Gene Luen Yang contemplates his next story.
Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese is considered one of the most topical Chinese American graphic novels around youth and growing up in America. The graphic novel is currently being adapted into a TV series via Disney+ starring Ben Wang, Michelle Yeoh, Chin Han, Yeo Yann Yann, Daniel Wu, Ke Huy Quan, Jim Liu and Sydney Taylor.
Yang is an author and cartoonist who writes and draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. His most recent books are Dragon Hoops from First Second Books and Superman Smashes the Klan from DC Comics. Forbes sat down with Gene Luen Yang to talk about his career path and the current adaptation of American Born Chinese.
Goldie Chan: Hello Gene, thank you for joining us. What has your writing career path been?
Gene Luen Yang: I graduated from college with a degree in computer science and a minor in creative writing. After that, I was a software developer for two years before becoming a high school computer science teacher. While teaching, I wrote and drew comic books and graphic novels on the side. About seven years ago, I left teaching to become a full-time cartoonist. I now spend the vast majority of my workdays writing and drawing comics.
Chan: What has been your favorite project or book that you’ve created?
Yang: I believe you have to be somewhat in love with your current project in order to have the passion and energy to get to the finish line. Right now, I’m doing a couple of collaborations. One is DC Comics’ Monkey Prince, a monthly series by superstar artist Bernard Chang and me. The other is a graphic novel tentatively titled Lunar New Year Love Story by Caldecott Honoree LeUyen Pham and me. It will eventually be published by First Second Books.
Chan: What are you most proud of for the new American Born Chinese adaptation?
Yang: The television show is very different from the original graphic novel. First, it’s a serialized storytelling format. The first season has eight episodes, which means there have to be eight beginnings, middles, and ends. The graphic novel is a single two hundred page book with a single beginning, middle, and end. Second, we decided pretty early on in the process that the television show would take place in present day. The graphic novel was based on my own childhood, so it was vaguely set in the late 80s, early 90s. The conversation about what it means to be an Asian American has changed since the late 80s, early 90s. The television show has to reflect those changes. These were some pretty big challenges, and I’m so proud of how the entire creative team, including the showrunner Kelvin Yu and director Destin Cretton, answered those challenges. I was thrilled to get to see how these creative people at the top of the game approach their art.
Chan: What projects are you currently working on?
Yang: Monkey Prince is a brand-new superhero. Bernard Chang, editor Jessica Chen, and I wanted to bring Chinese mythology into the DC Universe, and that’s exactly what Monkey Prince does. Journey to the West is a classic Chinese novel, and we’ve integrated it into DC Comics continuity. Monkey Prince claims to be the son of the main character of the legendary Monkey King, the main character of Journey to the West. So far, we’ve had Monkey Prince go up against DC mainstays Batman, Aquaman, and Supergirl. If you’re a fan of both Chinese mythology and DC superheroes, this is the book for you.
I’m also working on my very first romantic comedy with illustrator LeUyn Pham. The working title of our book is Lunar New Year Love Story. The story revolves around two holidays, one Western and the other Eastern, that are often right next to each other on the calendar: Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year. This is my first dive into the rom-com genre. Uyen and I are having so much fun.
Chan: What is a key element to a great story?
Yang: This is a debate for the ages. I’m sure if you asked me this question a year ago or a year from now, I would’ve given you different answers. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about characters’ desires and characters’ fears, and how they often overlap. I think those are two keys to a compelling story: desire and fear.
Chan: Who are you inspired by?
Yang: I am inspired by my wife Theresa. She is an incredibly capable and caring person, and because of that there are a lot of demands on her time from our kids’ schools, from our church, and from our local communities. She’s been able to juggle all these demands artfully for the most part. Through the chaos, she remains disciplined about maintaining quiet time for herself, usually for prayer.
Chan: What do you do to uplift others in your community?
Yang: One of the best things that authors can do for each other is promote each other‘s work. There are a few books coming out next year that I’m pretty excited about. One is Family Style by Thien Pham. Thien is a really good friend. He’s been doing comics and graphic novels for a long time, and this is his most personal work by far. He tells the story of how his family immigrated from Vietnam to America.
I’m also looking forward to Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, another good friend. This is a quiet, meditative graphic novel about the relationship between mothers and daughters. It’s like beautifully-illustrated poetry.
Finally, I would recommend Land of the Dead by Brian McDonald and Toby Cypress. This is a storycraft book in graphic novel format. If you are a writer of any kind – a screenwriter, a novelist, a graphic novelist, a poet – you will find something useful in this book.
Chan: Any branding or career advice for this new year?
Yang: I’ll pass on some advice that was given to me, that I am attempting to follow, however imperfectly: pay attention to what you pay attention to.
