ASIAN AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CREATORS HIT NEW YORK FOR FILM FESTIVAL PANEL
This Saturday in New York City, the Asian American International Film Festival presents a panel of Asian American comic book creators, including industry legend Larry Hama and “World War Hulk” writer Greg Pak. The event is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/165.
SECRET IDENTITY: ASIAN AMERICANS IN COMICS
Saturday, July 21, 2:30 pm
The Asia Society
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York, NY 10021
Tel: (212) 288-6400
Box Office 212-517-ASIA
Asian American comic book creators share their work while discussing Asian representation in comics, the creative process of making comics, and the links between comics and film. Panel includes legendary writer Larry Hama (Wolverine, G.I. Joe), indie sensation Christine Norrie (Hopeless Savages, Breaking Up), comics-editor-turned-film-editor Jennifer Lee, DC Comics editor Pornsak Pichetshote (Vertigo), filmmaker-turned-comics-writer Greg Pak (Incredible Hulk, World War Hulk), and Jeff Yang, editor of the new Asian American comics anthology, “Secret Identities.”
LARRY HAMA is a writer/cartoonist/illustrator who has worked in comics, television, and film. He is best known as the writer of Marvel’s G.I. Joe comics in the 80s, and as the writer of Marvel’s Wolverine in the 90s. He is currently writing Storm Shadow for Devil’s Due Comics, and working on various television animation and feature film projects.
JENNIFER LEE is a film editor who spent much of the last decade working in comics, where she collaborated with some of the top talent in the industry. At Marvel Entertainment, she edited a blockbuster run on WOLVERINE, several celebrated story lines in DAREDEVIL, and a sleek noir thriller called BLACK WIDOW. She also edited Marvel’s first three illustrated prose novels. At DC Comics’ acclaimed Vertigo imprint for mature readers, she worked on properties such as THE SANDMAN, STARDUST, JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER, and 100 BULLETS. Jenny hung up her cape and tights in 2005 to apply her editorial skills to film and television post production. She was the Associate Online Editor for David Kaplan’s rotoscope-animated film YEAR OF THE FISH, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and is showing as part of this year’s New York Asian American International Film Festival. She was also the Associate Editor for the forthcoming NEAL CASSADY, directed by Noah Buschel and starring Tate Donovan. This summer she will be cutting TRUE ADOLESCENTS, directed by Craig Johnson and produced by Tom Woodrow at Furnace Films.
CHRISTINE NORRIE has worked extensively as an artist and comic illustrator since 2000 with no formal art training. Her most noted works include her original graphic novel Cheat, the Oni Press series Hopeless Savages, and the newly released graphic novel Breaking Up published in 2007 by Scholastic/Graphix. Dubbed “a natural storyteller” by Publisher’s Weekly, Norrie has earned two Eisner nominations, A Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Nomination, and a 9th Panel and New York City Comic Book Museum Award.
GREG PAK is a filmmaker turned comic book writer whose comics work includes the Planet Hulk and World War Hulk epics for Marvel and Battlestar Galactica for Dynamite. Pak created Amadeus Cho, aka Mastermind Excello, for Amazing Fantasy (v2 #15)—the character won a Marvel.com fan favorite contest and is now playing a major role in Pak’s Incredible Hulk run. In the film world, Pak is best known for his feature film ROBOT STORIES, which won 35 film festival awards, and is now available on DVD from Kino. Pak’s award-winning short films include FIGHTING GRANDPA, MOUSE, PO MO KNOCK KNOCK, ALL AMATEUR ECSTASY, and the infamous ASIAN PRIDE PORN. For the full scoop on his comics and films, visit www.pakbuzz.com.
PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE is an associate editor at Vertigo Comics, DC Comics’ mature readers imprint. In that capacity, he’s worked with such esteemed creators as Darren Aronofsky, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Rick Veitch, and Dave Gibbons, amongst many others. He’s also the editor on such books as The Losers, Swamp Thing, and Crossing Midnight. Before getting into comics, he worked as a short story writer and has directed two short films, both of which have gone on to receive awards on the festival circuit. His original feature screenplay, Widescreen, USA, beat out over 7,000 others to make it to Project: Greenlight’s Top 250.
JEFF YANG is an author and cultural critic whose writings appear in such venues as Slate, The Washington Post, and The San Francisco Chronicle, for whose website, SFGate.com, he writes the award-winning biweekly column, “Asian Pop.” He is also a regular correspondent for New York’s NPR station, WNYC. His books include the Asian pop culture encyclopedia “Eastern Standard Time”; “Once Upon a Time in China,” a history of Chinese cinema; and the New York Times bestselling “I Am Jackie Chan,” the international action icon’s autobiography. A longtime comics fan (and collector), he and partners Parry Shen, Keith Chow, and Jerry Ma are currently working on “Secret Identities,” the first-ever Asian American superhero comics anthology, to be published by The New Press in 2008.
For more information about the festival, visit http://www.aaiff.org.