MARVELS & MONSTERS’ EXPLORES IMAGES AND CHARACTERS OF ASIANS AND ASIAN AMERICANS FEATURED IN COMIC BOOKS
Opening reception of exhibition hosted by Charles B. Wang Center on March 12, 2014.
Stony Brook— Stony Brook University Libraries is pleased to present Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 from March 12 to July 27, 2014. The exhibit will be on view in the Theatre Lobby Gallery at the Charles B. Wang Center. Through a selection of images from comic books representing four turbulent decades, Marvels & Monsters illustrates how evolving racial and cultural archetypes defined America’s perceptions of Asians. This exhibition draws from noted science fiction author and cultural studies scholar William F. Wu’s comic book collection–the largest archive of comic books featuring Asians and Asian Americans–that was donated to the NYU Fales Library & Special Collections through the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU.
Curated by Asian Pop columnist Jeff Yang, this exhibition is a unique and fascinating look at how the images and characters of Asians and Asian Americans featured in comic books during times of war and unrest coalesced into archetypes that still remain today.
The exhibition places a selection of noted archetypes–Guru, Brain, Temptress, Manipulator, Alien, Kamikaze, Brute, and Lotus Blossom–within both a historical context and a comparative discourse with contemporary Asian American writers and creators including Ken Chen, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Larry Hama, David Henry Hwang, Naomi Hirahara, Genny Lim, Greg Pak, Vijay Prashad, and Gene Luen Yang.
The exhibition also contains elements designed to encourage direct engagement with the archetypes, such as life-size cutouts of the eight archetypes that allow visitors to put themselves “inside the image” and an installation called “Shades of Yellow” that matches the shades used for Asian skin tones in the comics with their garish yellow Pantone™.
The exhibit will also frame a one-day symposium on Asian images in comics and graphic narratives on April 23, 2014. Marvels & Monsters: A Symposium on Asian Images in Comics and Graphic Narratives will examine images of Asians in a variety of cultural forms (manga, film, video, social media, graphic novels). The keynote address will be presented by Min Hyoung Song, Associate Professor of English at Boston College, and author of The Children of 1965: On Writing, and Not Writing, as an Asian American (Duke University Press, 2013). Other speakers include exhibit curator and author of books on Asian American comics and graphic narratives, Jeff Yang, and graphic novelist and filmmaker, Derek Kirk Kim. More information is available at <https://you.stonybrook.edu/marvelsandmonsters/>.
The opening reception of the exhibit is hosted by Charles B. Wang Center on March 12, 2014, 5:00 to 7:00 PM. It is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required.
The symposium and exhibit are presented by the University Libraries and made possible by a grant from the Presidential Mini-Grant for Diversity Initiatives at Stony Brook University. Generous support is provided by the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, Cultural Analysis & Theory, Center for Korean Studies, Asian American Center, Confucius Institute and the Charles B. Wang Center.
GENERAL INFORMATION
About William F. Wu, Collector
Nominated five times for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards, William F. Wu has published over a dozen novels, including the best-selling 1996 STAR WARS: Tales from Jabba’s Palace and Avon’s young adult SF series Isaac Asimov’s Robots in Time. His most acclaimed book, Hong on the Range, was chosen for the Wilson Library Bulletin’s list of science fiction “Books Too Good To Miss,” a selection for the American Library Association list of Best Books for Young People, the New York Public Library’s Recommended Books for the Teen Age, and was also a Young Adult Editor’s Choice by Booklist. A prolific short story writer, Wu’s works have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies; his short story “Wong’s Lost and Found Emporium” was a multiple award nominee that was adapted into an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone. He has a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation, published in book form as The Yellow Peril: Chinese Americans in American Fiction, 1850-1940 (Archon Books, 1982).
About Jeff Yang, Curator
Jeff Yang began reading and collecting comics at the age of eight, and hasn’t allowed distractions like adulthood, marriage, and fatherhood to deter him since. He writes the “Tao Jones” column for the Wall Street Journal and previously wrote the column “Asian Pop” for theSan Francisco Chronicle. He penned a series of acclaimed and bestselling books—Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology (the seminal graphic novel collection);Eastern Standard Time; I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action (the action icon’s official autobiography); and Once Upon a Time in China. He began his career as founding editor and publisher of the pioneering Asian American periodical A. Magazine and as a cultural critic for New York’s alternative weekly the Village Voice. He can frequently be heard as a contributor on NPR’s Tell Me More, PRI’s The Takeaway, and other public radio programs. He, his wife Heather, and his sons Hudson and Skyler live in Brooklyn, New York. His column can be found at http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/tag/tao-jones/.
About Stony Brook University Libraries
The SBU Libraries’ mission is to serve the research and learning needs of the SBU community. Across its branches, the Libraries contain two million bound volumes, over 300,000 e-books, four million publications in microforms, and 450 databases. The Libraries provide state-of-the art information services and resources for research and curricula, serving students, faculty, and the surrounding community. SBU Libraries is committed to celebrating diversity.
General Information
The Charles B. Wang Center is located at 100 Nicolls Rd. on the campus of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. For more information, call 631-632-6353 or visit http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/wang/index.html.
Gallery Hours:
Monday through Friday: 10:00 AM through 8:00 PM
Saturdays & Sundays: 12:00 PM through 8:00 PM
Admission:
Free
For more info. about the exhibit:
Jennifer Iacona
Jennifer.iacona@stonybrook.edu
(631)632-1944
For more info. about the Symposium:
Janet H. Clarke
(631) 632-1217
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