for Troubled Couples, Mister Green, Mouse, Mr. Lee, Ode to Margaret Cho, Penny Marshall Project, Po Mo Knock Knock, Super Power Blues

Educational video: Informed Consent Zone

MECH CADETS hits the Top Ten list on Netflix!

Netflix graphic showing a big number 5 alongside a promo image from the MECH CADETS animated show showing Stanford touching the face of his robo. Netflix graphic showing a big number 5 alongside a promo image from the MECH CADETS animated show showing Stanford touching the face of his robo.

A little over a week ago, MECH CADETS debuted on Netflix and promptly hit the Top Ten list of the service’s most viewed television shows in the US. I’m blown away and grateful and have a lot of people to thank!

MECH CADETS is a Netflix animated television series based on the MECH CADET YU comics, written by yours truly with line art by Takeshi Miyazawa.

Huge love to the MECH CADET YU comics team, including Tak Miyazawa, Triona Farrell, Jessica Kholinne, Raúl Angulo, Simon Bowland, Cameron Chittock, Eric Harburn, Filip Sablik, and Matt Gagnon. And huge love to the new MECH CADETS sequel comics team, including Tak, Simon, Eric, Ian Herring, and Shantel LaRoque.

And huge congrats to Jane Lee and company at Netflix; Jack Liang, Patrick Awa and company at Polygon; Stephen Christy, Mette Nørkjær and company at BOOM; and the incredible MECH CADETS writers room of Aaron Lam, Ashley Eakin, David Shayne, and Mercedes Valle.

Massive high five to all of the voice actors who worked on the show, including Daniel Dae Kim, Ming-Na Wen, Brandon Soo Hoo, Victoria Grace, Josh Sundquist, Anairis Quinones, Debra Wilson, and so many more. And enormous thanks to all of the animators, designers, musicians, and other creative folks who worked on the show so hard for all these years.

Many thanks to so many people at BOOM! publishing, past and present, who worked so incredibly hard to promote MECH CADET YU and now its sequel book MECH CADETS every step of the way, including Stephen Christy, Arune Singh, Steph Hocutt, Morgan Perry, Mel Caylo, Ross Richie, Ryan Matsunaga, Harley Salbacka, Josh Hayes, Anthony Mauro, and so many others!

And a giant thank you to Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, and Jerry Ma, the editors of the SHATTERED Asian American comics anthology, where the original LOS ROBOS story that eventually became MECH CADET YU first appeared.

Finally, I’m hugely grateful to every reader, reviewer, and retailer who ever said kind things about the books, and to everyone who’s tuned in to make the television show a hit. Please do keep spreading the word, watching the show, and reading the new comic book series!

You are all my favorite.

New MECH CADETS comic book series coming this August!

MECH CADETS #1 cover by Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring. Featuring the heroes of the MECH CADET YU series posed before the Hero Force 2 robo against a starry sky.

Big comics news, friends! I’m thrilled to report that we’re launching a new MECH CADETS comic book series, a sequel to MECH CADET YU! MECH CADETS #1 hits comic shops on August 9, the day before the MECH CADETS animated show debuts on Netflix!

MECH CADET YU is one of my favorite of all the comics I’ve ever worked on, and I’m thrilled to be coming back for new stories about these characters with artist and co-creator Tak Miyazawa, colorist Ian Herring, and letterer Simon Bowland.

For more info about the series and a preview of the first four pages of the first issue, check out the ScreenRant article. Here’s my quote from the article:

Tak’s bringing all his magic to every page and every panel, with that special combination of incredible genre thrills, amazing humor, and fantastic emotional subtlety. And all of our characters are a bit older and the world has gotten a bit more complex, with some shocking twists and challenges. I’m biased, of course, but it feels vital and real and just as fun as ever, and I can’t wait for y’all to see it!

Please do ask your local comics shop to pre-order MECH CADETS #1 for you! And check out the glorious Sonny Liew variant cover for issue #1, featuring Olivia Park and her father, General Park, whose contentious relationship will play a huge role in the series!

Sonny Liew variant cover for MECH CADETS #1 featuring Olivia Park and her father, General Park, with Olivia's Hero Force 2 robo in the middle!

2023-05-17 – MECH CADETS BOOK ONE in comic shops!

Mech Cadets Book One cover featuring line art by Takeshi Miyazawa

MECH CADETS BOOK ONE, a collection of MECH CADET YU issues #1 to #12, hits comic book shops on May 17! The MECH CADET YU series has been made into an animated television series that will debut on Netflix on August 10 – see what the fuss is all about by reading the comics now!

MECH CADETS BOOK ONE was written by Greg Pak with line art by Takeshi Miyazawa, colors by Triona Farrell, Jessica Kholinne, and Raul Angulo, and letters by Simon Bowland.

Here’s the official solicit:

Every four years, giant sentient robots from outer space come to Earth and bond forever with a brand new crop of Sky Corps Academy cadets.

But this time, instead of a cadet, one mech bonds with Stanford Yu, a young kid working with his mom as a janitor at Sky Corps.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime for Stanford, but first he’ll have to earn the trust of his classmates and survive an uncompromising enemy…the Sharg!

Bestselling author Greg Pak (Ronin Island, Planet Hulk) and fan-favorite artist Takeshi Miyazawa (Runaways, Ms. Marvel) bring to life this underdog story as Stanford and the newest team of Cadets and Robos face relentless training, an alien invasion, and the threat of losing themselves and human existence.

They’ll realize the true sacrifice that comes with duty and service and what makes a hero in this full collection of Mech Cadets perfect as a jumping on point ahead of the animated series on Netflix!

Ask your local comic shop to hold a copy for you today!

Netflix announces cast and release date for MECH CADETS animated show

Pretty thrilled to report that Netflix has announced the cast and release date for the MECH CADETS animated show, based on the MECH CADET YU comic books written by yours truly with art by Takeshi Miyazawa!

The show will premiere on Netflix on August 10, and the cast will include Daniel Dae Kim, Ming-Na Wen, Brandon Soo Hoo, Debra Wilson, and Victoria Grace.  More details here!

MECH CADETS pilot to screen in competition at Annecy!

MECH CADETS animated television show poster showing four cadets on a giant robot with logos for MECH CADETS and "OFFICIAL SELECTION ANNECY 2023 COMPETITION" at the top and "Netflix" at the bottom.

BIG NEWS: The MECH CADETS pilot is screening in competition at Annecy!

MECH CADETS is a Netflix animated television series based on the MECH CADET YU comics, written by yours truly with line art by Takeshi Miyazawa.

Huge love to the MECH CADET YU comics team, including Tak Miyazawa, Triona Farrell, Jessica Kholinne, Raúl Angulo, Simon Bowland, Cameron Chittock, Eric Harburn, Filip Sablik, and Matt Gagnon.

And huge congrats to Jane Lee and company at Netflix; Jack Liang, Patrick Awa and company at Polygon, Stephen Christy, Mette Nørkjær and company at BOOM; and the incredible MECH CADETS writers room of Aaron Lam, Ashley Eakin, David Shayne, and Mercedes Valle.

Giant MECH CADETS book collecting MECH CADET YU #1-12 coming in May!

Mech Cadets cover

I’m thrilled to report that BOOM is releasing a giant book called MECH CADETS that will collect issues #1-12 of the MECH CADET YU series written by yours truly with art by Takeshi Miyazawa, colors by Triona Farrell, Jessica Kholinne, and Raul Angulo, and letters by Simon Bowland!

In 2023 Netflix will launch an animated series based on the comics called MECH CADETS. Ask your local comics shop to order the MECH CADETS collection to get ready for the show!

For more about the book, read the article at ICv2.

#AsAmCreatorRollCall

So a little over 24 hours ago, I posted this on the Twitter machine:

Since then, the tweet’s been viewed over 115,000 times and dozens if not hundreds of Asian American creators have used the #AsAmCreatorRollCall hashtag to tout their work. And hundreds more people have retweeted those tweets.

And my heart’s grown three sizes.

Fifteen years ago, when my producers and I were taking our Asian American sci fi feature film Robot Stories to film festivals, I remember a distributor telling us to our faces that it seemed weird to him that the film had all these Asian people speaking English without accents. I think we just stared at him in astonishment. He didn’t say it in a rude manner; he wasn’t trying to be offensive. He just totally didn’t get it. He didn’t get the film, and he didn’t get us. Even though he literally talking to real live Asian Americans, he didn’t seem to understand that Asian Americans exist or could tell stories that other people could relate to.

In the end, Robot Stories played in over 75 film festivals and won dozens of awards. We self distributed the film theatrically, and with the help of a bunch of incredible grassroots Asian American film festivals, Asian American cultural groups, sci fi fan clubs, college organizations, and indie film fests, we played across the country and ended up getting picked up by Kino for a DVD release.

A lot has changed in fifteen years. But Asian American creators can still face tremendous difficulties getting stories about Asian American characters out into the world. But as I learned with Robot Stories and a bunch of other contemporary Asian American films like The Debut and Better Luck Tomorrow, when folks come together, we can make amazing things happen for each other.

So last night I saw the great Daniel Dae Kim retweet the great Justin Chon on Twitter:

And shortly thereafter, I saw Reappropriate say some smart things about a recent list of 100 influential Asian Americans:

And I found myself thinking about how each of us is more powerful than we realize — particularly when we work together. And that one of the easiest things in the world to do is talk up the things we love so others can find out about them.

So big, big love to everyone who’s shared something using the #AsAmCreatorRollCall tag, and big, big love to everyone who’s retweeted anything someone’s posted using that hashtag. Folks are out there doing absolutely incredible work every day. Let’s all continue sharing in 2018, building that beautiful audience for everyone, and making the world we want to live in.

Please do check out the glorious projects and creators on display at #AsAmCreatorRollCall, and feel free to check out this very nice write up from Splinter News.

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Art by the great Marie Severin

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